Best NFL game of week is up first
Two teams on rise face off as Steelers host Panthers
Two teams headed for January football, the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers, get to test their mettle on Thursday night. It should be a good one. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin has to like how the Steelers have performed in four straight wins. “I’m not trying to look for specific areas, I just try to challenge these guys to get better every day,” Tomlin says. “That’s what we’re focused on. I think that if we do that daily, that will give us a chance to produce consistent performances that are on the rise.” Hosting Carolina (6-2), the Steelers (5-2-1) are a 5½-point favourite in the week’s best matchup. The Panthers have won three straight and five of six. They are particularly strong running the ball, though Pittsburgh is stingy in that area on defence. Carolina trails New Orleans by one game in the NFC South and leads the wild-card chase. Pittsburgh has a half-game lead in the AFC North over Cincinnati. This could come down to the final play. Steelers, 33-31
Dallas (+6½) at Philadelphia Yes, it’s a bitter rivalry game. But Eagles come off a bye, Cowboys off a poor showing. Best bet: Eagles, 27-16 New Orleans (-4½) at Cincinnati With Eagles up next, Saints could stumble here. They won’t. Saints, 31-23 Seattle (+10) at Los Angeles Rams That’s a lot of points for a game many Seahawks fans will attend. Rams, 30-23 Arizona (+16½) at Kansas City We’re rarely afraid to lay so many points. So ... Chiefs, 40-22 Detroit (+6½) at Chicago First of two meetings in less than three weeks. Bears, 22-14 Washington Redskins’ record (+3) at could Tampa plummet Bay with all those O-line injuries. Bucs, 33-31 New England (-6½) at Tennessee Brady has Patriots in their usual fine November form. Patriots, 31-19 Atlanta (-4) at Cleveland Are the injury-ravaged Falcons in the midst of a turnaround? Falcons, 26-20 L.A. Chargers (-10) at Oakland Have Raiders given up? Chargers, 33-16 Miami (+10) at Green Bay Dolphins have better record, Packers have much better team. Packers, 34-20 Jacksonville (+3) at Indianapolis Could there be a worse matchup this weekend? Well, see below. Jaguars, 21-20 Buffalo (+7) at New York Jets Could there be a worse matchup? Well, see Monday night. Jets, 8-5 New York Giants (+3½) at San Francisco, Monday night The worst. And in prime time. Upset special: Giants, 19-13
2018 RECORD
Last week: Against spread, 9-4; straight up, 9-4 Season totals: Against spread, 6562-4; straight up, 90-42-2 Best bet: 3-6 against spread, 7-2 straight up Upset special: 6-3 against spread, 5-3-1 straight up