We’ve done it. We’ve reached the halfway point of this lengthy season and it is now time to take inventory of where we stand.
It’s quite good.
I won’t spend too much time focusing on our record or how we have done against-the-spread. If you’re here now, then you know. If you’ve been here before, then you also know that this game is fragile and it’s not built to constantly produce wins.
We can pause and celebrate briefly, but there is more work to be done.
That’s the same case for the teams in the National Football League as well. One common theme that I found as I worked through each game is that, we are in the heart of a season that has a lot to be decided. We constantly need to ask ourselves how the ‘big picture’ looks. Teams are not buried, nor are they solidified in the playoffs.
Just like we can do with our picks, the league must zoom out and see the entire map before proceeding.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. Spread is listed as advertised number and odds at either DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, Caesar’s Sportsbook, or SugarHouse Sportsbook. All efforts were made to provide picks at -110 or better, with some stretching to a -125 if no reasonable advertised spread was found.
*Confidence Picks – 2021 Season: 26-24 (Last Week: 5-2)
(2020 Season: 53-42-3) (2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2)
(7-Year Total: 409-339-21)
All Picks Against Spread – 2021 Season: 81-53-2 (Last Week: 9-5)
(2020 Season: 132-128-7) (2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4)
(7-Year Total: 963-850-56)
Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins
We really can’t complain. There have been some duds on Thursday Night Football in the sense that not every matchup has produced outstanding games, but we still were able to get a fair read on them.
Until now.
I always write about how we should approach a given matchup based on something. That “something” varies from one set of teams to the next, but it usually can be compared to the spread. In the case of the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens, that’s all we have: the spread.
We don’t even have a starting quarterback named for Miami.
In these odd situations, we can — in sticking with the theme of the introduction — look at the big picture. In this case, we would compare