The NFL Blog: 2012 Week 4 Betting Lines

Last Week: Vs. Spread: (7-9); Straight Up: (5-11)

Season: Vs. Spread: (26-20-2); Straight Up: (25-23)

Week 3 Review: It was an ugly week for me, particularly picking winners. It feels weird to be three weeks into the season and have a better record ATS than straight up. Of course things could very easily have turned out better for me. I came out on the wrong end of the Sunday and Monday games, both of which were horrendously officiated. 

It’s a very different week for me if the Pats and Packers win (and they should have), as I’d have been 8-8 ATS and an acceptable 7-9 straight up. My week 1 performance is the thing keeping me afloat at this point after back-to-back disappointing weeks. 

Week 4 Preview: This will be the first week of the season in which we have less than the full slate of games. It seems weird to have only two teams on a bye. Maybe they’ve been doing it for a while and I just haven’t noticed it before. Actually I think it’s a good idea because nobody really wants to waste their bye in the 4^th week of the season. 

This week doesn’t feel quite as intimidating as week 3 did. There are a pair of double digit spreads this week and three other games have spreads of at least 7 points. Last week there wasn’t a single double digit spread and there were just three games with spreads of at least 7 points. 

It will be interesting to see if the league is able to get the real officials back for this weekend. If not, we have to expect more chaos. 

Thursday Night’s Game

Cleveland (+12.5) @ Baltimore

Pick: Ravens cover

Sunday’s Early Games 

New England (-4) @ Buffalo

Pick: Patriots cover

Tennessee (+12) @ Houston

Pick: Texans cover

San Diego (+1) @ Kansas City

Pick: Chargers pull off the upset

Minnesota (+7) @ Detroit

Pick: Lions win but Vikings beat the spread

Carolina (+7) @ Atlanta

Pick: Falcons win but Panthers beat the spread

Seattle (-1) @ St. Louis

Pick: Seahawks cover

San Francisco (-4) @ New York Jets

Pick: Niners cover

Sunday’s Late Games

Miami (+6) @ Arizona

Pick: Cards cover

Oakland (+6.5) @ Denver

Pick: Broncos cover

Cincinnati (-1) @ Jacksonville

Pick: Bengals cover

New Orleans (+9) @ Green Bay

Pick: Packers win but Saints beat the spread

Washington (+3) @ Tampa Bay

Pick: Bucs win but Skins beat the spread

Sunday Night’s Game

New York Giants (+1) @ Philadelphia

Pick: Giants pull off the upset

Monday Night’s Game

Chicago (+3.5) @ Dallas

Pick: Cowboys win but Bears beat the spread