Pittsburgh (-1 ½) vs. Baltimore – The line has gone both ways over the course of the week. The home Steelers opened as 1 ½ point favorites. Initially, a couple books moved to a single point or even a pick. Now the line is scattered between 1 and 2 ½ points. The total started at 36 ½, but is down to 34 or 34 ½ points. This game features two of the best defenses in the NFL. The Ravens D had a tough time stopping the Browns, though, who were down to a backup quarterback and running back. The Steelers are still without Big Ben. Byron Leftwich should be able to go, but Charlie Batch was impressive against Tampa Bay.
Atlanta (-7) vs. San Francisco – The Falcons opened as 7 point home favorites. A couple books moved to 8 points early on, but now books are listing the game anywhere between 6 ½ and 7 ½ points. The Falcons took down the mighty Saints in New Orleans last week; their only loss has been in overtime at Pittsburgh. The Niners dropped to 0-3 after getting walloped by the upstart Chiefs. Will a new offensive coordinator help San Fran get on track?
Seattle (-1 ½) at St. Louis – This line hasn’t moved much from earlier in the week. The Seahawks started as 1 ½ point road favorites, and although 5 Dimes and Sportbet have this as a pick game, the other books seem to be steady at 1 ½ points. With the 49ers struggling, the awful NFC West is up for grabs. Seattle is great at home, but they need to be a better road team. St. Louis earned a well-deserved victory over Washington, even after Stephen Jackson left the game with a groin injury. His availability on Sunday is still somewhat in doubt, though Jackson has indicated that he’ll be ready to go.
Indianapolis (-7) at Jacksonville – The visiting Colts opened as 7 point favorites, and a few books have bumped this up to 8 points. Problems are mounting in Jacksonville. The Jags have looked terrible the past 2 weeks. David Garrard needs to be more effective and less error prone – the team signed Trent Edwards off waivers earlier in the week. Indy has been solid since their week 1 disaster in Houston. Austin Collie has put up ridiculous numbers so far. Peyton Manning is having his best statistical start to a season this year.
Philadelphia (-6 ½) vs. Washington – The Eagles started as 6 ½ point favorites, and over the past day or two some sharp money has come in on Washington to bring the line down to 5 ½ points at most books. The main storyline in this contest is Donovan McNabb returning to Philly. The City of Brotherly Love might fall short of its nickname. But McNabb should have success throwing against a questionable Eagles’ secondary. Michael Vick and the young Eagles skilled position players will try to ruin his homecoming.
Maddux Sports is on a tremendous run right now with our football picks. Saturday we cleaned up once again and we are also currently on a 71% NFL picks run. Sunday we have our 20 unit NFL Game of the Year going, dont miss this easy winner.
The fourth week of NFL action has two headlining games that everyone will be watching: Baltimore at Pittsburgh and Washington at Philadelphia. In the first, two of the League’s top teams should entertain us with one of the most physical games of the entire season. In the second, Donovan McNabb goes home.
