Week 4 Sunday Football

New Orleans Saints @ Detroit Lions

Matchup Insight

A battle of high octane offences and underperforming defence, the pass defences of both these teams have given up many points. The Lions took a step forward last week beating a good Cardinals outfit, but both the Lions and Cardinals are not in the same ballpark as the Saints. The Saints have not lost three games in a row since starting 0-3 in the 2016 season with the most significant takeaway of their two losses so far being the absence of WR Micheal Thomas. There is no one on the Saints line up that can cover Thomas's production. On the Lions side, this is a team that has a knack of staying in games and keeping them close, even with their non-existent defence. If Thomas is out again, expect Brees to once again lean on Alvin Kamara. Kamara has 438 total yards and 6 T.D.s this season and looks set to take the fantasy mantle from Christian McCaffery. Drew Brees' play on the road against the Raiders inspired very little confidence with his arm looking weak.

The Last Word

If Thomas plays, look for the Saints to get their season back on track, if he can't suit up the Lions could do enough to stay in this game and capture the cover.

Los Angeles Chargers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Matchup Insight

I feel sorry for any Q.B. that has to go up against the might of this Bucs defence. Now add in the fact that Herbert is a rookie and 2 of his linemen are on the injury report, i'd be upgrading my medical insurance cause this is going to hurt. Tom Brady may be the focal point of this Tampa Bay team, but it's the steam-rolling defence that's going to pave their way to the playoffs. The Chargers receivers have been sub-par this season, and the pass blocking is the same as it has been for the last ten years of Chargers football, and they have to contend with the top 5 Tampa Bay secondary. When we look at the opposite side of the ball, Mike Evans seems set for a massive day with Chris Godwin out and Scotty Miller on the injury report. Gronk looks to have gotten his swagger back and could be in line for a favourable matchup in the red zone.

The Last Word

Why would you bet against the GOAT and this defence vs a rookie Q.B. who looks set for a trial by fire season? Godwins out, but since when has Brady cared about throwing to his 4th, 5th and 6th receivers.

Jacksonville Jaguars @ Cincinnati Bengals

Matchup Insight

Is it time to believe in the Bengals? Are the Jaguars, secretly a good team but the Dolphins, are just better? Are you sure it's not real butter? Some questions deserve to be asked, and some do not and the answer to all of these is a resounding no. As good as the Bengals have looked in patches (mainly when playing behind) this is still a football team with a long way to go. They have lost/drawn three close football games, but these are all against opposition that is going nowhere fast. The Bengals defence is a contrasting unit, the secondary looks ok, the run defence is poor, and the pass rush is slower than a sloth on special K. The offence, on the other hand, is one that is improving every week.

The Tiger King Joe Burrow looks the real deal and is developing excellent rapport with receivers Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins. On the other side of the ball, the Jaguars offence looks good. Minshew had a down game last week but should get by against poor defences. Still, the golden nugget here is running back James Robinson who has been tearing offences up in both the run and pass game. The Jaguars defence is below average except for rookie CJ Henderson who has a bright future. Minshew desperately missed D.J. Chark last week and will struggle again if he misses this clash.

The Last Word

Neither of these teams is going to the playoffs, but it is all about improvement for them this year. I expect Minshew to lock The Tiger King up this week with a Netflix special due out Monday.

Minnesota Vikings @ Houston Texans

Matchup Insight

Preseason would anyone have thought this would be a matchup of 0-3 teams? The Vikings defence is terrible, I've already given up on them and look forward to seeing how we're going to fail to improve it next year. The Mike Zimmer lead defence has been regressing over the last three seasons to the point where we'll be seeing C.B. wanted ads in the Star Tribune. To show how bad this secondary is, we have been burnt by Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mo Alie-Cox and Kalif Raymond, that's embarrassing. The offence, on the other hand, is about to get a lot better. Kirk Cousins does this to us every year then goes on a run where he's hitting 75% completion rate and finally finding Cook out of the backfield. The defence for the Texans has not been much better with the 29th ranked defence for the Texans vs the 32nd for the Vikings per PFF. The offence for the Texans is also on the improve with the first half last week looking amazing until they fell apart late in the game, this isn't the Steelers Defence, and I can see Watson pulling out considerable numbers in a fight to get away from a dreaded 0-4 start.

