Week 2 Vegas Lines

I sincerely hope I do Dr. Ken proud. Vegas has temporarily moved to the Midwest!

Raiders/Giants – Giants by 4.5 - Errol may not see this Vegas line, but his team his feeling the advantage after a win over the Cards in Week 1. The Raiders are surprising however, and if Ryan Lewis stops long enough to stop pulling a Fitch-Fitch (where instead of focusing on only one tight end like Andrew Fitch, you focus on two tight ends and then call them "Double Fang" or something), he might grab a victory here. For the record, his loss last week wasn't by his own hand, I'm pretty sure. So this is prime upset material.

Jets/Falcons – Falcons by 10.5 – Jets got blown up last week. The Falcons beat the Bills. The Jets are the ones that have to prove themselves here, at least according to Vegas' prediction.

Rams/Seahawks – Rams by 8.5 - Both are looking to bounce back from losses to the AFC South last week (Rams to the Colts, Seahawks to the Texans), both scoring 13 pts. Seattle lost their starting WR and TE, though, so Vegas thinks it's the Rams game to lose.

Texans/Dolphins – Dolphins by 4.5 – REMATCH ALERT: Texans beat the Dolphins last season. Last week: Texans beat Seahawks 45-13; Dolphins beat Ravens 42-7. The loss of starting DT Jovan Haye and trading away DeMarcus Ware in favor of a better secondary puts this game in favor of the better rushing team. Interestingly enough, the Texans' HB Bones had 271 yds last week to the 261 yds by Dolphins' Jamaal Charles. The Dolphins are the better rushing team in general though, and they have the slight edge. Also, Mike's girlfriend Megan set this line. In Vegas.

Jaguars/Cardinals - Cardinals by 5.5 - Vegas doesn't forget last season's atrocious 0-16 record for the Jaguars. Even if that monkey is off Rich's back with his first win last week, a betting man has a slant towards Vitale's Cardinals, who is surely getting used to new star QB Phillip Rivers.

Panthers/Buccaneers - Panthers by 8.5 - It's been a long time since Chris Johnson ran well, but after 116 yards last week's win against the Patriots, he may be the key to a victory this week against Tampa Bay. Can Carson Palmer lift the Buccs to their first win? The odds are stacked against them this week.

*GAME OF THE WEEK PRESENTED BY DORITOS* Titans/Patriots - Patriots by 2.5 - The best storyline of the week comes with two great teams that suffered losses last week, both scoring 28 points against their opponents. Both were playoff teams last season, and both want their first win of the season. The Pats get the nod only because they were in the AFC Championship Game last season. And because Aussie Chris sucks.

Chargers/Colts - Chargers by 7.5 - San Diego possibly made the most transactions this off-season, topped with their new starting QB, Nile "The Tide" Turner, whose four TDs helped the Chargers beat the Steelers last week 52-35. The Colts are shaking a little rust off in their transition to a new team, and with a talented squad, should still do some damage. But the Chargers have a ton of momentum in this game.

Bills/Ravens - Bills by 3.5 - Both teams lost their Week 1 games, but the Ravens took the worst beating by the Dolphins, putting up only 7 points. The Bills had 28 points against the Falcons. It's a tight spread however, as the strength of their Week 1 opponents is outweighed. Buffalo is already taking to Ryan Matthews however, and he'll be a big part of this game.

Browns/Bears - Browns by 1.5 - In the most awkward Super Owl rematch in league history as both teams are under new ownership, Vegas is reluctant to even set this line. But since the Bears took a loss to the Saints last week while the Browns bewildered the Jets, the momentum is on the Browns' side currently.

Chiefs/Broncos - Chefs by 3.5 - Todd proved that he can win a game when he beat the Titans last week. But Iron Chef Rogies, while cooking up a rivalry with the Broncos, has shown to have the right ingredients for winner's pie. Yum!

Saints/49ers - No line, game has been played.

Packers/Cowboys - No line, game has been played.

Redskins/Eagles - Eagles by 3.5 - REMATCH ALERT: The Eagles upset their division rivals, the Katskins in the second round of the playoffs last season. They hold the psychological threat in this game, where both teams started out their season with losses to the Cowboys (Skins) and Lions (Eagles).

Lions/Vikings - Lions by 11.5 - Vegas looks at the Vikings and the massive amount of activity they had in this year's draft and pictures a team that is deep in "rebuilding mode." The Lions, now manned by "Big DZ" Brian Dascenzo, just had a big win over Philly.

Bengals/Steelers - Bengals by 6.5 - Babyseat has a history of wins over Adam "Underscore" Hansen. The Steelerhawks look to change that trend this week, but it's an uphill battle against a reformed Cincy team, who has Nnamdi Asomugha and Cortland Finnegan in their secondary. Is Jamarcus Austin up to that challenge?

mikesuszek wrote:Is Jamarcus Austin up to that challenge?

Meh... Probably not. But he'll give it a sporting effort.

Good Write-up though Sooz.

Doesn't feel dirty to me.

I suck at these. I think almost every game played so far has beat the spread or flipped the winner of the Vegas lines.

Getting the spread right is whatever to me, it's the write up and effort that was fun to read and thanks for doing them Mike!

Yeah, I just like reading them, haha. Good stuff, Mike.

Nice job with these Mike. You'll see - within 2-3 weeks you'll be nailing more than half of them with ease.