The Patriots entered the season without Brady, and now they’ll have to face the Texans without Garoppolo, who’s out with injury. Because of those losses most football betting sites are pegging New England as the underdogs in this matchup. It might be a slight margin, but the spread still favors Houston. Now with just two games until #12 returns the Patriots are doing their best to manage. They’ve scraped by the first two weeks, but now they face a much tougher opponent.
The Houston Texans entered the 2016 season as the favorites to win the AFC South, and so far, they have been the only team in that division to prove themselves worthy of fans’ online football bets. While that may be true of the Texans as a whole, the same cannot be said about Brock Osweiler, the recipient of one of the biggest contracts we saw this previous offseason. In his debut against the Bears Osweiler threw for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. However, he failed to improve upon that the following week against the Chiefs, instead throwing for 2 interceptions and only one touchdown. But the Texans’ defense was able to avenge Osweiler, and Houston was able to force three turnovers of their own. Thanks to their defense, Houston was able to improve to 2-0 with a 19-12 win over the Chiefs. Turnovers aside, the Texans are still the best team in the AFC South. But they’ll face the Patriots next, a team who won’t forgive turnovers so easily.
Osweiler might have needed Houston’s defense to win the game, but Jacoby Brissett desperately needed New England’s defense even more. Brissett had to take over for New England’s offense after Garoppolo suffered an injury late in the second quarter. Even though Garoppolo didn’t even play a whole half, he still amassed some impressive numbers; completing 18/27 passes for 234 yards and 3 touchdowns. With 0 interceptions to his name, Garoppolo finished the day with a jaw-dropping 130.8 passer rating. But once Garoppolo left he took all of the air out from underneath the Pats’ offense with him. With Brissett at quarterback New England would only score one more touchdown in the game. Miami scored 14 unanswered points in the 4th quarter and it at times it seemed the Patriots’ defense would not hold. But in the end an interception late in the game would seal Miami’s fate. New England was doing alright without Brady, but if the final two quarters of last Sunday’s game proved anything, it’s the fact that this offense is not efficient with Brissett. Houston will be ready to capitalize this Thursday, but with neither team having solid play at the quarterback position, who will the best football betting sites peg as the favorite?
Week 3 – Thursday the 25th of September
Texans -1 ½ (-110) 41 (-110)
Patriots +1 ½ (-110) 41 (-110)
While Bill Belichik would’ve liked to have a full week to prepare Brissett, but since the game is this Thursday, he’ll have to make do with fewer days. With a spread of only 1 ½ points, most football betting sites are predicting an extremely close matchup. This contest will likely be determined by defense – due to the situation both teams have at quarterback. For fantasy football fans that means both kickers will probably have a field day and for gambling fans that means the totals line will probably be under for this contest.
