This weekend’s NFL betting action kicks off with the New York Jets hosting Miami on Saturday night and the home team could be a value bet at odds against here.
The Dolphins have more to play for after winning seven of their last eight games to trail only New England in the AFC East, whereas their opponents are out of the play-off picture at 4-9 this term. However, Miami may be flattered by a hot streak that contains a series of narrow victories against moderate opposition and their last road trip ended in a 38-6 drubbing in Baltimore.
The early-November reverse fixture in Florida was another close encounter, with Miami prevailing 27-23, and home advantage may help the Jets gain revenge after last week’s confidence-boosting triumph over the 49ers.
The New York Giants and Detroit are both well placed on 9-4 going into Sunday’s showdown but it is the boys from the Big Apple that get the nod after last week’s gutsy 10-7 defeat of arch-rivals Dallas. Odell Beckham Jr was again the hero of that success and he can prove too hot for the Lions to handle as the Giants looks to make it eight wins out of nine, with the only recent loss coming at Pittsburgh.
Beckham is nursing an injured thumb but will still be expected to get the better of a familiar foe in Detroit cornerback Darius Slay (pictured), with the wide receiver stating: “I’ve gone against him in college so I’ve known, seen and watched him for a long time. We’ve always competed. It’s fun going against a guy that loves football. He loves to compete. It’ll be a good match-up.”
Games between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are invariably bruising encounters but the Steelers appear well equipped to cope with a physical battle up front against the Bengals. They claimed a 24-16 home win over the same opponents back in Week 2 and go into the reverse fixture on a roll after four straight wins, stopping Buffalo’s feared running game last time out.
Opposing the 11-2 New England is again proving costly this season and the Patriots picked off Baltimore’s much-vaunted defence in impressive fashion for long parts of last weekend’s win. The Ravens rallied well to make a game of it when capitalising on a couple of turnovers but Tom Brady and Co still look hard to resist giving away just three points at Denver.
