Well -- last week was definitely odd. I was all over the Patriots as part of the teaser, making it clear that Cam Newton was the primary reason why, and then he ended up not playing. They still almost provided a back-door cover, but I guess I have to take that one as a loss even though I would have never bet that game, even as a teaser, without Cam Newton, and I changed my pick on our CBS expert picks page once it was clear Cam wouldn't play. But I'll take the 'L' to go 8-6 on the season.
Going to stick with some of that teaser action because it has served me well so far this season.
Seattle -7 vs. Vikings
The Vikings finally won a game. Hooray! They managed to beat one of the worst teams in football, barely. They face a very different task this week and the lack of a pass rush against Russell Wilson will be devastating. The Seahawks have some defensive deficiencies, but they will not make life easy for Dalvin Cook and I believe Pete Carroll will find a way to keep Justin Jefferson in check as well. I don't have any faith in the Vikings secondary right now and these are two teams headed in very different directions.
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Panthers + 2.5 at Falcons
This is honestly the strangest line of the week to me. I don't know what Atlanta does well at all and this looks like a team that is just waiting for its coach to be fired. You want to talk about going through the motions and lacking any flair or belief in themselves -- well, that's your Atlanta Falcons. The Panthers believe in Matt Rhule and have a legit chip on their shoulder and Teddy Bridgewater is playing winning football. They actually have become a higher functioning offense without Christian McCaffrey and the defense makes some strides every week. Carolina is still going to run the ball even without McCaffrey and the Falcons cannot hold up. Give me the points all day.
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Two-team teaser: Cardinals pick'em / Bengals +19.5
The Cardinals have certainly come back to earth on both sides of the ball and have left much to be desired the last two weeks. They have taken major steps backward, but the good news is they get to face the worst team in football this week. They have to take a few more shots downfield and open that offense up and now is a perfect time to do so. It still might not be that pretty, but they're playing the Jets and all I need is an outright win here. I really like the Bengals getting 13.5 points, but because it's the Ravens and because it's Lamar Jackson -- even though he missed practice this week -- I'll just go ahead and choose this in a teaser to be safe. But the Bengals can make this a game if they work some screen passes and keep the running backs involved in the passing game.
