Double COVERage

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 10th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

"You have to play this game like somebody just hit your mother with a two-by-four" - Harvey Weinstein

We have officially hit the halfway point in the 17 week NFL regular season. I don’t have time to go into detail about math but 10 weeks in means its halfway through the season for everyone. This is the week we are allowed to start talking about the playoff picture, MVP favorites, and how long will the Browns wait to fire their head coach and start another rebuilding process. This week I’m going hand out my midseason awards, this won’t be easy awards like MVP or rookie of the year. I’m going to be digging deep to tell you who really deserves recognition and attention in the NFL after nine weeks.

1. Next to be named a Head Coach award aka. Assistant Coach of the year

Let’s start with an award that is an actual award given out by the NFL. They call it the coordinator of the year award but let’s be honest what it actually is, is the guy who will immediately be hired as a head coach next season award. This award goes to the most underrated guy in the NFL right now Frank Reich, the offensive coordinator for the team with the best record in the NFL the Philadelphia Eagles. Currently their is a line 2 miles line full of fans and media members alike, lined up to kiss Carson Wentz butt and tell him how he is the greatest thing to happen to the QB position since the forward pass. Can we all pump the breaks on the Wentz butt kissing for a few minutes? Yes he has been incredible, but he ain’t doing it by himself. The real genius in Philly is Frank Reich. A career backup QB who led the most incredible comeback the NFL playoff history and I couldn’t even think of another comeback that comes close or is worth mentioning.  Reich has been an assistant in the league for almost 10 years and most notably was the QB coach for the Colts when a certain Peyton Manning was the QB.(Along with the great play of Carson Wentz) Frank Reich is the reason the Eagles are 8-1 and have the best record in the NFL so far this season. Last Sunday the Eagles put up 51 points of offense on what was the number one ranked defense in the NFL this season, the Broncos. By the beginning of next season Frank Reich will be a head coach in the NFL and if I were in charge of the Giants or Browns I would start courting him now.

Winner: Frank Reich

2. Color Commentator of the year

Let me guess you’re probably thinking this would go to newcomer Tony Romo right? Romo has been a great change of pace for color commentary, and since he is fresh off the field he knows so much about what’s going on in the NFL right now. Makes all the sense in the world to give him this award. That’s what I was thinking too until last Monday night when Jon Gruden came in with a brilliant 5 minute break from game action to discuss a ‘turkey hole’ and as they say in the business “kings stay kings”.

Jon Gruden remains the undisputed heavy weight king of commentary. Any old former player/coach could stand up there and alert you that Matthew Stafford is beating a cover 2 defense by hitting the receiver on the sideline in between the deep safety and the flat corner, but only Gruden can invent a whole new phrase that no coach or player has ever used before and act like its a common thing every fan should understand. Do you as a fan need to know that the next play Ameer Abdullah fumbled and the Packers recovered drastically changing the momentum of the game? Absolutely not! Give me more Turkey Hole talk!! If Tony Romo is ever going to truly find his stride as a color commentator he will need to be more like Gruden and ignore the important action going on the field to tell us more about spider 2 Y Banana.

Winner: Jon Gruden

3. Legal team of the year

This award is a no brainer its going to the legal team of Dallas Cowboy’s running back Ezekiel Elliott. Zeke may or may not have beaten up his girlfriend in college. Zeke’s college girlfriend may or may not have blackmailed him and lied about getting beat up. Zeke definitely 100% went to a St. Patrick’s day parade and pulled down a woman’s shirt. However the details of this case have really been lost in the fact that Zeke has been suspended and unsuspended about 20 different times this season. Every time the NFL’s is going to get its way and take Elliot out for 6 games, Zeke’s team of lawyers finds another way to appeal and keep him on the field. Its now looking like week 10 his suspension will start but who knows what tricks Zeke’s Lawyers have up their sleeves. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jerry Jones calls Donald Trump himself to get the president to write an executive order to keep Zeke on the field. We have not seen a Running back’s legal team have such a great season since OJ Simpson’s squad back in 1995.

Winner: Ezekiel Elliott

4. Injury of the year

The NFL has injuires every year, but never has their been so many significant players have their seasons ended by injury. Starting with the first game of the year when pro bowl safety Eric Berry went down for the Chiefs to last Thursday when Dick Sherman tore his achilles. At this point there are more injured players staring in commercials than healthy players. If the rate of injuries keeps up at this pace we will end up with a super bowl featuring Nick Foles vs Case Keenam.

With so many players to choose from for this award its tough to go wrong. However I’m giving it to Aaron Rodgers. Here’s why Aaron is the best Injured player, he was screaming and cussing out Anthony Barr after Barr hit him and broke his collar bone. His team has been horrible since he left, Brett Hundley looks like a teenager who won a ‘who wants to replace Aaron Rodgers contest.’ But mostly why Rodgers deserves this award is think about how Aaron Rodgers is spending his recovery time. His movie star girlfriend broke up with him this offseason, and his family hates him and won’t speak to him. Poor Aaron is probably all alone playing solitaire on his Iphone for the next 2 months and for that reason I am giving him the injury of the year award, out of sympathy.

Winner: Aaron Rodgers

5. Press Conference of the year

I’m a big fan of NFL press conferences. They usually involve a lot of coaches and players lying, using cliches, and explaining in an angry tone why they won or didn’t win. Their have been many great press conference moments so far this season but the winner has to be Chuck Pagono. First off I can’t understand which is more amazing, the fact the Colts lied and said Andrew Luck was going to be ready for week 1, then placed him on IR in week 9 having never played a down in 2017. The fact the Colts have somehow found a way to win 3 games this year even though their team is a train wreck, or the fact Chuck Pagano still has a job. After a week 1 blowout loss to the Rams, who are a team that plays in Los Angeles, Chuck Pagano said his team “got our asses kicked and credit the 49ers” which is a team that plays in San Francisco. Pagano is a master of the coaching press conference cliche, but this was almost unbelievable that he spent a whole game getting destroyed by a team then couldn’t even remember which team beat his. Bless you Chuck Pagano, I hope your remaining months weeks days as an NFL head coach are enjoyable.

Winner: Chuck Pagano

6. Tank of the year

No coach will ever admit it, but sometimes it is better to lose than win in the NFL. If your team is not going to win the super bowl why not set your team up for success in the future with a top draft pick? Usually this will be a team without a quality starting QB looking to get a top 3 draft pick and take their future franchise leader. The early season favorite for tank of the year was the Jets who started the season 0-2. The Jets went into the season with the plans to start Josh Mcgown at QB which is the most obvious ‘we are looking to lose as many games as possible’ move a team could make. But after their 0-2 start the Jets are 4-3 putting themselves just outside of the playoff picture. Classic Jets, they can’t even tank right.

The real winner of this award is a complete shock from the beginning of the year, the other team in New York, the Giants. At the start of 2017 the Giants looked like a team about to make the leap into super bowl contention. Then everyone remembered their head coach is Ben Mcadoo. After 8 games the entire team hates the cyborg sent to drag this team into a 2-14 season, Ben Mcadoo, but he’s done his job exactly how he should, lose as many games as possible. The whole Giants team hates Mcadoo so much that whoever they bring in as the next coach they players are going to love simply because he isn’t Ben Mcadoo.

The Giants prove again why they are the model franchise in New York. While the Jets mess around and go 7-9 the Giants will have a top 3 pick and set up their franchise for the next 15 years of super bowl runs just like they did 13 years ago when they drafted Eli Manning. The Jets really need to get it together and hire Ben Mcadoo after the Giants fire him so he can lead them to a 2-14 record and get a top draft pick also.

