Broncos ‘fighting for their lives’
Denver looks to stop four-game skid in Arizona
Things are spiralling in Denver. At least the Broncos won’t have to worry about snow when they journey to Arizona for a Thursday night game.
The Broncos have dropped four straight after opening with two wins. Their defence is dead last against the run and 27th overall. With the Cardinals going with rookie quarterback Josh Rosen, the temptation will be to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible in this prime-time, uh, thriller.
“Oh yeah, any time you’re losing, everybody ’s fighting for their lives and fighting for their job every week at every position, it doesn’t matter,” says veteran cornerback Chris Harris Jr. “There’s always finger-pointing and you don’t want to have that. We don’t want to have that at all. ”
Arizona (1-5) wasn’t awake for much of the early season and was the last team to win. Surprisingly for such a record, the Cardinals have 11 take-aways. Not surprisingly, they have 10 giveaways. Denverisa2 ½-point choice at Arizona.
Upset special: Cardinals, 19-16 New York Giants (+5½) at Atlanta, Monday night
Falcons can score, Giants can’t. Best bet: Falcons, 33-16
New England (-3½) at Chicago Notice how Patriots opponents always seem to be injury-ravaged? Patriots, 24-20
New Orleans (+2½) at Baltimore Big-time offence faces big-time defence in classic matchup. Saints, 23-18
Cincinnati (+6) at Kansas City Both sides come off late-game losses that could hurt long-term. Chiefs, 33-31
Carolina (+4½) at Philadelphia Did Eagles turn around things in win over Giants on Oct. 11? Eagles, 30-27
Los Angeles Chargers (-6½) vs. Tennessee at London
Should be a better match at Wembley than last week’s rout. Chargers, 23-14
L.A. Rams (-10) at San Francisco Someone will stop the Rams’ run to 16-0. Won’t be Niners. Rams, 36-15
Dallas (+1½) at Washington Schizophrenic NFC East teams; Washington pretty good at home. Washington, 19-16
Cleveland (+3) at Tampa Bay
Two more unidentifiable teams. Buccaneers, 24-23
Minnesota (-3) at New York Jets Third game of Jets’ homestand, first tough opponent. Vikings, 32-27
Buffalo (+7½) at Indianapolis Andrew Luck tips scales to Indy in matchup of very flawed clubs. Colts, 23-9
Houston (+4½) at Jacksonville Texans have won three straight with grit. Jags struggling. But ... Jaguars, 20-19
Detroit (OFF) at Miami
Rested Lions are better no matter who quarterbacks Dolphins. Lions, 27-17
2018 RECORD:
Last week: Against spread, 7-8; straight up, 10-5
Season totals: Against spread, 4048-3; straight up, 58-33-2
Best bet: 2-4 against spread, 5-1 straight up
Upset special: 4-2 against spread, 3-2-1 straight up