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 1-2 last week to take the overall record for the season to 33-20-2. I advised a little caution last week, as we had been on a really good run and the winning streak did come to an end. Let’s take a look at the Week 16 Ugly Dog picks.
Week 16 Ugly Dog Picks
Detroit Lions +6.5 at Denver Broncos
You may think that the Cincinnati Bengals are the worst team in the NFL and that indeed may be the case, but the team on the current longest losing streak is the Detroit Lions, as they have lost seven straight. Everyone got all excited about Matt Patricia when he became head coach of Detroit, but Patricia has done nothing but lose with the Lions. He was a very good defensive coordinator with New England but it is obvious he is not a good head coach. It doesn’t help his cause that he has no quarterback with Matthew Stafford injured and the team appears to have packed it in for the season. On the other side, the Broncos look to have renewed hope with Drew Lock at quarterback and other than last week against the Chiefs, the Broncos have looked much better of late. There is no reason to think Detroit is going to be competitive this week on the road in Denver, but that is exactly the type of play we are on. We’ll take the Lions as an ugly dog.
Carolina Panthers +6.5 at Indianapolis Colts
It has gotten so bad for the Carolina Panthers that they are going to make another quarterback change this week and bench Kyle Allen and give Will Grier his first career start. The Panthers showed a little bit of heart last week against the Seahawks, but still lost. Allen looked pretty good in his first few starts, but he has looked completely overmatched in recent games. He throws far too many interceptions and makes too many mistakes. The Panthers have no clue what they are going to do at quarterback next season so they are giving Grier his first start. Grier is a third-round pick from West Virginia and not many people thought he would be starting anytime soon. The Panthers visit an Indianapolis team that looked awful on Monday night against the Saints. It is hard to get too excited about the Colts, but the Panthers have been so bad that the public will likely back Indianapolis. We’ll go the other way and take the Panthers as an ugly dog.
Cleveland Browns +10 vs. Baltimore Ravens
I said last week that it is always risky to get in front of the runaway train that is the Ravens and the Jets were steamrolled last week. We could get rolled over again this week as we take the Browns. Cleveland has been a huge disappointment this season and there is no guaranteed that head coach Freddy Kitchens is going to return. The Browns have some talented players but they are totally undisciplined and poorly coached. I can’t stand taking teams that are poorly coached, but the point of this column is to take the ugly dogs. The Browns have enough talent to compete with the Ravens, but they will probably find a way to implode. The Ravens are looking to get the top seed in the AFC and they seem unlikely to have a letdown this week. This one is ugly, but we’ll take the Browns as an ugly dog.
Check out the latest Week 16 NFL odds at BookMaker.eu.
