The NFL – week 2
The 2017/18 NFL season is well underway — The New England Patriots lost to the Kansas City Chiefs on opening night in a game that lived up to the hype but ended with an unexpected result.
The Green Bay Packers outlasted the Seattle Seahawks and the Dallas Cowboys exacted revenge on the New York Giants for the two defeats last season. The Oakland Raiders defeated the Tennessee Titans and continued where they left off last season while the Cleveland Browns, despite losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, signaled that they are no longer the NFL’s weakest link.
Week 1 may be seen as just the start of the season but history has shown that if a team loses the season opener, it is highly unlikely that they will make the play-offs. Since 1990, just 25 per cent of teams who dropped their opener went on to make the playoffs – the difference between 1-0 and 0-1 seems minor, but the numbers don’t lie. Last season, nine of the 12 teams that reached the play-offs won in Week 1; the exceptions were the Atlanta Falcons (played in the Super Bowl), Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins. The 51 Super Bowl winners went 41-9-1 in Week 1 of their respective championship year, and four of the last five years saw the eventual champions winning their first game.
Now to the main Week 2 match-ups.
PATRIOTS at SAINTS — The New England Patriots and the New Orleans Saints are the two highest scoring NFL teams since the 2010 season, 3,433 and 3,103 respectively. Both are looking to rebound from Week 1 losses but, despite the fact that the Saints appeared offensively challenged against the Minnesota Vikings last week, the Patriots are without receiver Julian Edelman, receiver Danny Amendola and linebacker Dont’a Hightower with the latter unable to finish the first game due to injury and likey unavailable on Sunday. The return of receiver Brandin Cooks to play against his old team will probably not be enough motivation to take the Patriots over this hump.
COWBOYS at BRONCOS – Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliot’s six-game suspension remains on hold at the moment, allowing him to continue to play until a definitive ruling is made prohibiting him to do so – This should spell danger to all opponents. Dallas QB Dak Prescott will make his usual contribution but it is always difficult to manufacture a win in Denver’s altitude and defences will rule the day. This may turn out to be a low-scoring affair where the team with the better running game will win.
PACKERS at FALCONS — Not only did The Packers lose to the Falcons in the NFC Championship game last year (44-21), but the Falcons beat Green Bay twice last season, averaging 430 yards and 38 points per game. Atlanta, with reigning MVP quarterback Matt Ryan and the explosive receiver Julio Jones leading the way, have one of the NFL’s top offences. Although the aforementioned Jones was very understated in Week 1 (returning from off season foot surgery), he torched the Packers in last year’s NFC Championship Game and still has to be closely monitored – easier said than done. Despite the jaw-dropping talent of Green Bay’s QB Aaron Rodgers, he may not have enough talent around him to come out a winner this weekend.
The JustBet suite of betting options on NFL games continues to offer very attractive odds, from the very basic WIN or DRAW to the more exotic MARGIN OF VICTORY. Visit one of the over 120 locations and place your bets on the prediction of your choice for maximum winnings.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
Home Teams Odds to win Away Teams Odds to win
BAL RAVENS 1.22 CLE BROWNS 3.75
CAR PANTHERS 1.28 BUF BILLS 3.30
IND COLΤS 3.30 ARI CARDINALS 1.28
JAC JAGUARS 2.00 TEN TITANS 1.72
KC CHIEFS 1.38 PHI EAGLES 2.80
NO SAINTS 3.10 NE PATRIOTS 1.32
PIT STEELERS 1.35 MIN VIKINGS 2.90
TB BUCCANEERS 1.28 CHI BEARS 3.30
LA CHARGERS 1.45 MIA DOLPHINS 2.55
OAK RAIDERS 1.08 NY JETS 6.50
DEN BRONCOS 2.00 DAL COWBOYS 1.72
LA RAMS 1.60 WAS REDSKINS 2.20
SEA SEAHAWKS 1.09 SF 49ERS 6.00
ATL FALCONS 1.62 GB PACKERS 2.15
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
NY GIANTS 1.55 DET LIONS 2.30
ALL JustBet ODDS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
Odds on NFL Money Line bets include the outcome after regulation and overtime. If an NFL match ends in
a tie after overtime is played, then all bets on ‘Money Line” option will be given odds of 1.00 and all other
bets will be settled based on the final score.