The Festive season is upon us and we love this time of year. No other season need apply. We know you love it too, with loads of College Football Bowl games and NFL on the TV, and plenty of trading opportunities.
But peeling the sprouts can be quite taxing, so here’s a small piece of advice that has served us well: Remember to spend at least 15 minutes of quality time with the family.
In our reluctant roles as experts in everything paternal, we recommend a good mix of fun and educational activities – with a healthy dose of mixed messages about how much you love your kids and what you expect out of what’s his name. The teenage boy over there.
We might even recommend you talking to him if he has the latest version of Madden in his stocking.
Our weekend is going to be pretty simple. Just before the kick-off of the early college games, we fulfill our marital duties and pour our spouses some eggnog – while they’re taking a break from installing the Christmas lights on the new guttering they have put up.
Then it’s wall-to-wall football from 5pm Saturday until around 4am on Monday morning.
We deserve it. For we have worked tirelessly, closing our eyes and sticking the pin into the list of NFL games for the last five minutes or more to bring you our weekly winners.
So before you stagger off to buy Cliff Richard’s latest Christmas single (we hear “Tebow Time, Mistletoe and Wine” is going down a storm in Denver), let us enlighten you.
We’ll be taking on the blessed Broncos despite New England’s woeful record in Denver.
While the hosts are considered by some to be the best team in the AFC West, that is akin to being the most sober guy at the Betaq Christmas party.
New England have won just twice in their last 17 attempts in Colorado and they face a surging Broncos team who have won their last six games, the last five by a one-score margin.
The problem with the Patriots is their defence. They generate precious few quarterback pressures and the worry is that they will allow Tebow to sit back in the pocket, sip his ‘Tebrew’ (a Colorado beer company this week named a tipple after the proud evangelical Christian) and thumb through a few pages of Whips, Leather & Chains Illustrated before releasing a pass into a thinned-out, patchwork secondary.
The Patriots continue to give wide receivers Julian Edelman and Matthew Slater time at the safety position and their run defence was gashed by Washington last week. If ever there was a time to cut Tebow loose it is now, upon the Patriots.
Three yards and a cloud of mamma’s boy might work miracles again, but look at some of the opposing quarterbacks the Broncos’ defence has faced: Matt Cassel, Caleb Hanie, Mark Sanchez and Christian Ponder are as scary as the froth on your grandmother’s snowball (yes, we all drink them – no shame in that).
This week they face Tom Brady.
That’s a prospect more scary than finding out your wife has invited Michael Barrymore, Keith Richards and Charlie Sheen round for Christmas drinks.
With Denver’s penchant for starting slowly – they failed to score in their first 11 possessions against Chicago last week – there is a great opportunity to trade in running.
It has the makings of a high-scoring game and one the Patriots should win comfortably.
But try as we might, we can’t help but love the clean-cut underdog. He’s a great person and great for the NFL. So in tribute to Tebow, our Festive musical interlude this week comes from Colorado’s finest.
Feel free to sing along. All together now… “Oh, Tebow Night, the stars are brightly shining…”
While Tebow has a beer named after him, down in Oakland things are a little different. A company has named an interception machine after Carson Palmer.
He has been terrible since being traded by Cincinnati and gift-wrapped four picks in a woeful display against Green Bay’s generous pass defence last week.
He comes up against Detroit’s fifth-ranked pass defence on Sunday, and while the Lions barely overcame a Joe Webb-inspired comeback in Minnesota last week, they have a realistic chance of beating the dreadful Raiders, who lost 24-38 at home to the Broncos, who had been thumped 45-10 at home by Detroit the previous week – and that was when they had a full complement of running backs.
The Lions’ run defence looks very vulnerable against the NFL’s eighth-ranked rushing attack, but the Raiders have not been the same force since Darren McFadden was injured. Take the Lions to kill off any thoughts of an AFC West title for Oakland.
Finally, we can also put a fork in the biggest turkeys of the year. Philadelphia have been overrated all season long and while one win in Miami does not a Christmas make, the betting public are all over the Eagles for their crunch clash with the New York Jets.
The Jets, who have incredibly never beaten the Eagles in eight meetings since 1973, need to win to maintain their hopes of an AFC wild card spot, while the Eagles still have life after their 26-10 win against the Dolphins – a closer game than the score would suggest.
Eagles are favourites and the statistical evidence says they should not be, not least because Michael Vick, with his 79 passer rating, will have plenty of issues moving the ball against the Jets’ tough pass defence.
And don’t forget that you can bet multiples with Betdaq. Happy Holidays!
Suggestions:
New England -6
Detroit -1
New York Jets +3
Follow Simon Milham on Twitter @simonmilham
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