Winner: New York Giants and Ben Mcadoo

7. Practical Joke of the year

LOL I love a good joke, you know who else loves a good joke, Bill O’brien. haha remember the time LOL the ole prankster Bill O’brien started Tom Savage at QB in Week 1 even though the Texans drafted Deshaun Watson. LMAO LOL Bill you are hilarious!! The rest of the league is gonna have a tough time topping that prank by the end of the year. Everyone in the Stadium and around the world was laughing so hard we didn’t stop until right before halftime. After halftime Bill stopped joking around and put in Watson but that first half sure was a hilarious prank by mr. humor himself Bill O’Brien LOL

Winner: Bill O’Brien

NFL Picks Week 10

All lines used from the Westgate Las Vegas Supercontest

Rams -12

Cowboys +3.5

Jags -4

Rams -12

It took me 10 weeks but I finally believe in the Rams. The Rams are the number 1 scoring offense in the league averaging  almost 33 points per game. The Rams this year almost look like the Falcons from last year, that no one saw them coming and no one has found a way to slow them down. LA has been blowing out teams all season and I am finally going to profit from them. The Rams are in LA where no one cares or goes to their games. That doesn’t matter here because they are playing against the Texans who are starting Tom Savage at QB after Deshaun Watson tore his ACL in practice. Bill O’brien is about 2 more weeks away from realizing Tom Savage isn’t going to win a game this season and until lets all be thankful and go against the Texans

Cowboys +3.5

Loyal readers know I am a Falcons fan and loyal friends know that’s not true actually I’m a psychopath who can’t be around other humans directly before, during, or after a Falcons game. It is tough for me to be unbiased but if the Falcons are going to be terrible and lose this season I am going to profit off of it. The Falcons defense has been terrible compared to their super bowl run last year. They can’t stop the run or force turnovers which is the two things you need to do to beat Dallas. The Cowboys have been on fire the last 3 weeks, and part of that is the play of Ezekiel Elliot. Zeke is finally suspended at least for the next 4 games but I think even without him the Cowboys will be able to move the ball on the Falcons.

The Cowboys defense has been better recently as well after they got back whatever D-linemen who has suspended for the start of the season (I don’t know if this is true but it is customary in Dallas to have at least 1 defensive player start the season with a suspension for breaking the rules.) The Falcons offense has had trouble in the red zone and has been willing to settle for field goals. There will be more of the same Sunday for the Falcons even if they are at home.

(also just a personal side note: The Cowboys are a great team and fun to watch, BUT I hate the Cowboys; especially Jerry Jones. So even though I am picking them this week I think its important to remember Jerry Jones is a contradicting POS who once called Greg Hardy “one of the real leaders” of his team. Screw him.)

Jags -4

I was ready to take Jacksonville last week and got scared right before gametime when it was announced Leonard Fournette was inactive. Not this time, I am making the Jags my best bet of the week. The Jags offense will never be what the Rams are, but with their defense, they don’t need to be. Jacksonville’s defense is the best in the league and its not even close. They’ve been nick named the “Teal Curtain” which is probably the greatest nickname in sports right now. How can you not love guys like Jalen Ramsey telling one of the best receivers in the NFL that he’s soft and weak.

What is scaring gamblers off of taking the Jags is well they’re the Jags. If this defense was playing in Pittsburgh, half of them would already be inducted in Canton. The best part of this bet is they are playing the Chargers who are traveling all the way from LA to play a morning game. Say no more I’m all over the Teal Curtain. This spread should be a touchdown or more and sooner or later the betting public will realize the Jags defense is legit. I like Jacksonville by double digits in this game.

Record to date (when taking the Jags): 1-0

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy Week 10 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

 

It’s crazy to think it’s Week 11 already! Time really does fly when you’re having fun. I had a nice little 3-1-1 week last week and I’m really happy for the few of you guys that actually trusted me on UAB and got rewarded for it. Alright, that’s enough bragging for the blog, let’s get to something that’s been bothering me. You what really stinks? Being so right about something, but having absolutely nothing to show for it. That’s how I feel about the Miami Hurricanes this year. We were on The U before anybody else this year (literally in June). The Double COVERage team had a strong feeling they would be at least a ten win football team and win the Coastal Division of the ACC. We decided put our money where our mouths are and made a healthy wager on Miami over 9 wins. I wrote about it in my first blog of the year and we were so excited to watch the Hurricanes all year long. They looked rusty in the first game against Bethune-Cookman, but the future was bright.

Then the Hurricane (literally) hit, which caused them to cancel the Arkansas State game that would have made them 2-0 and well on their way to over 9 wins. This also cancelled our season long bet on Miami. So here we are, Miami is 8-0 with three games left and all of the sudden is in the College Football Playoff Consideration. This weeks game against Notre Dame is basically a playoff game. Winner stays (for now), and the loser says hello to a top New Years Six bowl.

We won’t be getting any money for being on Miami before anyone else this year, but that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that my loyal readers of Bart’s Best Bets know our love for Miami and some of you even followed. Just another reason why you guys are the best. Let’s have another killer week, shall we?

Before we get to the picks, just a quick reminder, I don’t actually gamble real money, because gambling is illegal in Nebraska. If I could gamble legally, these would be the picks I would go with. All of the lines and totals are set at time of publishing (odds coming from oddshark), and will not change as the week goes on. So get’em while their hot! Here we go,  Bart’s Best Bets Baby!

Saturday, November 11th

Michigan State (+17) @ Ohio State

What do both Ohio State and Michigan State have in common? They both beat Penn State at home in the last two weeks. Ohio State beat them by 1 point in a thriller and Michigan State beat them by 3 in a game that lasted 6 hours thanks to a weather delay. This may be a trap, but why is Ohio State still getting this much credit? I feel like the Buckeyes were CFP or bust and they have officially been busted. While Michigan State has outperformed their low expectations from the beginning of the season. Michigan State is hungry, and I’m not sure how much motivation Ohio State has left after that stomping Iowa put on them. I get the Horseshoe is a really tough environment to play in, but this is a morning game and I could see Ohio State sleep walking into this one. I think Michigan State will keep this one close and make it interesting.

Purdue @ Northwestern (-3.5)

This is more of a feel pick than anything. Northwestern has won four straight games and finally looks like the Northwestern team everyone thought they would be this year. Purdue started out hot, but have struggled that past three weeks. Lost to Rutgers and Nebraska and then finally beat Illinois (worst team in Big Ten) last week. Unfortunately, they lost their best quarterback in the process. Northwestern has an opportunity to finally win a game in regulation for the first time since the Middle of October and I think they take advantage. Look for the Wildcats to get out on top early and never look back.

UAB (+8) @ UTSA

If you guys aren’t addicted to the UAB Blazers by now, then I don’t know how to help you. They completely crushed the Rice Owls last week and are now on a two game winning streak going into San Antonio. On the other side, UTSA is on a two game losing streak and has 2 less conference wins than UAB. The Blazers are the better team in this matchup no matter where the game is being played. The big boys in Vegas either know something I don’t or just haven’t caught on the UAB yet. UAB getting more than a touchdown is a complete steal and I would even consider sprinkling a little on the moneyline.

