John Warner previews this week’s NFL TNF matchup and gives out his favorite bets!
Folks, it’s that time of year once again! The NFL is finally back, and we should all be grateful that we’ve made it to this point. After what seemed like a decade without sports, we are now in the midst of NBA/NHL playoffs, the final 3 weeks of the MLB season, and now, NFL Week 1 is upon us. The last time we had the NFL on our sports palette, it was early February, coronavirus hadn’t taken a stranglehold on everyone’s lives, and we saw your Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs win a title for the first time in 50 years.
And it is because of that result on February 2nd, that leads us to their home opener against the team that was up 3 scores on the champs in their own building 8 short months ago. A couple of mega-extensions for the two young QBs of these teams, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, and now both franchises are set at the most important position in sports for the foreseeable future. These are two of the brightest young stars in the game, and it’s unfortunate only one of these young gunners has a coach who is worth a damn.
Bill O’Brien spent his off season shipping out a top 2 WR in the game for a sack of peanuts which contained the RB formerly known as David Johnson. I’m not sure why BOB seems to butt chins with so many of his star players, but he doesn’t come off as the most likeable guy either. Randall Cobb and Brandin Cooks join the receiving corps this year for Houston, and if there is a common theme amongst them it is speed, speed, speed. One would imagine that the Texans will be stretching the field a lot vertically this year, assuming those injury prone speedsters are able to stay on the field. Between Will Fuller, Cobb, Cooks, Johnson, and Keke Coutee, Deshaun and BOB may have to look into moonlighting as nurses by Week 9. Also, unfortunately for them, they get to go on the road and relive the seven straight touchdowns they surrendered to the eventual champs, again on Thursday night.
Your Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs (that just never gets old does it?) did everything a fan could have asked of their champion in defense of a title; bring every key piece back for another run. Chris Jones? Extended. Mike Pennel? Resigned. Bashaud Breeland? Resigned. Travis Kelce? Extended. Andy Reid? Extended. GM Brett Veach? Extended. Am I forgetting anyone else? Other than the youngest Super Bowl MVP in league history who got a half billion dollars over the next dozen years that is? Okay great. Oh, and here’s the best RB from the SEC falling into your lap at the end of the first round that you can take as a luxury pick because you just fucking got it like that. The NFL can change drastically from season to season and even week to week, but on paper, Kansas City looks to just be getting started on something that has the potential to be truly historic.
Historically, the home team usually cruises in these coronation season kickoffs, and I don’t see this one being any different. The Chiefs are simply a juggernaut, with a gulf in talent matching up their offense with the Texans defense, and an even bigger mismatch between their head coaches. Watching the Texans fold like a blanket last postseason wasn’t surprising, however, it was surprising to see a Deshaun Watson team go down in such fashion. Deshaun is the real deal, but I think he just has too much to get done by himself here. I’m not comfortable laying that many points just yet, especially since we know things are going to be wonkier than usual with no preseason games. I’m looking for some severe breakdowns in coverage with no warm up here, so we head to the derivative market!
Thursday Night Football Bets
Chiefs 1h Team Total Over 16.5 -110
Over 54 full game -101
Alt Total: Over 55.5 +117 0.5x
