Divisional Games Highlight Over/Under Line in Week 14
Scott Morris | December 11, 2016
During Week 13 of the NFL regular season for the second straight week total points bettors ended 7-7-1. Most of the games were not that close except with Arizona and Washington when 38 points were put on the board during the second half to end at 54 on a 48.5 total. After 13 weeks of the regular season, the OVER is 97-93-1.
The weather affected two games last week one in Green Bay and another in Chicago, with both ending UNDER the total quite easily. During Week 14, snow is expected to fall in Buffalo, New York, New England and Cleveland.
The NFL made the decision in 2010 to load the back end of the season’s schedule will divisional games to create more matchups of meaningful proportion late in the season.
Including the Thursday Night game between AFC West rivals Oakland and Kansas City, this week has seven games involving divisional teams and five have big playoff implications.
The five include Houston at Indianapolis with Houston winning the Texans rallying to win in overtime during the first game earlier this season. The OVER has cashed in each of the past four between the two teams.
Cincinnati visits Cleveland in another. The UNDER is 4-1 over the past five games between the two, with the only OVER in Week 7 of this season.
The Bears will travel to play the Lions. The Bears won the first game between the two earlier this season 17-14 during Week 4 cashing UNDER on a 48-point closing total. The UNDER has cashed in six straight Detroit games.
Tampa Bay hosts New Orleans and this is likely the toughest over/under pick of the bunch. New Orleans has been solid as an OVER pick, due to their offensive abilities and lack thereof on defense.
However, the surging Buccaneers are giving up just 13.2 points per games over their past four games with all of them outright wins. Beware of this one.
The Redskins visit the Eagles for an NFC East showdown. This season Washington is 10-2 on the OVER, but each of the Eagles’ five home games have all cashed UNDER. In three divisional games, thus far this season for the Eagles, the OVER is 3-0, including when the two played back in Week 6.
West Coast teams traveling to the East Coast for games have seen the OVER cash in 13 of 16 games or 81% of the time.
Two teams do that this week and the OVER for them away from home this season is a combined 9-2. The two teams are Arizona visiting Miami and San Diego traveling to Carolina.