Notre Dame @ Miami (+3.5)

This is 100% a pick from my heart and not my head. I completely understand if you guys don’t touch this one or even fade me and go with ND. Both teams are playing at their best right now, but I can’t get over how good Miami’s defense is. They are incredible at creating turnovers at the perfect time. The Hurricane’s offense leaves a lot to desire, but I think the defense will put them in good positions to score in this game. Like I said in the intro, this is truly a win or go home game in terms of playoff contention for both teams. The College Gameday crew will be there. It’s a night game. If Miami wins this game, I think a lot of people will be saying they are officially back. Just remember, the DoubleCOVERage crew was saying it back in June. Canes by a field goal as time expires.

Wyoming (+3) @ Air Force

I’m not sure why this game sticks out to me, but it does. Wyoming has been playing very well since the end of September. The Cowboys have won 5 of the last 6 games and that one loss was by 7 points at Boise State. Air Force got shut out at home by Army last weekend. Wyoming struggles to put points on the board most of the time, but their defense has been winning games for them. Wyoming wants to make this game a defensive struggle and I think it will be. Give me the Cowboys in a sloppy and low scoring game.

Bart’s Best Bets YTD: 25-23-2 (17-17-2 ATS, 8-6 O/U)

There you have it, folks, Week 11 of Bart’s Best Bets. I was very pleased with my 3-1-1 week last week, but I am trying to stay focused on the task at hand. I hope you enjoyed reading and enjoy my picks this week even more. Have a GREAT weekend of football watching, and don’t forget to check out DaveCh999’s NFL Week 10 picks! He’s going to heat up, I promise!

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 9th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

"If you listen to the fans, you'll be sitting with them" - Kevin Spacey

Another week, another 0-3 on my picks, I have no idea why anyone reads this or asks my opinion on football anymore. What kind of idiot takes the Browns? Spin Zone though, we are halfway through the season and historically this is where I hit my stride as a handicapper. Its difficult to predict what is going to happen in the unpredictable NFL and that’s part of what makes it so fun. This week is a great example. Did you know the NFL had a trade deadline? Me either, that’s why I was so surprised to see so many key players switch teams this week. Apparently the NFL was jealous of all the attention the NBA gets when it comes to offseason and trade deadline moves they decided to step their game up.

Kelvin Benjamin to the Bills, Jay Ajayi to the Eagles, and Jimmy G to the 49ers. While these might not seem like complete game changers these were some very impactful players switching teams during the normally quite NFL trade deadline. The Eagles and Bills both seem to be looking to make a playoff run, acquiring some help to their offenses. The most interesting trade deadline move seems to be the Patriots moving backup QB Jimmy Garroppolo to the 49ers for a second round pick. First this shows the Patriots are prepared for known cheater and avocado ice cream advocate Tom Brady to play well into his 40s and the foreseeable future. Second this shows 49ers GM John Lynch does not like what he sees in the 2018 draft class of QBs. The Niners will almost certainly have a top 3 pick in this years draft, which would be the ideal spot to take either Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, or Mason Rudolph. With this trade Lynch is essentially saying he will not be taking any of them and handing the franchise over to the most handsome backup QB in the league, Jimmy G. The last part of this that is interesting is how will Jimmy G look away from the friendly confines of Brady and Belichick. Every QB that has left New England in the Belichick era has not lived up to expectations, will Jimmy G be more of the same? Time will tell.

Now most of these trades, although impactful, are not all that exciting. Who really cares if teams are sending 4th round picks back and forth? Yawn!! But what if the NFL trade deadline was as exciting as the NBA? What if teams really moved players and personnel that would turn heads? I’m not saying I could do a better job than every GM in the NFL, but I could do better than probably half of them. Well here are my favorite moves I would make if I were in charge.

1. Tom Brady to the Browns in exchange for every Browns first round pick for the rest of the century

Finally a chance to see what Mr. deflategate is really made of. I’d love to see how much the 3 hours a day of yoga and avocado ice cream helps when he’s running for his life behind the Browns offensive line. Brady is often thrown around as the greatest to every play QB and possibly the best football player of all time. With this trade we would really find out. Could Brady lead the Browns to a .500 record? Could he turn Hue Jackson into the new Bill Belichick. Did I mention Josh Gordon is back? Gordon has been suspended for 54 games for Marijuana use. (Because if you really want someone to stop smoking Marijuana you should give them 2 and half years off work.) Josh Gordon and Tom Brady would easily become the most fun pass connection in all of football. If Brady could win a few games for the Browns and the Cavs continue to lose maybe the front running king Lebron would ditch basketball and come play tight end for Brady and the Browns.

2. Calvin Johnson to the Chiefs in exchange for Eric Berry

The 6-2 Chiefs look like one of the best offenses in the NFL, all they are really missing is a big outside receiver. Enter Megatron. Johnson just turned 32 and still has some left in the tank after a year off. The stupid Lions are one of the only franchises to never make a super bowl, while somehow having one of the top 3 running backs in the history of football and one of the top 3 wide receivers in the history of football. Finally Megatron will be free of the abysmal Lions and have a chance to play in the playoffs and win a ring. The Chiefs can officially make this an all in move by sacrificing Eric Berry who is out the rest of the season with a torn Achilles. Berry wasn’t gonna help the Chiefs win this year but Megatron can. In 2004 the Andy Reid led Eagles picked up Terrell Owens and he took them all the way to the Super Bowl, Megatron could do the same for the Chiefs.

3. Jerry Jones to the Mavericks in exchange for Mark Cuban

Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban don’t actually have much in common. They are both billionaires, own teams in Dallas, and are constantly thirsty for the spotlight. After that the similarities stop especially with how they run their teams. Jones has been outspoken against players kneeling for the national anthem (which they have the constitutional right to do.) going as far to say any Cowboys player who kneels for the anthem will not play. Cuban has always been an advocate for his players and if possibly is considered a players owner. Picture Cuban being allowed to voice his opinion in an NFL owners meeting. All of a sudden we could see some big changes in the NFL. At the very least Cuban would be a threat to be thrown out of any game for fighting with officials on the sideline. Now picture 75 year old anthem protest hating Jerry Jones in charge of an NBA team, a league which is prominently African America if you didn’t know. The reaction from Jerry Jones when Lebron James showed up to Dallas in a ‘I can’t breathe’ shirt would be priceless.

4. Tony Romo to Green Bay in exchange for Aaron Rodgers

Everyone on the planet is apparently the world’s biggest fan of Tony Romo the broadcaster. Maybe everyone forgot how much fun it is to watch Tony Romo lead a game winning drive down the field just to have him bobble the snap on the extra point and lose the game. Instead of hearing Romo confuse Jim Nantz on Thursday Night football why not watch him almost win games for his hometown Green Bay Packers. The Packers are more dependent on the QB than almost every other team in the league. When Rodgers broke his collar bone their season might as well be done. Enter Romo, Tony gives some life to the Packers while Rodgers goes up into the booth until his collar bone is healed. Rodgers is every bit the celebrity as Romo with the bonus of actually being a great QB in the NFL. Romo makes the Packers interesting, Rodgers keeps Jim Nantz on his toes and when Rodgers is healthy they switch back.

5. Deshaun Watson’s right ACL in exchange for Tom Savage’s right ACL

Last Sunday the Seahawks and Texans played what is probably going to be remembered as the greatest regular season game of 2017. Seahawks won 41-38 but Deshaun Watson won the hearts of America for absolutely balling out in one of the toughest places to play in the league. Texans games were quickly becoming must see tv and then Thursday Watson tore his ACL in practice. Every football fan had to feel terrible for him and then themselves for not being able to see him play any more this year. My trade deadline wish? Can Dr. James Andrews preform some kind of surgery to give Watson a healthy ACL so he can continue to play. Tom Savage doesn’t need his ACL might as well do what he has to do for the team and give his ACL to Watson. The city of Houston and football fans everywhere thank you for your service Mr. Savage.