The Last Word

Don't expect to see much defence being played this week as both Q.B.s will look to go deep early and often. It's shoot out time baby. N.B. The Vikings week has been disrupted due to the Titans COVID-19 results and will be missing practices until all results return.

Seattle Seahawks @ Miami Dolphins

Matchup Insight

14 T.D.s in 3 games, Russel Wilson, looks fantastic. The rapport he has with Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf is otherworldly with one of these guys open almost every play. Miami's secondary flashed much potential preseason. However, three games in and they are fondling around looking for the receipt for Byron Jones. Jones showing up on the injury report again could end up being a good result for them this week. As good as the Seahawks offence has been, there are enormous questions to be asked about their defence. The run-stopping has been stout, but teams are less inclined to run the ball with the form of Russell Wilson. Miami's offence has outperformed their grade so far this year and looks like it will continue to do so against Seattle's Secondary, Fitzmagic is an ageless wonder, and it's getting difficult to predict his downfall. 

The Last Word

If this game were in Seattle, we'd be looking at a walkover, but the outer conference travel to Miami with fans evens this up a bit for the Dolphins.

Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina Panthers

Matchup Insight

Kyler Murray did not look good at all last week, and it will show his maturity to how he bounces back on Sunday. Kyler is being forced into throwing the ball more because of the pitiful play of running back Kenyan Drake and teams are beginning to figure this out. If it wasn't for Bill O Brien and his delusions of grandeur with the Deandre Hopkins trade this offence would be in serious trouble. Hopkins is the focal point of this attack. Him staying healthy is the difference between making a push for a playoff spot in the most challenging division in football or getting another pick that's not relatively high enough to do anything. The Carolina Panthers are a football team that continues to be uninspiring. The early retirement of Luke Kuechly is having the most significant effect on a teams leadership and cohesion since Obama left the oval office. Their offence, although more fluid than last year, is struggling without McCaffery and they look like continuing to stay in games before faltering late.

The Last Word

The Cardinals need to show they can make plays early and often here as they start a three-game road stretch, against the Panthers porous defence is how you want to start this.

Baltimore Ravens @ Washington Football Team

Matchup Insight

The good news here is the Ravens can't play any worse than how they handled themselves on Monday night. That was a bad matchup for them, and I expect a colossal progression this week. The Ravens are going to be out for blood, and the Football Team looks to be a wounded rodent that's about to become prey. Washington has been a mixed bag so far with their offence being as hot and cold as eating soup in the snow. Still, their defence has more than held their own, especially in the secondary. Now if we can finally get an effective pass from Dwayne Haskins like only 1, then this spread could become interesting. With this dominating pass rush (although missing Ioannidis and probably Chase Young) we should see Lamar use his legs a bit more to keep the sticks moving.

The Last Word

 I see Haskins getting back on track in this game even if the game has already been won when this happens with Dontrelle Inman being an excellent red-zone weapon and McClaurin looking like a dedicated #1 receiver. The Ravens will come out fast, but I like Washington for some garbage time points.

