A sure bet games get watchable from here
There has been much grousing lately about the quality of play in the NFL. Bad quarterbacks, bad offenses and bad teams have produced some miserable games, especially in prime time. Ratings are down, the league is unwatchable, blah, blah, blah.
People who like to bet on the games, however, ignore that noise. The action is the only thing that matters, regardless of the quality of the product.
Outside our area, the gamblers might have been the only people interested in yesterday’s game at Gillette Stadium, if you can even call it a game. With Jacoby Brissett at quarterback for the Patriots against a pretty bad Buffalo Bills team, the product was downright embarrassing. And if you did place a wager on the Pats, any hope they would cover the 7-point line was squashed by halftime.
They never seemed to really take the training wheels off Brissett, and the offense failed to do much of anything in a 16-0 loss to Rex Ryan’s crew. Folks in these parts were hoping for a win to be able to stick the 4-0 record in the face of commissioner Roger Goodell in the wake of Tom Brady’s fourgame Deflategate suspension, but 3-1 is perfectly acceptable.
This also was the first game in which the Pats failed to cover the spread, while Buffalo evened its record against the number at 2-2.
The right bet yesterday was the under. Oddsmakers had the total set at 431⁄ points. I’m not sure 2 those teams could reach 44 points in eight quarters, even with Brady playing the last one. The under has been the correct call in three of the Pats’ four games the season, not surprising given the backup quarterbacks and the slow recovery of tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Next week, the Patriots will put a better version of themselves on the field in Cleveland against the Browns, who are major players in the whole unwatchable NFL argument. With Brady back in the lineup, the Pats opened as 101⁄ 2- point favorites, and that might swell a little higher as people start to get excited about seeing No. 12 under center.
I’m not quite sure what to expect in Brady’s first game of the season, but I’m pretty sure it will look better than what we all suffered through yesterday. The bigger question is the health of Gronkowski, an integral part of the offense who hasn’t done much except block and take up space during his first two appearances this season.
I don’t think it’s too much to ask for the Pats to win this game by two touchdowns. The Browns are a mess, getting outclassed yesterday by the mediocre Washington Redskins. Brady will throw three touchdown passes, at least one to his big tight end, and the Pats will be watchable again.