NFL nut Kyle Robins (@AhhYeahKyleYeah) shares his expert opinion on the best bets ahead of Sunday's Week 9 action.
Houston Texans @ Jacksonville Jaguars | Sunday 8th November 2020, 18:00
Fresh off their bye weeks, both of these AFC South teams head into this weekend essentially starting down the barrel, preparing for one of them to be sitting at 1-7 come Monday morning. It’s not too bold to say, it’s a season-defining week for the duo: the difference between 2-6 and 1-7, mentally, is pretty damming.
Jacksonville, under rather strange and still unclear circumstances, head into this game with Jake Luton under the gun at quarterback, with regular starter Gardener Minshew seemingly just out due to injury, rather than being dropped.
Now yes, the Jaguars are 1-6, so there’s reason to believe and understand reasoning behind Minshew potentially being benched, but quite frankly, you could have Pat Mahomes put up 40 points a week as the Jags starter and their D would still happily give up 50.
Funny thing is, it’s a similar for the Texans down in Houston. Not that their quarterback play is bad, as they have one of best around in DeShaun Watson. But it just goes to show. No matter how good you are offensively, the league has no remorse for a horrible defence.
Coming into this weekend, these two teams rank 30th and 31st in average yards allowed per-game, as well as average points against per-game. Jacksonville is giving up 424 total yards per-game, to go along with 31.4 points, whilst the Texans are allowing 417 yards, as well as 31 points per-game on average. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – they both absolutely stink defensively.
On the back of firing Bill O’Brien, and with a little oomph in them, this game finished 30-14 back in Week 5, in favour of the Houston Texans. Since however, they’ve gone 0-2, giving up 42 points to the Titans, and 35 to the Packers.
Regardless of the Jaguars throwing a rookie into the starting lineup, outside of the Cowboys, I don’t think you could have asked for a better team to go up against in your first NFL start.
I’m aiming high for this game, point-wise. So take the Over 52.5 Points at 7/5 with Betfred and hope for some more offensive fireworks.
Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings | Sunday 8th November 2020, 18:00
Now a couple of weeks back, we had a nice 4/1 winner on two players to score touchdowns in a game involving the Detroit Lions, so why not head back to what we know. Albeit, with a different opposition.
T.J Hockenson’s touchdown as time expired in Atlanta brought home the win. So as Detroit heads to Minnesota to take on a Vikings team fresh off an impressive victory in Green Bay, I'm sticking with that same man again to get the job done.
With Matt Stafford originally set to miss this game, in a rather surprising turn of events, he’s been activated off the Covid reserve list, and will indeed suit up and start at quarterback. It’s worth noting, I wouldn’t even be writing this had Stafford not had been playing. He’s started to build somewhat of a rapport with tight end Hockenson so far this season, especially in the red zone, finding the big man on four occasions for touchdowns.
So, given the fact he’s up against a Vikings unit that ranks 25th when defending tight ends and star wide out Kenny Golladay has been ruled out, Hockenson should be in line for a heavy workload.
Couple him with a man in Dalvin Cook who went absolutely bananas last weekend in Green Bay, to the tune of four touchdowns, and 3/1 for them both to get into the endzone seems a tad under-priced. Cook has got into the endzone in every game so far this year, and is certainly the go to man offensively for the Vikings.
With a projected total of 52.5 points, there should be plenty of scoring opportunities. Take the 3/1 and watch the touchdowns flow in Minnesota.
Best Bets
Houston Texans @ Jacksonville Jaguars – Over 52.5 Points (7/5 Betfred)
Detroit Lions @ Minnesota Vikings – Dalvin Cook and TJ Hockenson both to score a touchdown (3/1 SkyBet)
