NFL Betting: What We Learned from Week 9 (2020)
We’re past the halfway point of the regular season now. After a wild weekend of action in Week 9, here are four major takeaways that we had from this past Sunday’s action.
Join the BettingPros Discord Chat for Live Betting Advice >>
Washington Should Be Respectable Now
The Washington Football Team has been horrendous so far this season but they should get a small upgrade to respectable. Why is that the case, you might ask? Because the team will have Alex Smith under center going forward. With Dwayne Haskins and Kyle Allen, this offense was inept. Under Smith, they should be able to move the ball, get first downs, and – with the defense they have – be somewhat respectable. They’ll be worth a look against the spread in games where Smith is getting the nod.
Colts’ Offense Not Where They Thought They’d Be
The expectation coming into the season was that the Colts defense was solid and that the offense – with the additions of Philip Rivers and Jonathan Taylor – should be respectable. At this point, it’s hard to say the latter is the case. This is a team that entered the weekend 25th in rushing yards per game and 17th overall. They’ve had a tough time sustaining drives as they are 19th on third-down conversions and those numbers won’t improve after Sunday. They had a total of zero first downs in the entire third quarter.
Facing a decent Ravens defense, the Colts finished with 339 yards of offense. However, 126 came in garbage time on the team’s final three drives when the game was all but over.
At this point, you start to get a little concerned about this offense. They’ve played teams like the Detroit Lions, Cincinnati Bengals, and New York Jets, but have struggled against competent defenses. That’ll be probably unless they can sort out their issues.
Atlanta Hasn’t Learned
The Falcons have won three of four, so they should be in a positive mood heading into their Week 10 bye. However, this team still hasn’t learned in terms of their blown leads as they nearly did it again on Sunday. Ahead 20-3 at the half and 27-6 entering the fourth quarter, the Falcons still needed to recover an onside kick with the game to stop the comeback. The Broncos had come all the way back and cut it to 34-27 and even after getting the onside kick, the Falcons gave the Broncos the ball back one more time. Denver should have had about 20 seconds but a foolish illegal formation penalty allowed the Broncos to stop the clock.
Atlanta is playing better. It’s good that they’ve won three of four. However, there is still no lead too safe with this Broncos team. Be careful laying spreads with them as the lines start to grow (since they’re winning games).
Bears Are Fading Fast
We warned you when the Bears were 5-1 that they weren’t nearly as good as their record indicates and we’re seeing it now. After Sunday’s demoralizing defeat at Tennessee where the Bears were hardly in the game, they’ve now lost three in a row and head to Minnesota next week with a record of 5-4.
Nick Foles finished the day with 355 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions, so on the surface, that looks decent. However, keep in mind that the team finished with 375 yards of offense. 222 of that came on the final four drives when the Bears were trailing big. Quarterbacking isn’t the issue with this team. They can’t run the ball (56 yards on 20 carries on Sunday) and they can’t protect whoever is under center (three sacks, four tackles for a loss on Sunday). Until that’s repaired, they won’t be very good.
View the top deposit bonuses and promo codes for each sportsbook >>
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RadioPublic | Breaker | Castbox | Pocket Casts
Whether you’re new to sports betting or a betting pro, our Sports Betting Strategy and Advice page is for you. You can get started with our 101 section — including Common Sports Betting Terms — or head to more advanced strategy — like 10 Tips to Become a Sharper Sports Bettor — to learn more.
Dave Golokhov is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Dave, check out his archive and follow him @davegolokhov.