The first Sunday of NFL expert sports betting picks are in the books, with plenty of surprises to start the 2019 season. Week 1 results, however, should be treated with care: respect what you witnessed but don’t overreact to any of them.
As the Week 2 odds start to trickle out and take action, be mindful of these knee-jerk reactions from Week 1.
Is Trubisky in trouble?
Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky entered the 2019 schedule with a lot of offseason buzz. However, the third-year passer fizzled in the Thursday night opener versus the Green Bay Packers. Trubisky was 26 for 45 for 228 yards and an interception and could have easily had a couple more passes picked off, as the Packers dropped some point-blank picks. The Bears lost 10-3 and Chicago fans were pointing the finger at the young QB.
Before you bail on Mitch and the Bears, pay a little respect to the Packers stop unit which made improvements in 2018 and look to be even better in 2019. Green Bay checked Chicago to just 3 for 15 on third downs and sacked Trubisky five times.
Chicago gets another tough test in Week 2, traveling to Mile High to play the Denver Broncos. But, Denver will be on short rest, having played Monday night, and the Bears will have had extra time to iron out the wrinkles on offense due to playing the Thursday opener. Expect improvements from Matt Nagy’s playbook and Trubisky next https://xanaxlife.com Sunday, with the early line making the Bears 1-point underdogs.
Down go the Browns
Speaking of lofty offseason expectations, the Cleveland Browns were the popular pick to win just about everything – AFC North, AFC title, even Super Bowl championship – with books raking in plenty of futures money on Cleveland this summer. Then, the Browns laid a huge egg in their opener versus the Tennessee Titans, falling 43-13.
Let’s pump the breaks a little bit on the Browns. For one thing, Cleveland’s defense surrendering 43 points isn’t that much of a shocker. While the Browns could get after the QB and forced plenty of takeaways in 2018, they weren’t the stingiest defense in the land. And as for the offense, they ran into a very good – and underrated – Titans defense. Should they have scored more than 13 points with all that talent on the field? No question.
Cleveland gets an extra day to sort out those offensive issues thanks to the schedule sending them to East Rutherford, NJ to face the New York Jets on Monday Night Football in Week 2. The Jets don’t pose the same defensive threat as Tennessee did in Week 1 and the Browns have a surplus of big-time talents that will look to shine under the primetime lights. The NFL betting odds opened Cleveland as a field-goal favorite on the road but early money has come in on the Jets, sinking this spread to Browns -2.5.
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