Jets, Packers, Giants shaping up as best bets
Fthe NFL is back on our Sunday calendars. But even as we keep looking ahead, it’s hard not to be distracted by what happened Thursday night.
I couldn’t find one trend that led me to believe Kansas City would bury defending champion New England. Home teams were on a 3-0 run against the spread in that series, winning by more than 21 points a game.
With that as a warning, here are some trends from VSIN for Week 1:
■ New York Jets (plus-9) at Buffalo. Underdogs are on a 6-1 ATS run in this series. Hold your nose, grab the points and take the Jets.
■ Seattle at Green Bay (minus-3). Since 2003, the Packers are 6-0 straightup and 5-1 ATS hosting Seattle. Aaron Rodgers laying a field goal seems reasonable.
■ New York Giants (plus-4) at Dallas. The Giants are 9-4-1 ATS traveling at Dallas since 2004, and they are a ’dog against a team they swept a year ago. Why not back the Giants again?
Still, I am not using the Jets, Packers and Giants in Week 1 of the Westgate Supercontest. Why? I don’t know. Maybe I’m stubborn.
Chiefs’ win costly
The Chiefs’ impressive victory at New England also was costly.
Losing safety Eric Berry to an Achilles injury means Kansas City loses a special leader who was voted the Chiefs’ MVP last season. He did a tremendous job Thursday against Rob Gronkowski, who was targeted six times by Tom Brady but caught two passes.
Second-guessing of the play calling is why we love football. Taking that particular view, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh Mcdaniels didn’t have a good night.
Tom Brady usually is lethal on fourth-and-inches with a quick count, going right behind his center.
But Mcdaniels and Brady turned to running back Mike Gillislee, who twice went up the middle for no gain on fourth down.
Four huge college games
The college weekend features a fourpack of great games involving eight ranked teams. But I have one huge complaint. Why are they being played at virtually the same time Saturday night? With four networks, you would have thought one of them would have selected that 12:30 p.m. PDT time slot.
■ No. 13 Auburn (plus-5½) at No. 3 Clemson. I was calling this game a year ago when Auburn came up short throwing into the end zone to try to win the game as the final seconds ticked away. With former Baylor quarterback Jarrett Stidham and running back Kamryn Pettway back from suspension, Auburn is dangerous against the defending champs.
■ No. 15 Georgia (plus-4½) at No. 24 Notre Dame. Don’t make too much of Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason missing the game because of a knee injury. Freshman Jake Fromm steps in. The Bulldogs probably won’t ask him to defeat Notre Dame with the pass, relying on running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.
■ No. 5 Oklahoma at No. 2 Ohio State (minus-7). The problem for the Sooners is twofold. They have to deal with the raucous crowd in Columbus, and Baker Mayfield is still trying to find deep threats like he had last year.
■ No. 14 Stanford (plus-6½) at No. 6 Southern California. The Trojans offense is outstanding with quarterback Sam Darnold, but I have great respect for Stanford coach David Shaw in a big game.
Brent Musburger’s betting column appears Saturday in the Las Vegas Review-journal. His show on the
Vegas Stats & Information Network can be heard on Siriusxm 204 and livestreamed at reviewjournal.com/ vegas-stats-information-network.