NFL Betting Tips: Chiefs to top Saints in heavyweight clash, Dolphins to beat the Patriots?
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Odds and preview ahead of this weekend’s NFL action
Rookie QB Justin Herbert guided his Los Angeles Chargers side past Las Vegas Raiders in overtime, while equalling NFL records at the same time.
Herbert threw his 27th touchdown this season, equalling Cleveland Browns Baker Mayfield’s record he set back in 2018, with two regular season games still left to go.
With a full run of fixtures this weekend, our attention shifts to Sunday night where Kansas City Chiefs take on New Orleans Saints in the pick of the Sunday’s 12 matchups.
Before any of the matches kick-off, we’re previewing our pick of week 15.
Washington have remained strong over the last couple of weeks to beat Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers and take control of the NFC East. But can they follow in the footsteps of their division rivals New York Giants and beat the Seattle Seahawks too?
Pete Carroll’s side faced the New York Jets last week at just the right time, needing to get back on track in their attempt to keep pace with NFC West leaders Los Angeles Rams. Despite going 3-0 down early on, they scored 40 points unanswered to give the Jets their 13th defeat.
Washington’s defence has been the catalyst to their improvement, with rookie Chase Young impressive yet again, with six tackles, a sack and a TD, with all the Footballers’ touchdowns last week coming from the defence.
Seattle Seahawks are still 4/11 favourites to win on the road on the Money Line, with Washington available at 9/4.
Washington’s defence will have their work cut out against one of the league’s best QB’s in Russell Wilson. He added four TD’s to his season total last weekend, which now stands at 36 and it’s clear to see the chemistry he’s built with the likes of Tyler Lockett and D.K Metcalf.
It could be the running backs who are key to this game though, with Seattle’s Chris Carson and Washington’s Antonio Gibson 15/2 favourites to score first. There’s even money on Metcalf to score anytime, with a Lockett TD available at 11/10.
With a 6-7 record for the season, sitting third in the AFC East behind Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins, could this be the first season since 2008 that New England Patriots miss out on the playoffs? It’s seeming ever more likely.
A win against their divisional rivals in this one could help their chances massively, but we’re starting to see the Dolphins offense and defence click to form a formidable side, something we’re still yet to see from Bill Belichick’s team this term.
Miami Dolphins are 3/4 favourites to win on the Money Line, with the Patriots 11/10 underdogs to close up on their AFC East rivals.
Patriots won the first matchup between these two sides this season, coming away with a 21-11 on the opening weekend with Cam Newton impressing. Fancy another Patriots win by 7-12 points? That’s 19/4.
Dolphins have a different QB at the helm now though, after Fitzpatrick was picked off three times in that opening game. It’s Tua Tagovailoa who’s starting now, and he’s really beginning to show his quality, throwing for 316 yards and two TD’s against the Chiefs last time out.
There was a strong fourth quarter showing against Kansas City for the Dolphins, and if you’re expecting another match with over 2.5 TD’s for Miami, that’s 5/4 with us.
New England’s loss at QB is Tampa Bay’s gain, and even at the ripe old age of 43, Tom Brady is still showing he’s got the quality to play with the league’s big boys. He’s thrown six times the number of TD’s as his Patriots replacement this season, heading into week 15 with 30.
It’s not just been about the passing game though, and last week’s win over the Minnesota Vikings showed signs that they’re utilising the running game more, with Ronald Jones II rushing 80 yards over 18 carries for one TD.
Brady may need to be cautious against a resilient Falcons defence though, who held their own against Herbert and the Chargers last week, allowing only 5.5 yards per attempt while claiming one interception.
Buccaneers are 4/11 favourites on the Money Line, while Atlanta Falcons are 21/10 to improve to 5-9 for the season.
Falcons came out on top in their last meeting, winning 28-22. Think there’ll be under 50.5 points again here? That’s 4/5.
Bucs WR Mike Evans has 11 TD’s so far this season, and he’s 6/1 to score first, or there’s 667/1000 on him anytime. Todd Gurley leads the way for the Falcons with nine, and he’s even money to add another to his collection anytime.
Over the last few weeks, momentum has swung to put Kansas City Chiefs back in front as the team to beat this season, standing alone at the top of the league with a 12-1 record as the Steelers and Saints have somewhat faltered.
But Saints have had to do without their starting QB Drew Brees, and it took them a fraction too long to acclimatise to the game without him last weekend, eventually missing out by three points to Philadelphia Eagles.
That’s not to say Taysom Hill has done a bad job, but Brees could come back this weekend to buoy the Saints and push them back towards top spot in the NFC playoff seeding picture.
Kansas City are 13/20 favourites to win on the Money Line, with Saints available at 5/4 to win at home.
The pair haven’t faced each other in four years, meaning this could be Mahomes’ first meeting with Brees should the latter be fit. Chiefs came out on top last time, winning 27-21. Fancy the Chiefs to win on the -5.5 points spread again? That’s 11/8.
Freddie Kitchens steps up to become the offensive coordinator for the Giants, against the side he coached last season after a Covid crisis at the New York team, with regular offensive coordinator Jason Garrett self-isolating and CB James Bradberry missing out too.
That won’t affect Cleveland Browns preparation for this game though, as they’ll be looking to make amends after being narrowly edged out by Baltimore Ravens and slipping to 9-4 for the season in their attempts to seal a playoff spot for the first time since 2002.
Browns are the 1/3 favourites on the Money Line to win, with the Giants 12/5 to secure a home win.
Nick Chubb has become an integral part of the Browns offense, claiming two more TD’s against the Ravens making that nine for the season. He’s 4/1 favourite to score the first TD, with 123/200 saying Kareem Hunt scores anytime.
For the Giants, Wayne Gallman has really stepped it up in recent weeks and leads the way with six TDs. The RB is 15/2 to score first, while there’s even money on him entering the end zone anytime.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication.
