If you want to win money betting NFL games then you need to be willing to take teams no one else wants to bet. I refer to these teams as ugly dogs and you really have to hold your nose sometimes when you bet on them, but history has shown that going against the public works. We went 2-0-1 last week to take the overall record for the season to 32-18-2. I think a note of caution is now advised simply because we are on a very nice roll and the end of the season can be a bit tricky, so we may want to dial back the plays in the last few weeks. Let’s take a look at the Week 15 Ugly Dog picks.
Week 15 Ugly Dog Picks
New York Jets +15 at Baltimore Ravens
It is definitely risky to get in front of the runaway train that is the Baltimore Ravens, but this is a really big number. The Jets are not completely incompetent, as they can move the ball a little on offense with Sam Darnold at quarterback and they do get Le’Veon Bell back this week after he missed last week with the flu. It may not matter, as Baltimore has looked unstoppable for much of this season. There are reports that likely league MVP Lamar Jackson is dealing with an injury, so perhaps he doesn’t run around as much on Thursday night. These Thursday night games are really difficult to predict, as some really strange things happen when teams play on such short rest. There is no question the Ravens are the better team and they should win this game going away, but that is the point of this column. We’ll take the Jets as an ugly dog.
Cincinnati Bengals +9 vs. New England Patriots
The Bengals have the worst record in the league and they are facing a New England team that is reeling, so this would seem to be a really bad spot for Cincinnati. The Bengals have just one win this season, but they still are playing hard and they face a New England team that is struggling to score points. Tom Brady and the New England offense are simply not as good as in past seasons. It is so bad that they may even struggle to score points in this game. The New England defense has played at a high level all season, but they appear to be getting a little bit worn out. The Bengals don’t have much of an offense, but at least with Andy Dalton at quarterback they can make a few plays. This one is definitely ugly, as the Patriots should finally get things together, but people have been saying that for weeks and it has yet to happen. We’ll take the Bengals as an ugly dog.
Jacksonville Jaguars +6.5 at Oakland Raiders
You can make a case that right now the Jaguars are the worst team in the NFL. No, they don’t have the worst record, but they are playing very poorly. They have lost five straight games and it looks like head coach Doug Marrone is on his way out. The Jaguars went back to Gardner Minshew at quarterback last week and it really didn’t matter, as they still struggled. The defense looks to have completely mailed it in for the rest of the season and now Jacksonville heads into Oakland to play the Raiders in what will be the last home game for the Raiders in Oakland. This has Raiders blow out written all over it. I say all the time that we pick teams that are really ugly, but this situation is a really bad one for Jacksonville. They seem to have quit on the season and now they face the Raiders in their last home game in Oakland. This one is really ugly, but we’ll take the Jaguars as an ugly dog.
Check out the latest Week 15 NFL odds at BookMaker.eu.
