Redskins vs Buccaneers and Beating the Book

Oct 4, 2015; Landover, MD, USA; Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon (88) is congratulated by tackle Trent Williams (71) after scoring a touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles during the second half at FedEx Field. Washington Redskins won 23 – 20. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Redskins have a “code red” when they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers today according to head coach Jay Gruden. Gruden is feeling the hot seat as is quarterback Kirk Cousins after struggling for the past two weeks and much of the season. Changes may come if the Redskins don’t come out victorious.

Tampa Bay is well rested with a week off after beating the Jaguars two weeks ago. The Buccaneers have lost their first game following their bye weeks over the past two seasons so the rest may not benefit them. They are 2-3 this year with victories over the Saints and Jaguars and double digit losses to the Titans, Texans and Panthers.

The Redskins should have left tackle Trent Williams and tight end Jordan Reed returning this week but will be without Desean Jackson, Chris Culliver, DeAngelo Hall and Kory Lichtensteiger. Reed and Williams are both coming off concussions two weeks ago and their status will not be sure until shortly before the game.

Even with their depleted lineup, the Redskins should be able to handle Tampa Bay. With a more intense approach, Cousins, Gruden and the Redskins will beat the Buccaneers by over a touchdown and cover the three point spread.

Redskins-3 over the Buccaneers

The Dallas Cowboys are also coming off their bye week and for the third season in a row will travel to New York to play the Giants after their week off. Dallas won each of those games by three points. This year however, Tony Romo and Dez Bryant will not play in the game and Matt Cassel will get his first start for the Cowboys.

Dallas beat the Giants in week one this season with a late touchdown to Jason Witten and followed that up with a victory over the Eagles to give them a 2-0 division record. Without Romo and Bryant, the Cowboys have lost their three games since to the Falcons, Saints and Patriots. The Giants are 3-3 but lost 27-7 to the Eagles last Monday night.

Dallas has the edge in rest over New York but without their two biggest stars, they won’t have the fire-power to keep pace with a Giant team looking to rebound from their embarrassing loss to the Eagles. This should be a fairly low scoring game with the Giants winning by ten points or more. Eli Manning outplays Cassel and the New York Giants are my Best Bet of the Week.

Best Bet of the Week

Giants-3 over the Cowboys

The New Orleans Saints have a mini bye of their own after playing on Thursday Night last week. They earned their second victory of the season over the Falcons at home after beating the depleted Cowboys in overtime in their previous home game. The Saints have struggled in their four losses to the Cardinals, Buccaneers, Panthers and Eagles.

The Saints travel to Indianapolis to play the Colts. Quarterback Andrew Luck returned to the lineup but the Colts still lost at home last week to the Patriots 34-27. Indianapolis won three straight games against divisional opponents without Luck, for two of them, after losing their first two games to the Bills and Jets. After a slow start to the season and his time off for injury, Luck should improve a lot over the next few weeks.

Colts-4 over the Saints

The Miami Dolphins beat the Tennessee Titans 38-10 last week after firing their coach Joe Philbin during their bye week. New head coach Dan Campbell seems to have rejuvenated the team and in particular their defense by also firing defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle. This week, they face the Titans divisional counterpart, the Houston Texans.

The Texans are 2-4 on the season with their wins coming versus the Buccaneers and Jaguars. Before beating the Jaguars last week, the Texans looked lost versus the Colts and Falcons. The Texans have changed quarterbacks again, switching back to Brian Hoyer and sending Ryan Mallett to the bench.

The Texans have been mostly unimpressive this season and I expect the Dolphins to handle their lackluster offense well. This will be the Dolphins first home game in four weeks and they will be encouraged to show off their renewed focus to their home fans. The Dolphins will win easily by double digits.

Dolphins-4.5 over the Texans

I also like the Bills, Rams, Falcons and Minnesota to lesser degrees. The Bills face the hapless Jaguars in London, the Rams will run over the Browns, the rested Falcons handle the Titans and Minnesota stops the London bound Lions. I will have picks on the Sunday and Monday night games so look for them on my twitter feed.

I lost my second Best Bet of the Week to fall to 4-2 on the season. I continued my poor week by going 0-3 on all my Top Bets to fall under .500 at 11-13. Furthermore, both recommended teasers lost on one play when Cam Newton threw a touchdown pass to Greg Olsen to beat the Seahawks who only needed to win for the teaser to pay off four to one.

My overall record was 3-5 for the week and I am now 36-20-2 including Seattle’s victory on Thursday. I finished 12-8-1 on college picks this week and my record is 42-26-3. My Best Bet was Syracuse and they won to give me a 2-1 record on the season.

The college season is right in the middle and I expect to refine my picks more as the teams have shown who they are more, including more College Top Bets which I went 3-0 on this week with Syracuse, Duke and Nevada. To get my college picks and other changes or night game NFL picks, follow me on twitter @westcoast_skins.

The Minnesota-Detroit game is not currently on the board due to an injury to Adrian Peterson so I may change it before game time. Good luck this week!

Next: Redskins at Jets and Beating the Book

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