By Bob Gaughan
Weekly Record 11-6-2, Overall Record 65-45-3
MR. OVER/UNDER: Kansas City -3 over New England
New England showed me last week, that as long as Brady & Belichick work together, no matter how they looked during the regular season, you can’t count them out, especially at home, when it comes to the playoffs. However this week they’re not at home. They’ll be playing in the almost kind of frozen tundra of Arrowhead Stadium, which has a natural grass field. I expect this game to remain close, but nowhere near as high scoring as the 43-40 game in week 6. Give the Chiefs 3 points for Home Field, the fans 2 points for noise and Andy Reid 1 point for coaching a team that has more speed. KC deserves to be in the Super Bowl. I like the Chiefs minus 3.
Man in Stripes: UB -15 over Eastern Michigan (Friday Night)
UB slept through Tuesday night’s game at Western Michigan. Nate Oates wasn’t pleased. Look for the Bulls to come out guns a blazing. UB is averaging 90 points a game at home winning by 27 per game. They beat Eastern by 16 on the road a couple of weeks ago. Eastern is coming off a loss at Akron while scoring only 49 points. They average only 60 points a game on the road. If that happens Friday, there will be extended garbage time at Alumni arena. Massinburg, Perkins and company roll at home. My bonus picks are the Saints and KC -3 at home Friday. Brees at home and KC gets the monkey of their back.
Mono: Chiefs and Patriots over 55
This game will be an instant classic. Neither defense is going to be able to stop the other offense. Don’t worry about the arctic blast. This has brought the line down. I’ll take it. I believe this will be a shot for shot game. Whatever team can get a stop will win the game. Put your feet up and enjoy this one!
Slick: Rams +3.5 over New Orleans
I think this game is decided by a field goal either way. I love the hook here. This game will be different since Talib is on the field at corner for the Rams. Saints won’t be able to take advantage of Peters like they did the first game. Aaron Donald will dominate from the inside and cause Brees problems. I love the Rams in this spot.
Mr. Brutal: Denver Nuggets minus the points over Cleveland (Saturday NBA)
Cleveland is the worst team in the NBA. Cavs have only won nine games all year. They are on the longest road trip of the year. Only win on the road trip was over the Lakers without Lebron. Their last game on the road trip is against a mad Denver team. Cleveland plays Utah on Friday. They play a back-to-back Saturday against a very good and angry Denver team. The Warriors spanked Denver earlier this week. They have something to prove. Cavs have given up 140, 141, 129 in three of their last four games. Nuggets roll!
Bob Gaughan: Rams/ New Orleans Under 56.5
The first time these two teams played earlier in the season it was a shootout. New Orleans won 45-35. I see a totally different game this time around. First of all the Rams defense will be better. Aqib Talib didn’t play the first time around and the Saints were able to pick on Marcus Peters with Michael Thomas. Talib will do a better job on Thomas. Second both offenses aren’t the same. The Rams offense isn’t the same since Cooper Kupp went out. They will run the ball more with Anderson and Gurley. The Saints offense has only scored 30 points once in the last six weeks.
Look for a much lower scoring game than that first contest.
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