Weekday Football

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I hope everyone has digested their turkey, had their pie, and are ready to enjoy a primetime AFC North showdown between the 10-0 Steelers and 6-4 Ravens. Wait, hold on, the game got moved to Sunday? Wow, I guess my turkey nap took longer than I thought. But we’ll pivot, so welcome everybody to NFL Sunday! We’ve got a full slate of games today, but none more exciting than reigning MVP Lamar Jackson facing off with the undefeated Steelers. Oh, the game’s not Sunday either? And Lamar’s not playing? But it was rescheduled to Sunday? And now it’s on Tuesday? So is today Tuesday? But it’s a weekday? Am I me? What year is it? Oh right, it’s 2020, that explains it.

Recalibrating

Ok, so after some extensive research, I think I finally figured it out. Thanksgiving has passed, and the NFL Sunday has come and gone. But, here we are trying to recover from the hectic holiday weekend, with TWO weekday NFL games to start the week. Now there’s something to be thankful for. We have Philadelphia vs. Seattle on Monday Night Football, and the most rescheduled game of all time in Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore on Tuesday Night Football.

Now I’ve noticed that a lot of people (primarily Steelers players and fantasy managers) are disgruntled by all of this rescheduling. However, I think all us sports fans should remember how we got here. In May, we were all hyped up to watch Tom Brady and Peyton Manning play golf just because it resembled sports. And now, you’re going to complain that there are even MORE days we get to watch NFL football? Why, were you planning on catching the local high school’s JV practice? While I’m sure it felt like a lock that little Jimmy was going to throw over 1.5 interceptions to the practice squad, I still suggest tuning into the NFL action instead. You don’t even have a kid on the team and people are starting to ask questions.

Weekday Matchup: Philadelphia vs. Seattle

Now while all the attention seems to be on Tuesday Night Football, we would be foolish to just skip over the first of our two weekday games. Monday Night Football will feature two teams still fighting to lead their respective divisions, with the 7-3 Seahawks and the 3-6-1 Eagles. That’ll never stop being funny to me, but I don’t mean to kick the Eagles while they’re down. That’s the Seahawks’ job, tonight. The Seahawks have been chasing Super Bowl aspirations all season long behind the arm of Russell Wilson. Meanwhile, the Eagles have been chasing opposing defenders all season long behind the arm of Carson Wentz. But, Carson Wentz has more MVP votes in his career than Russ, so who’s really elite?

Weekday Wager: Wentz Under 237.5 Pass Yards

So, the matchup of the birds seems to be leaning in favor of Seattle winning. But, what betting lines offer you the value you’ve become addicted to this Cyber Monday? After you buy your 60% off earbuds on Amazon, you should also buy the line on Carson Wentz under 237.5 passing yards. It might actually be more valuable. First, Wentz has only thrown over the 237.5 yard mark in 6 games entering Week 12. That number does not necessarily lean to the under hitting, but the heat surrounding the Eagles’ does.

Wentz was labeled as the hero in Philadelphia early this year, as people thought he would be leading yet another roster of backups to a playoff run. However, lately Wentz and Head Coach Doug Peterson have been put in a pressure cooker by the media and fans regarding their atrocious record. This pressure has led to reports coming out that Jalen Hurts has been taking snaps with the starters leading up to this game. Wentz was already only reaching 237.5 yards in about half the games when he was the undisputed lead man in Philly. Now with Hurts set to take at least some of the offensive snaps, Wentz’s production is sure to go down. I expect the Eagles to go with a run heavy game plan here, highlighted by Miles Sanders and Jalen Hurts. The current line on Draftkings Sportsbook for Wentz under 237.5 passing yards is -112.

Weekday Matchup: Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore

Now for the marquee matchup of NFL Week 12. I can’t remember a regular season game that came with this much anticipation. That’s mostly because it has been scheduled to be played seemingly everyday for the last week. However, it also deserves attention because these are two storied divisional rivals with playoff aspirations. Unfortunately, due to the COVID protocols that forced this game to be on a Tuesday, many players won’t be be on the field. The Ravens alone have over 20 players ruled out including reigning MVP Lamar Jackson and 2 star running backs, J.K. Dobbins and Mark Ingram. The Steelers will also be without their starting running back, James Conner.

So the question now becomes, who even is playing? Are we going to tune in and see 45-year old Ray Lewis huddling up the Ravens, screaming his head off about doing pushups with a deck of cards? Again, it’s 2020, anything can happen. Okay, so we may not see Ray Lewis, Mean Joe Greene, or Ed Reed resurrect their football career on Tuesday. However, we will see RGIII give it the old college try against his undefeated divisional rival Steelers. The NFL’s version of Derrick Rose is set to start at QB for the Ravens on Tuesday, as Harbaugh tries desperately to salvage his college-style offense by wheeling out the Bargain Basement replicas of his actual roster.

Quite frankly I’m scared for RGIII. Last time we saw him he looked like he was made of glass bones and paper skin. Tossing him in his first start back against a pissed off Steelers defensive front is just asking for disaster. Someone please tell him that throwing the ball away is legal before kickoff, because T.J. Watt and the crew don’t care if your knees stay intact.

Weekday Wager: Ravens Under 15.5

So, the distant relatives of the Ravens are going to have to play a mostly healthy, undefeated Steelers team. I have to be honest, coming into this week I was very high on the Ravens to break the Steelers’ winning streak. They had been on a bad stretch, and I would have predicted that they squeaked out a close win versus their historic rival to break their undefeated season. However, as we know, life comes at you fast in 2020. And I’m flipping the entire way around on this one as I now think Pittsburgh could win in a blowout. The Steelers defense is the best in the league, and the Ravens offense is in shambles.

Now even with depleted personnel, I do not know what to think about the matchup between the Ravens’ defense and Steelers’ offense. The Steelers have a lot of good young talent on offense, and Big Ben can still play. However, the Ravens have always known how to play defense, so this half of the game could be competitive. But I don’t see this patchwork Baltimore offense putting up many points, if any, on Pittsburgh. Therefore, I don’t feel confident on either side of the game’s over/under line. But, I do feel confident about the over/under line on just Baltimore’s side.

The current line on Draftkings Sportsbook is Ravens over/under 15.5. I am confidently putting money on Baltimore to score under 15.5 points in this game. I love that this line covers a full point over 2 touchdowns, as I think the most the Ravens will be able to muster up is 14, if they’re lucky. The current betting line on Baltimore under 15.5 on Draftkings Sportsbook is -112.

Winning Time

So, we have made it to Monday, and we have a special gift of 2 weekday games to start the week off. While we may not see the exact matchups we were hoping for, watching sports is always a positive in my book. Especially when I can turn any game, regardless of the players, into extra cash in my pocket. In order to fund my holiday shopping this week, I am backing Wentz under 237.5 passing yards and Baltimore under 15.5 points. I hope everybody enjoys these weekday wagers, and as always have fun and please bet responsibly. Good luck!

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