9 Best bets for Week 17 of the NFL season

My normal advice would to not bet this weekend. Don’t do it – especially before knowing every teams’ situation since the late games have some large dependencies on the early game results. The problem is that I am two games below .500 and we have to …

Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports

10 Point Three-Team Teaser

New Orleans Saints -2.5 over CAROLINA PANTHERS

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS -5.5 over Miami Dolphins

GREEN BAY PACKERS -5.5 over Detroit Lions

Here’s what you should do if you absolutely have to bet on Week 17 of the season — and we must because soon there will be no football to bet on and that is going to make us all sad pandas — and it’s bet on games where teams that absolutely need to win are facing teams that wouldn’t mind losing to keep a better draft slot.

The Saints need to beat the Panthers to have any shot at a bye in the NFC. Well, 12.5 points is a lot of points even for a Panthers team that is probably going to start Will Grier and only focus on Christian McCaffrey’s personal accolades. So, tease it down to a field goal game. It’s not difficult to win by just three points when a bye in the playoffs relies on it.

Which brings us to New England. Their offense didn’t look bad last week against a good defense. The problem is that 15.5 points are too much against a Dolphins team that will play hard for coach Brian Flores. Flores also knows the Patriots system. A touchdown seems like the right spread.

Finally, it’s the Packers. I’ve been down on the Packers all year. Their offense moves in fits and starts. They haven’t showcased Aaron Jones enough to my liking. The thing is they did that last week. They also are going up against David Blough. There’s no way they don’t win a home game by less than a touchdown.