A major part of betting on the NFL is when you put your bet in. You don’t always have to be at the mercy of Vegas’ lines. You can get ahead of line movement by placing your bets early. For example, wouldn’t you like to have the Cincinnati Bengals at -3.5 over the New York Jets instead of having to lay 10.5 points? You could have if you placed your bet on Thursday night of last week. That’s why this column is important!
Every Friday, we take a look at the NFL lines a week in advance to determine if we should put money down now in order to get the best bang for our buck. Most of these lines will likely change before we reach Week 9, so we want to go ahead and get our bets in if we see a nice opportunity for an upset, or to jump on a favorite before the line moves even more in its favor.
Before we jump into some early bets to consider, here are the lookahead lines for Week 9. All NFL odds come courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook.
Week 9 lookahead lines
Jets at Colts (-14)
Browns at Bengals (-3)
Falcons at Saints (-5.5)
Patriots (-2.5) at Panthers
Broncos at Cowboys (-7.5)
Bills (-10.5) at Jaguars
Raiders (-3) at Giants
Texans at Dolphins (-7)
Vikings at Ravens (-6)
Chargers (-3) at Eagles
Cardinals (-3) at 49ers (Before ‘TNF’)
Packers at Chiefs (-2.5) (Before ‘TNF’)
Titans at Rams (-4.5)
Bears at Steelers (-5)
Picks to consider
Patriots (-2.5) at Panthers
After their hot start, the Panthers have quickly plummeted down to earth. Sam Darnold does not look like the answer at quarterback, and he was even benched in the fourth quarter last week as the Panthers scored just three points against the Giants. The defensive production has dropped a bit as well. In Weeks 1-3, the Panthers ranked first in opponent yards per game. In Weeks 4-7, they are tied for 24th. I don’t have much of a read on Patriots-Chargers this week, but I am expecting the Falcons to beat the Panthers on Sunday. If Carolina’s offense has another horrendous showing, this line will definitely move in New England’s favor.
Chargers (-3) at Eagles
The Eagles take on the winless Lions this week. Dan Campbell is still searching for that first victory, and many believe it will come on Sunday. Taking the Lions to at least cover the spread seems like one of the more sexy picks for Week 8, and a Detroit win could indeed happen. While the Eagles aren’t very good, the 4-2 Chargers are solid. They did get blown out by the Ravens in Week 6, but had a bye week to regroup. I believe this line is going to increase by this time next week, so I’ll go ahead and jump on L.A. now.
Broncos at Cowboys (-7.5)
This is one to just sprinkle on for now, because if Dak Prescott looks banged-up against the Vikings and Dallas loses, this line could fall. The way I see it, the Cowboys win a close game, but I’m more focused on the Broncos in this situation. Like the Panthers, they have completely fallen off since suffering their first loss of the season. Denver has now lost four straight, and have looked terrible as of late. Teddy Bridgewater has had to deal with a myriad of injuries and the defense has struggled as well. The wheels could really fall off this thing on Sunday if the Broncos lose to Washington — which I think is definitely a possibility. If that happens, this line should move. The Cowboys are undefeated ATS and have a solid squad.
