Throwing Darts: Last call on the Panthers
We’ve thrown darts for six years and giving you a winning season in five of those years. Let’s see how it goes this time along.
As always, we’ll be using the line from Yahoo Football Pick’Em. We won’t use games if they move off the board. Share your picks in the comments, play along. Five weekly picks, that’s all we ask.
• Carolina -2.5 vs. Arizona: Panthers are rested and desperate, and face an Arizona team on a slightly-shorter week, beaten up by a physical overtime game with Seattle. Have to figure we’ll see something close to Carolina’s best effort here.
• New England -6.5 at Buffalo: Love the Patriots in a revenge spot, especially inside the division. Tyrod Taylor has been solid without Sammy Watkins; let’s see how he does without Watkins and LeSean McCoy.
• Houston -2.5 vs. Detroit: It’s easy to overreact to Houston’s nightmare showing in Denver, but the Texans have been reliable and solid at home. Detroit’s secondary is a mess as it is, and now it’s down its one credible corner, Darius Slay. A logical bounce-back spot for the Texans.
• Philadelphia +4.5 at Dallas: I like taking road teams in this division, especially when the number is past the standard three. Why are the Cowboys considered the better team here? Looks closer to even to me.
• Minnesota -5.5 at Chicago: Angry set of Purple defenders now get to take dead aim at Jay Cutler, who knows his team doesn’t believe in him. Minnesota’s offense — and offensive line — has issues of its own, but I trust the Vikings defense to control this game (and maybe score on its own).
Last Week: 2-3
Season: 18-16-1
Our friends from Shutdown Corner are in on the fun:
Eric Edholm (1-4 last week, 15-20 season)
— Oakland +1.5
— Kansas City -2.5
— Cleveland +2.5
— Philadelphia +4.5
— Minnesota -5.5
Frank Schwab (2-3 last week, 13-21-1 season)
— Saints +3
— Chiefs -2.5
— Atlanta -2.5
— Denver -4.5
— Chicago +5.5
