It’s Thursday! And you know what the means ... the Broncos are in San Diego to take on the Chargers and it’s happening in prime time. A few of our panelists picked the underdog Chargers to win this one straight up. However, Denver is 14-2 in its last 16 games after a loss.
The best bet in the Broncos-Chargers game is how soon Mike McCoy gets fired
The Broncos are favored by three points. The real action is betting on another late-game collapse from the Chargers and Mike McCoy getting a pink slip.
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The Broncos are favored by as much as 3.5 points, and that seems reasonable. San Diego has developed a knack for losing late, blowing second-half leads in all four of their losses so far this season. That’s terrible for long-suffering Chargers fans, but it’s been good for bettors. The Chargers are 3-2 against the spread this season, overall. They’re 5-0 against the spread in the first half of games, and 1-4 in the second half.
I would bet on the Chargers covering the spread, which seems like a stretch, but betting on another late collapse is a very reasonable thing to do. In fact, the best bet here would be a prop bet on painful ways for the Chargers to lose this one late.
I take that back. The best bet this week is whether Mike McCoy gets fired after this game. He’s the overwhelming favorite to be the first coach to get the boot this season.
TIME TO PANIC: NFL panic index, Week 6: The Broncos’ defense can’t always save them. There’s also bad news for the Bears: their quarterback situation is basically the same as the 2016 presidential election.
BROWNS BRING IN BRILES: Hue Jackson defends bringing in Art Briles to help with Browns offense. Indefensible. In the wake of the Ray Rice domestic abuse incident in 2014, the NFL toughened up its stance on domestic violence and sexual assault, both publicly and among players and employees. Given what happened at Baylor under Briles, the Browns hiring him, even for the short-term, lends even more credence to the idea that the league’s efforts were more about temporary PR than anything else.
THE TOUGHEST GUYS TO COVER: Broncos CB Chris Harris says Rob Gronkowski is NFL’s toughest receiver to cover. The Patriots All Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski has a fan out in Denver. Speaking of tough coverage, Richard Sherman and Julio Jones are getting matched up this week, which should be all kinds of fun.
THE JETS ARE BAD: The Jets were already in trouble, and they’re in worse shape without Eric Decker. The Jets placed Decker on injured reserve today, and it’s one more blow to a struggling team.
BIG YEAR FOR YOUNG RUNNERS: Ezekiel Elliott tops the list of surprising NFL running back statistics through Week 5. Ezekiel Elliott, Tevin Coleman and David Johnson have racked up some impressive statistics, and Todd Gurley hasn’t so far this season.
TRADE TALK: Will the Cowboys trade Darren McFadden? He’s just sitting on the bench, collecting dust.
HOW TO SURVIVE A BAD TEAM: Top 10 lies Bears fans tell themselves. You have to lie to yourself a little if you root for a terrible team.
SHADY AND THE COPS: LeSean McCoy plans to invite police officers to the 49ers-Bills game. He says it has nothing to do with Colin Kaepernick, who’s starting this week. Strange timing though. It’s also an interesting PR move considering the report from February that McCoy got in a fight with off-duty cops in Philly. No charges were filed in that incident.
MVP RACE: Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is the co-favorite in the NFL MVP race. The other co-favorite? Matt Ryan.
DEZ IS BACK: Dez Bryant is back at practice and ready to go. Just 17 days after suffering a hairline fracture in his knee, Bryant has returned to practice and is focused on Green Bay.
EIFERT TOWER: Bengals need Tyler Eifert to get back to high-scoring ways. It doesn’t look like Eifert is going to return this week, either. The Bengals offense really needs someone because defenses key in on A.J. Green and it shuts everything else down.
DJAX BACK TO PHILLY? DeSean Jackson didn’t rule out a return to the Eagles. He’s a free agent next year, and you never know.
SIEMIAN’S STAR: Trevor Siemian’s unlikely road to NFL starter. A player who struggled to win the starting job at Northwestern has assumed the role of replacing a legend and quarterbacking the reigning NFL champs — and so far, it’s worked. Here’s the NFL’s most unlikely success story of 2016.
NEW DEAL FOR KAP: Colin Kaepernick contract restructure is done. It sounds like Kaepernick and the 49ers have figured out their future. It could be a short one.
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