NFL Week 9 Picks

All lines used from the Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

Broncos +7

Bucs +7

Cowboys -2.5

Broncos +7

I’ve had some stupid bets this season, but taking Brock Osweiler starting on the road against the team with the best record in the league? I’m off my rocker crazy. But the Broncos are a desperate team, this is a fork in the road moment for their season right here. They still have one of the best defenses in the league and their defense knows they have to nearly pitch a shutout to have a chance to win. As for the Eagles? They can’t keep blowing teams out forever. The Eagles are due to play a close game. Please Brock just don’t turn the ball over, score 10 points and hope your defense gets a pick 6 or 2.

Bucs +7

Tampa Bay has been absolutely terrible the last 4 weeks going on a 4 game losing streak. Part of the Bucs problem is their QB Jameis Winston was injured against Arizona and hasn’t been 100% healthy since. The Big problem with Tampa is their defense hasn’t been able to stop anyone. The Saints on the other side have been on a 5 game winning streak and surprisingly have a decent defense for the first time since they were paying their players to hurt opponents (people don’t forget).  Even though everything about this matchup says the Saints dominate and continue their winning streak I’m betting the opposite will happen this week. The Bucs are a desperate team looking to save their season. Give me the desperate team getting +7 all day.

Cowboys -2.5

Dallas vs. Kansas City is by far the best matchup on the board for Sunday and Ezekiel Elliott is playing. Kansas City played Monday night and is going to Dallas on a short week. The Chiefs defense has not looked great the last 2 weeks, giving up 31 points to the Raiders, and giving up 19 points to the Broncos.  And giving up 19 points to the Broncos is like giving up 45 points to a normal team. The Cowboys should control this game with Ezekiel Elliott and he will make the difference in this game. The Cowboys have blown out teams two weeks in a row and I think they will continue their winning streak at home. The Chiefs losing this game makes sense because next week is their bye and nothing is more guaranteed than the Chiefs winning coming off their bye week in week 11.

Record to date: 0-0 so far this week

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 9 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

It’s finally November and the College Football Playoff Committee came out with their first set of rankings on Tuesday. I wasn’t surprised by the teams in the top four or the order they were in. Some people think it’s ridiculous that Georgia is ranked ahead of Alabama, but if you compare the resume of both teams, Georgia definitely has the best in the country. Is Georgia a better football team than Alabama? Absolutely not. If they were to play this week Alabama would be favored by anywhere from 7-10 points, and I’d take Alabama in a heart beat. This thing is far from over and the rankings this week don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things because a lot can and will happen even this weekend to shake things up.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I was very happy Alabama was ranked #2 in the country this week. I was even happier the team ahead of them was one of their conference rivals. So why does any of this matter when making my picks for this week? Here’s the simple answer: We get a pissed off Alabama Crimson Tide football team against LSU, that’s why. Let’s go.

Before we get to the picks, just a quick reminder, I don’t actually gamble real money, because gambling is illegal in Nebraska. If I could gamble legally, these would be the picks I would go with. All of the lines and totals are set at time of publishing (odds coming from oddshark), and will not change as the week goes on. So get’em while their hot! Here we go,  Bart’s Best Bets Baby!

Saturday, November 4th

Auburn (-15) @ Texas A&M

I had a big swing and miss on Texas A&M last weekend, so I’m ready to make up for it this week. The Aggies got beat 35-14 last weekend against Mississippi State and lost their starting quarterback in the process. Auburn is well rested coming off their bye week and is ready for a revenge game (lost 29-16 last year). I usually wouldn’t give this many points with a road team, but I think Auburn is a solid play here. Auburn still has a lot to play for and Kevin Sumlin could already be half way out the door in College Station. The Tigers are the better team with a better coach and are rested and healthy. Auburn wins by 20+.

Rice @ UAB (-11)

As you guys know by now, when I am looking at lines on Monday afternoon, I am only looking for numbers that really pop out to me. This is a pure example of a number popping out to me. Rice is a bottom five team in the FBS and UAB is one of the more underrated teams to bet on due to their lack of exposure. Here are some nice stats: Rice is 1-7 overall and 2-6 ATS this year. UAB is 5-3 overall and 6-2 ATS this year. Rice is on a six game losing streak and UAB is coming off a very nice 18 point win over Southern Miss. UAB at home against one of the worst football teams in the nation. I’ll take the Blazers by at least two touchdowns.

Coastal Carolina @ Arkansas Over 59.5

Here’s another odd game to pick. Very slim pickings this week, deal with it. Here’s a couple thing I know, Arkansas is not a good defensive football team and Coastal Carolina is bad at everything. I honestly have no idea how this game is going to go, but I think both teams will give up points. I think Arkansas will put up at least 45 points against the Chanticleers. That means Coastal Carolina only has to score a couple garbage time TD’s, which I think they will. Vegas has no idea what is going to happen in this game and I think we can take advantage of this low total.

Virginia @ Miami Under 50

Tell me if you’ve heard this before: I absolutely love this pick. First off, I can’t wait to watch this game. Two very good teams playing the best their best football of the year. Quick Question: What are these two teams best at? DEFENSE! So why is this total set at 50? I have no idea, because I think this will be a field position game throughout with a lot of punting. I have a feeling this game will end well under 50 at 20-17 and I’ll let you pick the winner. (Go Canes!)

LSU @ Alabama (-21)

Are you guys ready for my favorite pick of the year? There’s so many different reasons to love Alabama in this spot, but I will try to keep it to a minimum. First reason, Alabama was ranked as the #2 team in the first CFP rankings of the season. To make it even worse, the team ahead of them is Georgia, another member of the SEC. Yikes. Second reason, Alabama is coming off a bye week, so they are well rested and extremely prepared for LSU. Third reason, stats: Alabama is 4-0 ATS in their last four games after a bye week and 7-2 ATS in their last 9 November games. Finally, LSU is 0-4 ATS in the last four games against Alabama. So we have a pissed off Nick Saban, at home, off a bye, against a team that lost to the Troy Trojans on their homecoming? (People don’t forget) Yeah, give me Alabama by 30+ points. Sorry Coach O, have an extra bowl of gumbo to ease the pain.

Bart’s Best Bets YTD: 22-22-1 (16-16-1 ATS, 6-6 O/U)

There you have it, folks, Week 10 of Bart’s Best Bets. I had a below average 2-3 week last week and am officially right at .500. It could be worse, but like I’ve been saying all year, there’s still a lot of season left. I hope you enjoyed reading and enjoy my picks this week even more. Have a GREAT weekend of football watching, and don’t forget to check out DaveCh999’s NFL Week 9 picks!

 

Well, nothing exciting really happened last weekend (except my first push of the year). There were more blowouts than there were upsets. I think we did find out some valuable information though. Penn State and Notre Dame are for real (at least for another week) and USC is exactly who we thought they were: Fake. I shouldn’t be disappointed with how Michigan played, but I kind of am. I understand that Michigan has zero offense, but I figured the defense would at least slow Penn State down and make it a decent game. I feel like college football season is finally serious, and teams are ready to make the final push. There are some big time games this week, and I have a feeling there will be craziness in the top 10, but I have no idea where it’s going to happen. So I’m just trying to stay focused and find the best value out there. Let us begin.

Before we get to the picks, just a quick reminder, I don’t actually gamble real money, because gambling is illegal in Nebraska. If I could gamble legally, these would be the picks I would go with. All of the lines and totals are set at time of publishing (odds coming from oddshark), and will not change as the week goes on. So get’em while their hot! Here we go,  Bart’s Best Bets Baby!

