Team NESN is a part of the historic Las Vegas Westgate SuperContest this season.
Betting analyst Sam Panayotovich and digital content editor Mike Cole are teaming up to pick five weekly NFL games against the point spread. Each winning selection receives one point and ties earn a half-point. The guys went 2-3 in Week 7.
The betting lines are released every Wednesday and selections are due by Saturday afternoon.
Here are Panayotovich’s and Cole’s picks for Week 8 of the SuperContest:
Indianapolis Colts -1 vs. Tennessee Titans
MC: Carson Wentz has been shockingly effective since Indy’s Week 3 loss to the Titans, throwing eight touchdowns to no picks, completing 68% of his passes for 8.9 yards per attempt. His passer rating in that stretch is 119.5. The Colts finally are getting healthy, especially in the secondary which is huge against Tennessee. As long as the Colts can keep the Titans pass rush at bay here, we like Indy in what’s basically a pick ’em in a revenge spot at home against a division rival.
Minnesota Vikings +1.5 vs. Dallas Cowboys
SP: This is an auto-play in a contest that locks in point spreads mid-week. The SuperBook posts its contest lines Wednesday night and news about Dak Prescott’s calf really started to go sideways late Thursday afternoon. The betting market moved from Dallas -2 to Minnesota -3 in about an hour and I spoke to multiple Las Vegas bookmakers that are under the impression that Prescott isn’t going to play. Let’s take the small number with the expectation that Cooper Rush will start for the Cowboys.
New England Patriots +6 at Los Angeles Chargers
SP: Bill Belichick is 12-6 ATS in the Patriots’ last 18 games as an underdog. Granted, Tom Brady was in the equation for a decent chunk of those, but New England played extremely well in two tilts as a ‘dog this season. The Pats covered six points at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and had every chance to win and cover against the Dallas Cowboys. Sharp money has knocked this spread down to +4.5 almost everywhere and we are more than content with +6.
Chicago Bears +4 vs. San Francisco 49ers
MC: Chicago has no shot against good teams with strong defenses. The Niners check neither of those boxes. In fact, San Francisco might present the Bears offense with an opportunity to break out, which is something Justin Fields said this week he believes will happen sooner than later. The 49ers’ pass rush has underperformed, and they’re not taking away the football. Then there’s also their issues on offense which begin at quarterback. The Bears are not good, but there’s enough in their favor here to keep it within a field goal and thus within the number.
Kansas City Chiefs -9.5 vs. New York Giants
MC: Old habits die hard. Despite all the talent in the world, we might soon have to admit the Chiefs just aren’t good, but that’s not gonna happen here. Ten days ago, KC was a 13-point favorite on the lookahead line, and now the Chiefs are under that important number of 10. No, they haven’t looked good, but can the Giants really take advantage? In the two games before last week’s 25-3 win over Carolina, the Giants allowed an average of 41 points against Dallas and the Rams. The Chiefs, for their issues, are much closer to those two teams than the fledgling Panthers.
RECORD: (17-16-2, +18 points)
