@Superdude said it best: “Jonathan Taylor continues to be a beast. 4 3-TD games already this season.” The Colts kept rolling behind Taylor and Daniel Jones with a rout of the Titans, while Green Bay blitzed the Steelers in the second half. The Broncos pounded the Cowboys, and the Texans dominated the Niners. The Jets earned their first win with a late comeback over the Bengals, and the Dolphins kept their coach for a while with a surprisingly easy victory over the Falcons.
Thursday night features the Ravens traveling to Miami. On Sunday, the Colts go to Pittsburgh, and the Broncos travel to Houston. The late slate on Sunday features the Chiefs at Buffalo, and Sunday night has Seattle visiting Washington. Arizona plays in Dallas on Monday night.
Here are this week’s lines. All spreads taken from ESPNBet on Tuesday the 28th at 9:15 am CT.
The Saints, who benched QB Spencer Rattler during last week’s loss to the Bucs, in favor of rookie Tyler Shough, have announced that Shough will start this week’s game against the Rams.
Rattler, who now has a record of 1-13 as the Saints’ starter, has had a rough couple of weeks, with six turnovers and seven sacks in the past two games.
And, with the Saints at 1-7, it’s already a lost season, so they might as well find out if they have anything in Shough.
I’m sure Indy will win this weekend. But I think it’ll be closer than some people think. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Pittsburgh ended up squeaking by with a win.
I’m pulling for Taylor, as a fellow Badger alum. Wisconsin had a run, from the early '90s until a few years back, of strong running games, and running backs who piled up tons of yards. Most of them didn’t go on to particular success in the NFL, but Taylor has become the exception to that rule. He’s averaging nearly 6 yards per carry!
I wonder how much of this line is due to Skattebo’s injury. I’d pick the Giants even with him out. The Niners have looked like hot garbage lately, even in their wins.
After that turd the Bears laid this week, I’m surprised they are a road favorite in Cincy. Yeah, Cincy just got keistered by the lowly Jets, but they are coming home and will be desperate for a bounce back. Flacco will also be one more game into the system and I’m not sure the Bears secondary will be any healthier. Good week to start Chase and Higgins in fantasy. I guess people think the Bengals D is so bad that even Caleb will carve it up.
Cincy just got keistered by the lowly Jets in Cincinnati. And the previous week Chase caught sixteen passes from Flacco, which would seem to indicate that Flacco is well into the system. They scored 38 points, which will win most games in the NFL. And they had no turnovers.
I’m a fan of horror movies, and for the last couple days I’ve been mulling over an idea for a topic: instances where a character (victim) is physically ruined, permanently, even if they survive. The defining example for me would be “head on a stick” from Wolf Creek.
I realized when I woke up today that that’s been on my mind because that’s how I feel about the Giants season with these two injuries to Nabers and now Skattebo.
The Saints and Ravens have bad defenses too. You could argue that the Ravens are getting healthy, but most of these guys only missed a game or two. Obviously, I hope we run up the score, but our red zone struggles are ridiculous.
Ravens have a point differential of -36, while the Saints have a point differential of -81. Which is damn close to Cincy’s differential of -79. Bears handled the Saints a couple of weeks ago, so I’m not that surprised that they are favored over the Bengals. Although, as you have stated, being a road favorite might be a stretch,
Looking beyond the Bears, I think the Lions only giving 8.5 against the JJ McCarthy Vikes at home is pretty generous. Seems like this should be well into double digits. The Saints are getting almost 2 touchdowns in a similar situation and the Lions at home are a hell of a lot more intimidating than the Rams.
That Giants-49ers game is absolutely a stay-away. While I think Dart gives the Giants a real chance, the loss of Skattebo feels like it could really take the wind out of that team’s sails. But on the flipside, the 49ers are completely unpredictable.
The Jags are unreliable, but I like their odds against the hapless Raiders quite a bit. Both teams off the bye, but if the Jags can contain Jeanty this should be an easy win.
Bills-Chiefs should be another classic; glad they are playing in Buffalo this time. Little surprised the Chiefs are favored on the road and I think I’d take the Bills here, but we know anything can happen here.
Cowboys are getting almost no respect at home against the Cards. Kyler is due to come back and I’m not sure that’s a good thing for them. But Vegas really doesn’t trust the Eberflus defense at all. Which is fair.
Skattebo is really fun. I like him. I hope he recovers. I really do. I think he’s good for the NFL. Even as someone who couldn’t care less about the Giants, I think he’s extremely entertaining.
But I’ve seen young amazing RBs get hurt and then never recover. That is the least forgiving position in football. And this is a particularly nasty injury.
The Broncos, in need of a blocking tight end, have signed Marcedes Lewis to their practice squad. Lewis, who is 41, would return to being the second-oldest active player in the NFL if he’s elevated to the active roster, behind only his former Packer teammate, Aaron Rodgers.
He’d been with the Bears the past two seasons, but has become pretty much solely a blocker at this stage of his career: despite playing in every game the past three years (2022 with Green Bay, 2023-24 with Chicago), he only caught 11 passes in that time.
Detroit Lions lock down Aidan Hutchinson with four year extension worth $180 million with $141 million guaranteed. This puts him below Micah Parson per year ($45m vs $46.5m) for highest paid defensive player ever but the $141m guaranteed is the highest ever for a non-QB. Since he’s already extended for next year with 5th year option, that puts him in Lions uniform through 2030.
Hope to terrorize the NFC North for years to come. Next year, the 2023 draft class will be expensive (Gibbs, Campbell, LaPorta, Branch) and require some creative salary cap manipulation. But it’s great to draft high caliber players, develop them, and then sign them to the second contract. As a Lions fan for over 40 years, this feels weird.
Having all those injuries is rough. Here, as a Giants fan, let me offer my sympathies:
Ironically, this is the one year Andrew Thomas is healthy. Next year he’ll go out for the season in week 3 and it won’t matter what skill position players the Giants have.