Saturday, October 28th

Penn State (+7) @ Ohio State

Is this a trap? Probably, and I’m falling right into it. I wish they would have scheduled this game for primetime instead of the afternoon because this is by far the game I’m most excited for this week. Ohio State and Penn State are playing their best football right and I don’t think this game will disappoint. I could throw a bunch of stats and trends out for this game, but none of that really matters. Penn State has the best player in this game (and in the country) in Saquon Barkley and I think this Trace McSorely guy is a very good quarterback. Penn State also has a better defense than Ohio State. Sure, Ohio State is the home team and they are coming off a bye week. Penn State has the momentum and the better players, I’m taking Penn State +7 and maybe even considering putting a little “sprinkle” on the moneyline.

Missouri @ UConn (+14)

Yikes, these are two bad teams, no one is going to watch this game (not even me). So why are you picking this game, BartSauce? I am picking this game because I find a TON of value in UConn getting double digits at home. The Huskies have won two straight games and seem to have a lot of momentum and confidence coming into this game. Missouri is in the SEC, which is a way tougher conference than AAC. They are also coming off a 68-21 win over Idaho. I believe that win and the fact Missouri are in the SEC is why they are favored by 13 here. Here’s the truth, Missouri is a really bad football team, no matter what conference they are in. UConn is at home and has momentum. The Huskies may not win this game, but I think they will keep it close for sure.

Mississippi State @ Texas A&M (+2)

A home team getting points, my favorite. This is the most underrated game of the weekend. These are two above average SEC teams that nobody really cares about because they aren’t named Georgia or Alabama. Texas A&M is coming off a bye week and has had two weeks to prepare for the high octane Mississippi State offense. Both of these teams are 5-2 but they couldn’t be more different. MSU’s two losses are both blowout losses to Georgia and Auburn. A&M’s two losses are a one point loss to UCLA in week 1 (remember that?), and an 8 point loss to Alabama. Those are two embarrassing losses versus two not so bad losses. Put all of that and add in the home-field advantage A&M has and I like the Aggies to win this one outright. So I will gladly take the points.

Nebraska @ Purdue Under 51

Here’s a stat for you: Nebraska has scored 17 and 14 points in the last two games. Purdue has scored 12 and 9 points the last two games. When I first saw this total on Monday it was at 49.5 and I immediately thought: “I love the unders in this game”. Well, I just checked the total again (Wednesday) and the total is at 51, and I immediately thought: “It’s a little fishy the total keeps going up, but I love the unders even more”. I’m not sure how this game is going to go in terms of the winner, but I have a very good feeling the total score will stay under 51.

UNLV @ Fresno State (-21)

Well I hit a Mountain West game to finish off last weekend (Thanks, Wyoming), so I want to go back to that conference for another week! Here’s the deal, UNLV is a bottom 10 team in the FBS. They are 2-5 and their two wins are Idaho (bad) and San Jose State (even worse). They also lost to Howard (yikes). I don’t care about any of that though, because I absolutely love Fresno State and here’s why: First, the Bulldogs are 6-0-1 ATS so far this year. They are 5-2 straight up and their two losses are to Washington and Alabama, but they covered the spread in both of those games! They have won 4 straight games and beat every team in their conference so far by 17 or more points, including San Diego State last weekend. Fresno State is a confident and hungry football team that has a legitimate shot a playing for the Mountain West Championship and UNLV has all but given up on the season. I love Fresno giving 3+ touchdowns because I think they’ll win this thing by 30 or more.

Bart’s Best Bets YTD: 20-19-1 (15-13-1 ATS, 5-6 O/U)

There you have it, folks, Week 9 of Bart’s Best Bets. I had an average 2-2-1 week last week and am still hovering over .500, but there’s still a lot of season left. I hope you enjoyed reading and enjoy my picks this week even more. Have a GREAT weekend of football watching, and don’t forget to check out DaveCh999’s NFL Week 8 picks!

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 7th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

"In the NFL it's not IF you get injured, its WHEN." - William Shakespeare (probably)

We are through 6 weeks of NFL action and that’s exactly what its been, non-stop action. We’ve had the President tweet multiple times about the league. Experts proclaiming Carson Wentz is the next John Elway. Half the league kicking themselves for not drafting Deshaun Watson. And lost in all the action, not many people have noticed the Browns have still not won a game. There has been something different about this year though the injuries have actually come to players we care about. If you know anything about football or the work of William Shakespeare you already know injuries in football are inevitable. Some of the best athletes on the planet crashing into each other at full speed is going to cause some injuries you don’t see at your average workplace. The thing about players in the NFL is many of them do not have recognition outside of their helmets. Because football is the ultimate team game many players become more a cog in the machine than a shinning star.

Fun Fact: Lebron James has 39 million twitter followers. The top 10 NFL players in terms of twitter followers have a combined 35 million followers. Not saying twitter followers are the end all be all of popularity but clearly Lebron James is much more recognizable than every player in the NFL. How do I know? I never even mentioned who Lebron James is or what he does for a living and you know exactly who I’m talking about. Out of the top 10 NFL players based on twitter followers, 4 of them are currently out of the NFL, Tim Tebow, Reggie Bush, Michael Vick, and Chad Ochocinco. The NFL never built is popularity on the faces and personalities of players the way the NBA did. But that doesn’t mean the NFL doesn’t have popular players.

If you watch any random NFL game on tv, there is a 100% chance that at some point during a commercial break either Aaron Rodgers, JJ Watt or Odell Beckham will be featured in at least one of those commercials. What do all three of those players have in common? They won’t be playing another game in the NFL this season. Watt, Beckham, and Rodgers have all sustained season ending injuries. How is it possible that three of the most recognizable guys in the league all won’t be playing more than 6 games. Maybe there’s a chance all of these injuries happened to these players on purpose, they say everything happens for a reason. I’m not saying I would wish these injuries on these players but it might not be a bad thing either.

Let’s start with OBJ. Last January before a playoff game in Green Bay, Beckham and the rest of the Giants receivers took a trip to Miami for a quick pre-playoff game vacation and they have yet to win a game OBJ has played in since. In between that time Beckham has campaigned that he should be the highest paid player in the league, and also posted a lot of photos on Instagram. This combination of lofty goals plus the ability to use social media in such a polarizing fashion should be a huge advantage for OBJ’s free time. With Beckham now out for the year with a leg injury he will have plenty of time to campaign the owners of the Giants to be the highest paid player in the league. If I were OBJ I would be using all of this free time to post Instagram videos of all my highlights. Maybe do some daily video blogs making his case for why he deserves a new contract. If Donald Trump has taught America anything, its that if you have lofty goals, a polarizing presence on social media, and a lot of free time; there isn’t anything you can’t accomplish. OBJ should borrow a move from the president and immediately start using his social media to attack other players in the league. Here are some ideas of posts for OBJ.

“Derek Carr is an overrated slob, not nearly as good looking as his brother, does not deserve his contract, sad.”

“Aaron Donald is a fat loser who didn’t show up for his team week 1, doesn’t deserve to get paid, sad.”

“Le’veon Bell is a lazy stoner who has never been there when it matters, not the best RB in the league, sad.”

Taking the negative attention away from his injury and placing it on other players flaws should be the perfect strategy for Beckham to come away with rich new contract. Whoever said injuries were a bad thing.

