Professional sports handicapper Jeff Mattingly previews an NFL contest between the Green Bay Packers and New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.
At the time of this writing, the following
Match Odds/Moneyline were available: Green Bay Packers (6, +500) and New England Patriots (1.16, -625)
Green Bay is set to travel to New England for the first time since the 2002 season and will play its fourth prime-time game of the season. The Packers will face a daunting task of trying to hand the Patriots a home loss without starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was ruled out on Saturday with concussion symptoms. "We've got a lot of playmakers out there," said backup quarterback Matt Flynn. "I know I'm not going to have to go out and make amazing plays." He has attempted all of 46 passes in his three-year career, with 26 of those coming in relief of Rodgers in last week's loss at Detroit. The team has always seemed to turn in on at the end of the year and has posted a 13-7 record in regular-season games in December/January.
The Packers have won their last two visits to New England by identical 28-10 scores, but haven't played there since 2002. Green Bay has a tremendous record during this time of year as stated earlier in this writeup, but the New England Patriots are even more dominating, recording a 39-9 mark in the same two months since Bill Belichick took over as head coach in 2000. In order to pull off a signature upset, the team's defense will need to turn it up even another notch, as it enters the week yielding a league-low 14.5 points per game. Outside linebacker Clay Matthews will need to create a ton of pressure up front and continue his strong play against AFC opponents, recording eight sacks in his last four such games.
New England will face the Green Bay Packers for the 10th time overall and ninth time in the regular season. The series is tied 4-4, with the Patriots being handed a 35-21 loss in Super Bowl XXXI by the Packers inside the Louisiana Superdome. It's hard to imagine that the team will drop tonight's contest against a dazed visitor, especially considering its posted a 34-5 record against NFC rivals during the regular season. The Patriots are also incredibly efficient in the month of December, owning the league's best home record with 17 wins and only once loss since the start of the 2002 season. New England is 3-0 ATS versus NFC North division opponents.
Continued:
Patriots unlikely to slip up against dazed Packers : NFL : Betfair.net
12-19-2010, 04:04 PM
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