The NFL Week 5 matchups are clearly not as sexy as the games from the previous weeks. While there are a few good matchups on the bill, including the Patriots coaching reunion with the Denver Broncos and head coach Josh McDaniels welcoming his former employer Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots, there are a lot of games that appear to be mismatches.
There are six teams that are favored by nine points or more including the Oakland Raiders, who are the biggest underdog of the NFL season and are facing a 16-point spread. If you are going to place an NFL bet on an underdog, this is your week.
One team to stay away from would be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are similarly facing a spread bigger than two touchdowns in the sportsbook.
The Buccaneers have been downright awful this year and there is really no reason to be on them this week. This week’s contest will be their second of back-to-back road games against an NFC East squad and this time they are facing a team that is rested off of their bye.
For the stats junkies out there, keep in mind that the Eagles are among the best teams around after a bye week. The Eagles are 16-6 in their last 22 games after a bye week and are 19-3 straight up in those contests.
The Eagles should have a healthy Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook for the first time this season, which is a scary thought for the Bucs, who couldn’t even win against the hapless Washington Redskins.
The Eagles offense should be able to score pretty much at will and even if they make turnovers, they will still probably win. Last week, the Bucs were the beneficiaries of four turnovers but they still lost.
Tampa Bay will send quarterback Josh Johnson out for his second-ever start and considering how he played last week, he’s probably in trouble this week. Philadelphia is a team that is known of their exotic blitz packages and schemes and the Bucs offensive line, who will be without starting center Jeff Faine, will have some problems.
Look for the Eagles to do anything they want to Tampa Bay and once they are up by 10 or 14 points, the Bucs offense won’t be able to run the ball and will be forced into some mistakes through their passing game.
Sports Picks: Eagles -14.5