Now for Golden Arm Aaron Rodgers. Last Sunday Rodgers was hit by Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr and broke his collar bone. Shoutout to my brother Dalton for telling me a great conspiracy on this. Anthony Barr who his Rodgers went to UCLA. The Packers backup QB, Brett Hundley was Barr’s teammate at UCLA. Did Barr take out Rodgers with a dirty hit just to get his boy a starting job? Just connecting some dots.

Here is an interesting thought, how happy were Aaron Rodgers parents when they watched him get hit and broke his collar bone? It’s been well documented that Aaron Rodgers does not speak with or get along with his immediate family. I’m sure after years of not hearing from him and Aaron returning their Christmas gifts, they were pretty excited to see him go down with a broken collar bone. With all this free time now it would be too easy for Rodgers just to make a million more terrible State Farm commercials, but I’ve got a better idea. Aaron should go on the Bachelor and compete directly with his younger brother for women. I have little knowledge of how reality dating shows work but I know Aaron’s brother Jordan was a contestant on the Bachelor at some point and won. Now that Aaron isn’t playing football this season he should go on the show to fight against brother for the attention of the lovely women who agree to go on dating shows. Two brothers who hate each other fighting over drunk, desperate women, how is this not the most entertaining tv show of all time?!

Last major injury of the season so far is Captain America himself JJ Watt. This one is pretty obvious why it happened. JJ Watt is the king of motivational posts on social media. If I know JJ the way I think I do he is probably thankful for another opportunity to be the underdog again and come back from a horrible injury next season. “A minor setback for a major comeback” or whatever other motivational BS JJ decides to post on social media for the next 8 months. Part of JJ Watt’s superhero persona was on display last offseason when he raised over 20 million dollars for hurricane relief victims in the Houston area. This injury for Watt could prove to be a blessing in disguise for all the hurricane victims in Texas. With all of his season freed up now, I’m sure JJ will work tirelessly to raise more money for hurricane victims. A loss for the Texans equals a victory for the entire city of Houston. As long as JJ doesn’t get distracted by posting videos of himself working out this injury could prove to be a miracle for hurricane victims.

NFL Week 7 Picks

All Lines used from Las Vegas Westgate Super contest

Colts +3.5

Giants +4.5

Cowboys -6.5

Colts +3.5

It has been well documented this season that I do not like Colts and have they have handled the Andrew Luck situation. Now its been reported that the Patriots reached out to the Colts about trading Jacoby Brissett, not the other way around. Meaning the Colts plan this season was to play Scott Tolzien until Luck was 100% healthy. I cannot even begin to wrap my head around how stupid that thought process is. But the Colts do have Brissett now, and he has actually played decent (compared to Scott Tolzien he looks like  Steve Young.) This bet isn’t about the Colts though, this bet is about the Jags. I know the Jags have had some huge victories this season but there is no reason in the history of football that the Jags should be favored by more than a Field Goal on the road. This is strictly a principal bet, and the Colts have been decent at home. Gimmie Jacoby Brisket at a home dog.

Giants +4.5

The Giants went into Denver last Sunday night and beat the Broncos as a 13.5 point underdog. The Dolphins also beat the Falcons in Atlanta as a 13.5 point underdog. Both the Falcons and the Broncos were at home coming off of bye weeks and somehow lost to huge underdogs. Last week was the NFL version of a Solar Eclipse and we won’t see anything like it again for 40 years. Lost in the eclipse, the Giants are much better than their 1-5 record. Even though they are literally playing with receivers they signed off the street last week, I like them as a home underdog. Their defense is good enough to keep them in any game and as long as they can run the ball against the Seahawks this will be a close low scoring game.

Cowboys -6.5

I mentioned how last week was the solar eclipse of the NFL with huge favorites coming off a bye losing outright. We never see an eclipse in back to back weeks. The Cowboys are coming off a bye playing at the 0-6 San Fransisco Niners. The Niners have lost each of their last 5 games by 3 points or less. Eventually they won’t be able to keep that streak up. I think this is the week it comes to an end. The Cowboys are a better team and this week they win by double digits. Plus the Niners are starting something called a CJ Beathard? (Stops to google CJ Beathard.) If the Cowboys terrible secondary is ever going to have a good game its going to be against a CJ Beathard.

Record to date: who cares records are a stupid thing to keep track of

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 6 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

 

 

Ahhhh, finally, Bart’s Best Bets finally had a good week last week. We went 4-1 thanks to a super nice backdoor cover by the Minnesota Gophers. That PJ Fleck guy just refuses to give up, and his career ATS record reflects that (I have no idea what it is, but I’m assuming it’s good).

I’m happy that I’m back on track, but it’s important to keep focus on the road ahead. This week is going to be a little different than others. I have mostly been Power 5 Conference heavy for the first seven weeks of this blog. After looking at the board, there is not much I like in the major conferences this week. So I am going to turn to the smaller conferences, because that’s where the real value is at. In particular, I am picking a couple games in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). This is one of my favorite conferences to follow, both in football and basketball, and it’s time to start jumping on some of those teams. Alright, enough rambling, let’s get to business. MACtion is back, baby! Let us go!

Before we get to the picks, just a quick reminder, I don’t actually gamble real money, because gambling is illegal in Nebraska. If I could gamble legally, these would be the picks I would go with. All of the lines and totals are set at time of publishing (odds coming from oddshark), and will not change as the week goes on. So get’em while their hot! Here we go,  Bart’s Best Bets Baby!

Saturday, October 21st

Temple @ Army (-6.5)

Here’s my main reasoning for liking Army (or disliking Temple) in this game. Any team that loses to UCONN at home (Temple last week) should not be less than double digit underdogs in their next game. I had to be one of the few people watching the UCONN v. Temple game on ESPNU last Saturday morning. It was one of the worst/ugliest football games I’ve ever seen. Temple is not a good football team and Army still has a lot to play for this season. I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s easy to go into West Point and win a football game against Army (4-0 at home). This is a gut feeling, but I think Army wins this game by 10+.

Iowa @ Northwestern Under 47

I’m not sure why, but this total really caught my eye. Something about a morning kickoff in Evanston that makes me like under here. These are two teams that can put up a lot of points against shaky defenses, but the strength of both these teams is on the defensive end. The spread right now is at Iowa -1.5, and I’m sure it’ll be a close game throughout, hopefully with a lot of punting. You guys know that I don’t like picking unders, but I have a feeling with this one. I think this is an old school Big Ten battle that will end up being 20-17 or something like that, I’ll let you choose who wins.

Western Michigan @ Eastern Michigan (+3)

Western Michigan was one of my favorite teams to bet on last year, but they were highly overrated at the beginning of the year, and even though we are already more than half way through the season, I don’t think the public has really caught on that they are no where near the same team as last year (2-5 ATS). On the other side we have Eastern Michigan, who is tied for 6th in the FBS with an ATS record of 5-1. EMU has lost 4 straight games, all to very quality opponents, including a 28-27 dog fight at Army last weekend. Eastern Michigan is hungry for a win, and what better way to do it at home against their biggest in state rival? I love EMU at home getting four points here. Maybe even consider sprinkling a little on the moneyline. Gotta love an underdog, when he howls.

Buffalo (+3) @ Miami-Ohio

I told you we’d have a fair share of MACtion picks in this one. This is truly a trend/stats pick. Buffalo leads the all the FBS in ATS with a perfect record of 7-0. You like that? You’ll like this even more. Miami is fourth worst in the FBS in ATS with an abysmal record of 1-6. Yikes. Look, these are two teams that will finish somewhere in the bottom of the MAC, but somebody has to win this game. Buffalo has played a harder schedule than Miami and they have also played opponents closer than Miami has. Vegas has no idea who’s going to win this game, and the only reason Miami is favored is because they are at home and they think that home field advantage is worth three points. I consider Buffalo +3 a nice gift. Again, maybe even consider putting a little on Buffalo moneyline if you’re feeling lucky.

