When you decide to place your bets is important when it comes to gambling on the NFL. With COVID-19 currently dominating the league, it’s becoming tougher to identify value. We found at least half a point with the Miami Dolphins over the New Orleans Saints this week, but that line was taken off the board on Thursday when it was announced rookie quarterback Ian Book would be starting due to the other signal-callers being on the reserve/COVID-19 list. So, I guess that was fortunately a good lookahead bet!
Every Friday, we take a look at the NFL lines a week in advance to determine if we should put money down now in order to get the best bang for our buck. Most of these lines will likely change before we reach Week 17, so we want to go ahead and get our bets in if we see a nice opportunity for an upset, or to jump on a favorite before the line moves even more.
Before we jump into some early bets to consider, here are the lookahead lines for Week 17. All NFL odds come courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook.
Week 17 lookahead lines
Giants at Bears (-4.5)
Falcons at Bills (-13.5)
Chiefs (-4) at Bengals
Eagles (-3) at Washington
Jaguars at Patriots (-16.5)
Raiders at Colts (-8.5)
Texans at 49ers (-15) (Before ‘TNF’)
Broncos at Chargers (-6)
Lions at Seahawks (-9)
Cardinals at Cowboys (-2.5)
Rams (-3) at Ravens
Browns at Steelers (-1)
Dolphins at Titans (OFF)
Buccaneers at Jets (OFF)
Panthers at Saints (OFF)
Vikings at Packers (OFF)
Picks to consider
Giants at Bears (-4.5)
The Giants have covered the spread just once over their past five games and don’t have Daniel Jones for the rest of the season. They have been defeated by double digits in the past three and Joe Judge could be making a quarterback change from his — not hot — but “warm” seat. Jake Fromm may be set to make his first career start against the Eagles this week, which could be a good thing for the Giants or he could flop. All I know is that I probably wouldn’t want my first career start at quarterback coming in Philly against a juiced-up team.
The Bears play the Seahawks this week, and I don’t think they can cover 6.5 points. Even if they don’t, this line could move a bit in their favor if the Giants get blown out again. I understand laying any points with Chicago is tough, but New York is averaging 12 points per game over its last three contests. Chicago is averaging 20.3 over that same span.
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Cardinals (+2.5) at Cowboys
Now that the Cardinals have lost a couple games, people are quickly falling out of love with them. Their Super Bowl odds have completely plummeted. I never bought the Cardinals as a legitimate Lombardi Trophy contender but they still are a great team. The loss to the Lions last week was pretty shocking, but they could bounce back against the Colts at home on Christmas. If that happens, this line should shrink. The Cowboys host Washington — and while they should win — the line seems a bit inflated at Dallas -10.5. If you’re completely out on the Cardinals, then go ahead and don’t take this pick. I’m not out on them just yet, and I see this line decreasing by this time next week.
