NFL Week 16 betting forecast: Ride the streaks
We’re going streaking with some of the hottest teams in the NFL to try to get back on track after an embarrassing week.
But it was not as embarrassing as the final play of the Patriots’ 30-24 loss to the Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
New England is on to Cincinnati. But it won’t soon forget Fear and Lateraling in Las Vegas. Or Lateral Damage. Or whatever you want to call the debacle that might end up costing the Patriots a playoff spot.
The Bengals have won and covered six straight games after erasing a 17-0 deficit to the Buccaneers in a 34-23 victory at Tampa Bay. They’ve covered 11 of their last 12 games and are riding a 19-3 ATS run overall.
After Joe Burrow threw for three touchdowns and four interceptions in Cincinnati’s 0-2 start, he’s thrown for 28 TDs with six picks as the Bengals (10-4) have regained their Super Bowl form.
New England can’t be trusted any longer to bounce back from a loss or to cover as a home underdog. The Patriots are 0-2 ATS as home underdogs and are 0-4 straight up and ATS vs. teams with winning records.
Ride the streak with Cincinnati as a small 3-point favorite.
Four more plays (home team in CAPS):
Lions (-2½) over PANTHERS: Detroit has won three straight and six of seven while going 7-0 ATS. The lovable Lions stunned the Jets on Sunday on the road when Jared Goff threw a go-ahead 51-yard TD pass to Brock Wright on fourth-and-1 with 1:49 left. Detroit hung on for a 20-17 win to improve to 7-7 and suddenly has playoff hopes.
49ERS (-7) over Commanders: The Niners have the league’s longest winning streak at seven games and certainly look Super behind the NFL’s No. 1 scoring defense, which allows only 15.0 points per game. Christian McCaffrey has rushed for more than 100 yards and a TD in each of his last two games and QB Brock Purdy has thrown two TD passes in each of the last three games. San Francisco, working on extra rest after “Thursday Night Football,” has covered five in a row and is 8-1 ATS as a home favorite.
Giants (+4) over VIKINGS: Despite Minnesota outscoring Indianapolis 39-3 in the second half and overtime of last week’s 39-36 win that featured the biggest comeback in NFL history, the Vikings still didn’t cover as 3½-point home favorites. Minnesota’s last 10 wins have been by an average of 5.1 points and this one figures to be close as well. New York is 8-2 ATS as an underdog this season, 5-1 ATS on the road and owns a playoff spot.
Raiders (+2½) over STEELERS: A week after winning on one of the most bizarre plays in NFL history, the Raiders return to the scene of the “Immaculate Reception,” arguably the most famous play in league history, a day after its 50th anniversary in Pittsburgh. This also figures to be a close game and we’ll side with sharp bettors on this one and take the points with the Silver and Black.
Last week: 0-5
Season: 39-33-3
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