Wyoming (+14) @ Boise State

I don’t know about you guys, but I need a nice late night football fix after all that afternoon MACtion. I usually turn to #Pac12AfterDark in these sort of situations, but once again, I found some value in a smaller conference, the good ol Mountain West. I know that Wyoming and specifically Josh Allen haven’t lived up to the hype this year, but they still find themselves on a nice little three game winning streak. On the other side, we have a Boise State team that has not played up to their Boise State Program expectations this year. Sure, they did just have a really nice road win over San Diego State last week, but I’m not sold on them. Both teams have really struggled on the offensive side of the ball this year and have been carried by the defense. Here’s a nice little nugget: Boise is just 3-13 ATS in their last 16 home games and Wyoming is 10-2 ATS in their last 12 conference games. I think Boise State wins this game, but by two touchdowns or more? Give me a break, or even better, give me Wyoming and the 14 points.

Bart’s Best Bets Year to Date: 18-17 (14-11 ATS, 4-6 O/U)

There you have it, folks, Week 8 of Bart’s Best Bets. I finally had a good week last week and am back over .500, but there’s still a lot of season left. I hope you enjoyed reading and enjoy my picks this week even more. Have a GREAT weekend of football watching, and don’t forget to check out DaveCh999’s NFL Week 7 picks!

Quick question: What’s better than skipping church, sitting on the couch in a dark room watching the Red Zone channel for 12 hours avoiding all real world responsibilities, and gambling on grown men who probably have CTE? Doing it for the 6th straight week. Welcome to NFL Sunday.

Note from the Author: All sentences that deal with soccer end with a question mark. This is on purpose due to the fact soccer is very stupid and confusing. 

During the Fall there are always two nights out of the week that are much worse than others, Tuesday and Wednesday. Those are the only two nights during the fall where there is absolutely no football on. Unless you want to watch South East Louisiana Tech State vs Middle Arkansas Pine Bluffs U (which of course I’ll watch cause its football but I’m not happy about it.) then we all have to wait two days between Monday and Thursday night football. This Tuesday was different however because we had a critical soccer matchup for the USA men’s soccer team against Trinidad and Tobago? The USA lost this match 2-1 and were officially eliminated from playoff contention World Cup qualifying? This whole thing confuses me and too be honest I did not watch a second of this game and had no idea it even happened until I saw the outrage on the internet after the game. Like most people on the internet I instantly formed by opinion without researching any of the facts or information. And in common internet fashion I agree with all of these outraged people who don’t have any of the facts or information.

The USA Men’s soccer team has a problem? We live in the biggest, richest, most powerful country in the world and someone we lose to Trinidad and Tobago in soccer? How can we not put a soccer team together that is even good enough to qualify for the World Cup? All of the best athletes in our country play basketball or football. No wonder we can’t beat any other country in soccer, we aren’t even playing with our JV athletes, we’re playing with the guys who got cut in middle school. The USA mens soccer team not being able to make the world cup is a flat out embarrassment and something needs to change. Luckily for our country I am here with the solution. But first did you see the Vice President attended an NFL game this weekend?! Well kind of.

Last Sunday the 49ers were in Indianapolis playing the Colts. It was one of the most boring matchups of the year featuring Brian Hoyer and the 0-4 Niners vs Jacoby Brissett and the 1-3 Colts. Like an idiot I picked the Niners to win in Indy, which meant I spent 3 hours on a beautiful Sunday morning watch this poopfest of a matchup. Do you know who was smart enough to not watch this incredibly bad matchup? The Veep himself Mike Pence. Our Vice President is the former governor of Indiana and flew back last weekend to honor Colts legend Peyton Manning who has having his number put in the
Ring of Honor. However after the National Anthem Mike Pence and his posse left the house that Peyton built. Shortly after leaving Pence tweeted out the reason he left the game was because of players kneeling for the National Anthem. Apparently the Vice President hasn’t watched many 49er games this season or last because they were the team who started the anthem protests in August of 2016 and have had at least 1 player kneel for every game since then. Obviously this was a set up by the White House to have the VP walk out after the anthem knowing full well the Niners would have players kneel.

Since this stunt by the White House Sunday the political world and NFL world continue to interact. The President since then has tweeted multiple times about the NFL and how players kneeling is hurting the game and disrespecting the flag. After the crazy old man in the White House tweeted about the anthem Sunday, another crazy old man in Texas spoke out saying any that if any players disrespect the flag they won’t play. Now I’m sure there are over a million crazy old men in Texas that feel this way, but one of their opinions matters a little more than the rest. Because the man who said players won’t play if they kneel for the anthem was Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

BREAKING NEWS: A 74 year old white man from Arkansas has the opinion that NFL players should stand for the anthem. If you did not know this information before Sunday I’d also like to congratulate you on being born yesterday and/or living under a rock. Jerry Jones disliking anthem protests is not surprising, even after he ‘attempted’ to show unity by kneeling with his players before the anthem a few weeks ago. The problem with Jerry Jones is not his opinion, its the blatant hypocrisy. Jerry Jones are financially supported more wife beaters and drug addicts than a mob boss. I can’t even begin to count the number of Dallas players who have either been arrested, accused of a crime, or failed a drug test and have continued to play for the Cowboys. The most blatant example was exactly two years ago when the Cowboys signed Greg Hardy. I don’t feel like its an extreme opinion to say Greg Hardy deserves to be locked away and throw away the key. He beat a women nearly to death and threw her on a bed full of guns.  Instead of going to prision he went to Dallas and became a member of the Cowboys. Not only was he on the team for a season Jerry Jones even called him a “leader”.  JERRY JONES YOU CAN PISS ON MY FACE BUT DONT TELL ME ITS RAINING. Do Drugs, beat up a woman, or get a DUI; just don’t you dare use your first amendment right to peacefully protest on Jerry Jones’s watch.

With everything that’s happened this week regarding the National Anthem the NFL is now considering a rule to require players to stand for the National Anthem. This seems like an extreme solution to what the NFL views as its biggest problem. I can think of a much easier and more efficient solution. Thankfully for the NFL I’m here to do all the heavy lifting for them

At the beginning of this post I said I knew how to fix the USA mens soccer team, now I’m claiming I can fix the NFL’s “problem” with players kneeling for the National anthem. I am fully prepared to solve both these problems by killing two birds with one stone.

From here on out any NFL player who uses his first amendment right to protest will have to suit up one game for the US men’s soccer team. 

All of the best athletes in the United States play football. These guys are freak athletes with a dangerous combination of size, strength, and speed. Imagine some midget European soccer player trying to stop Dontari Poe from running downfield. Picture some little Brazilian guy trying to keep LeSean McCoy in front of him.  The possibilities are endless! If NFL players wanted to continue to use their right to take a knee, they would also be volunteering their service to compete for the US men’s soccer team. Players are happy because they get to continue kneeling. Owners are happy because now players who kneel seem even more patriotic since they will later be competing for their country in soccer. I believe a US mens soccer team captained by Colin Kaepernick (who is 6’5 230lbs, and runs a 4.5 40.) would roll through the pathetic world of soccer teams on their way to a world cup championship. Come at me soccer fans!! You couldn’t possibly argue that little 5’7 Lion Messy is even in the same universe of athlete as Colin Kaepernick. (How is a guy who’s 5’7 and 150lbs considered the best player in any sport? In America we would call him a water boy.) Lets do this America, send our best to show the world what we’re made of. NFL owners need to Nut up or shut up now and volunteer their players for service in the US men’s soccer team. The world won’t know what hit ’em.

NFL Week 6 Picks

All lines used from the Las Vegas Westgate Supercontest

Packers -2.5 -135

Rams +3 -135

Falcons Broncos Redskins Patriots moneyline parley -116

Packers -2.5 -135

The brother of a former Bachelorette contestant has the Packers looking like one of the best teams in the NFC after leading a last minute drive to beat the Cowboys in Dallas 35-31. The Vikings on the other hand are without a true starting QB and are coming off a game where they barley were able to beat the 1-4 Bears who were starting a rookie QB. The Vikings defense have been great especially at home but this brother of a former Bachelorette contestant hasn’t been slowed down all year. On offense the Vikings have struggled to move the ball without Dalvin Cook who is out for the season. The Vikings will struggle until they will be able to get a real QB and the Packers will take advantage. Like the Packers game last week I think this game will be close which is why I’m buying the line down to -2.5

Rams +3 -135

The Rams have been hot all season especially after coming off a statement loss at home against the Seahawks. The Jags on the other side definitely used some form of dark witchcraft or black magic to put Big Ben into a trance where he through 5 INTs and the Jags beat the Steelers 30-9. Now the Jags do have a good defense but the Rams are the better team here. The strength of Jacksonville defense is stopping the pass, but the Rams have been able to consistently move the ball on the ground with Todd Gurley. The Jags offense has been heavily relied on rookie Leonard Fournette to run the ball, if the Rams can hold Fournette to short gains the Jags will not be able to throw on anyone the Rams.

Falcons Broncos Redskins Patriots moneyline parley -116

This isn’t the first time I’ve been overly confident in such a stupid bet and it won’t be the last. All of these teams are at least -9.5 point favorites and all of them are at home except the Patriots who play the Jets. The only worry about the Patriots is Bill Belicheat is hiding some information regarding Tom Brady’s shoulder. Even if Brady is injured I would feel confident with more handsome Jimmy G playing QB to beat the Jets. Another good sign for the Patiots is they played last Thursday night meaning they got a ‘mini bye week’ a full 10 days off before this game. The Broncos, Redskins, and Falcons are all playing at home, coming off an actual bye week and have had a chance to get healthy. Each of those 3 teams is also playing at home which is a huge advantage to stay at home and have no travel for 2 weeks. And finally all 3 of these teams are double digit favorites for a reason, they are playing terrible teams. So how does this bet get screwed up? I don’t know yet but it sure will be exciting to find out how.

Record to Date: 7-9 ATS

Thank you to everyone for reading. Be sure to check out Bart’s Best Bets for college picks and come back next week for more NFL. Happy week 6 everyone and remember don’t let your life get in the way of your football. 

 

Sometimes I wonder why I keep doing this to myself. I spend at least 3-4 hours on this blog every week and I am always super confident in every pick I make. Then Saturday comes along and I’m lucky to go 2-3. Last week I went 1-4 and almost went 0-5 but Miami beat Florida State in the last minute to give me a win. I honestly don’t know who even reads this any more. I am literally forcing my wife to click on the link every week just so I know someone has at least viewed the blog. Things have gone down hill fast, and I can’t blame people for not reading, because the product that I am putting out there is terrible. I could probably spend these 3-4 hours a week doing something a lot more productive than this, but I’m not going to. You know why? Because I am extremely passionate about this blog and I am determined to turn this thing around. Do not feel sorry for me, just hang in there with me. You know what PJ Fleck would do in this situation? He’d keep rowing that boat, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Before we get to the picks, just a quick reminder, I don’t actually gamble real money, because gambling is illegal in Nebraska. If I could gamble legally, these would be the picks I would go with. All of the lines and totals are set at time of publishing (odds coming from oddshark), and will not change as the week goes on. So get’em while their hot! Here we go,  Bart’s Best Bets Baby!

Saturday, October 7th

TCU @ Kansas State (+7)

Ahhhh yes, a home team getting points. The Big 12 is always crazy and unpredictable, but this year it seems crazier and more unpredictable than normal. Kenny (Trill) Hill is an incredible football player and TCU very well could be the Big 12 only team that has the chance to make the College Football Playoff, and that’s exactly why I like Kansas State in this one. Ever since Big 12 play started this season, there has been a huge upset that nobody really saw coming. TCU was the first team to do it when they beat Oklahoma State, and I think it is finally their turn to get upset. Kansas State is just an average football team this year, but they still have Bill Snyder running things over there, and as long as they have him they have a chance to win any game. I think the Big 12 craziness continues this week. Take K-State +6 and maybe even sprinkle a little on the moneyline as well. Gotta love an underdog, when they howl. (Insert Brent Musburger voice)

Georgia Tech (+6.5) @ Miami

Everyone knows that I love this Miami Hurricane Football team, but let’s be honest here. They got super lucky last week in the win against Florida State, and they lost their stud running back in the process. After going only 19-44 against FSU, I’m not sold on Malik Rosier either. Miami has a GREAT defense, but the triple option is a different animal, and no team has been able to stop it yet this year. Georgia Tech is literally a double overtime loss away from being an undefeated football team and they are coming off a nice bye week. This is bound to be a low scoring game, and I’ll definitely be rooting for Miami, but I just don’t see them winning by more than 3-4 points, if they win at all.

Baylor @ Oklahoma State OVER 68

I haven’t hit an over for like four weeks, but I’m not going to give up on it. Naturally, I’m turning to Oklahoma State to help me out. Baylor is ranked 112th in the nation in total defense and Oklahoma State is not much better on that end. Oklahoma State also has one of the most explosive offenses in the nation and has scored 40 or more points in four out of their five games this year. Oklahoma State should win this game, but I think Baylor will put up more of a fight than people think. Either way, there will be a lot of yards gained and a lot of points scored in this game. Take the over 70 and enjoy the game.

Arkansas @ Alabama (-30)

Alabama is the best team in college football right now (sorry, Clemson). With a record of 2-3, Arkansas is not a good football team this year, and even worse ATS (0-4-1). I think Alabama’s “close” 11 point win at A&M last Saturday was exactly what this team needed to get them fired up again. Nick Saban is pissed and so is his team, and I don’t feel bad for Arkansas one bit. The Razorbacks cannot play defense, and Alabama has one of the best defenses in the nation. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Alabama won this game 60-0. You can’t set a spread high enough for me to take Arkansas in this game.

Michigan State @ Minnesota (+4.5)

Speaking of Rowing the Boat, let’s talk what about a great opportunity the Gophers have this week. Michigan State is riding high right now after beating Michigan at the Big House and Minnesota is riding the struggle bus after going to West Lafayette and losing to Purdue by two touchdowns. I think this could be a big let down spot for Michigan State. The Spartans officially have a target on their back and I’m not sure if they are good enough to handle it yet. They very well could prove me wrong, but I can’t resist taking PJ and the gang as home dogs in this one. RTB!

Bart’s Best Bets Year to Date: 14-16 (11-10 ATS, 3-6 O/U)

There you have it, folks, Week 7 of Bart’s Best Bets. I am officially have a losing record in picking games, it’s time to turn this around. I hope you enjoyed reading and enjoy my picks this week even more. We had our FOURTH bad round of picks last weekend and I expect to bounce back this week. Have a GREAT weekend of football watching, and don’t forget to check out DaveCh999’s NFL Week 6 picks!