Cleveland Browns @ Dallas Cowboys

Matchup Insight

Is this game a trap? I keep running the numbers, and everything keeps coming up brown. Now let's break this down. Defensively the Cowboys are banged up and their secondaries are leaking. Their pass rush is poor with Aldon Smith leading the league in sacks, and he's been sitting on his couch playing Madden for the last four years. The secondary is so bad even the Giants have circled it as a unit to attack next week. The Browns defence, on the other hand, is finally starting to come together 74 years in the making. The secondary is an embarrassing bend but doesn't break football, and the Myles Garrett lead pass rush is one of the best in the league so long as he does not take anyone else's helmet off. The Dallas offence is at a point of change. They can no longer be a run-first team when they have Zach Martin, two backups, a rookie and a waiter from Quiznos manning the line, and this leads to Dak throwing the ball a lot, now don't get me wrong this receiving corps is good. Still, there's a reason Dak hasn't got paid yet and his inability to win football games just maybe it. The Cleveland offence, on the other hand, is going to live or die by the run game and their ability to manage the clock. Nick Chubb looks fantastic and is my early pick to take the rushing title, even with Kareem Hunt behind him. The receivers are top tier once Mayfield can improve on his meagre 6.2 yards per pass attempt and get them more involved.

The Last Word

 So, Run Defence-Browns, Pass Defence-Browns, Pass Rush-Browns, Offensive line-Browns, Run Game-Browns, Pass Game-Dallas. The numbers say it all it's time to bet on the Dallas Cowboys. The Browns last seven road games they are 0-7 heads up and 0-7 against the spread which they missed by an average of 16 points. I would much rather lose betting against the Browns than betting on them.

Indianapolis Colts @ Chicago Bears

Matchup Insight

The Bears are the luckiest 3-0 team in all of football. Nick Foles is a significant upgrade over Tribusky, but that was never going to be hard. The question is which Nick Foles are we going to see, the Eagles Foles or the everywhere else Foles. My money is on the latter. Sure Foles looked great against the non-existent secondary in Atlanta, but that's not hard when the defence had not prepared to face him and his deep shots. The Colts have one of the best coverages in the NFL and will be looking to continue their 2020 pickfest. Now the Colts offence has looked good if you can see past the obligatory Rivers interception per game. They won't be able to lean on the run game as much as they have been against the Chicago maulers. This game is going to be a great matchup that will define both of their seasons. 

The Last Word

Both teams are on the outside looking in for playoff spots, and this looks to be a great defensive matchup with the edge going to the team that can stop the costly turnovers.

New York Giants @ Los Angeles Rams

Matchup Insight

The Rams looked terrible last week, and then they looked rather good in the ultimate game of 2 halves. This offence is on fire with Woods, Cupp and Higbee being one of the best-receiving trios in football right now when Goff is not facing pressure. The Giants are a terrible football team, no that's too nice. The Giants are the COVID-19 of football teams, and they're going to make you sick just watching them. The Giants are ranking in the bottom end of almost every statistical category with the only exception being the surprisingly efficient run defence. The Rams defence is strong with Aaron Donald doing Aaron Donald things and a ball-hawking secondary. L.A. is the only team to have gone over 400 offensive yards in every game so far this season.

The Last Word

After a tough first half last week I expect the Rams to come out of the blocks fast in the first half, then run the ball to close it out in the second.

Buffalo Bills @ Las Vegas Raiders

Matchup Insight

The Raiders are an ok football team that struggles with being one dimensional, and they are a dink and dunk team that has two passing plays, screens and tight end slants. They will likely be missing Henry Ruggs and Bryan Edwards which will again force them into playing that dink and dunk style as they lose the ability to stretch the field. The upset potential lies with Josh Jacobs and his power to punish one of the worst run defences in football. The Bills offence was great in the first half last week then collapsed in the second before pulling it back for a big drive at the end. The defence, however, has shown its not as good as has been advertised and there's going to be games where they don't show up. The Raiders were completely outcoached by Bellichick last week forcing them into making the plays the Patriots wanted them to make.

The Last Word

On paper, this game is all about the Buffalo Bills but with tough matchups against the Titans and Chiefs coming up and a hangover from the Rams game I would be very wary that the Death Star doesn't claim another scalp and go 2-0

Philadelphia Eagles @ San Francisco 49ers

Matchup Insight

Wow, the Eagles are bad, this once league-best offensive line has more holes than seppos Y fronts. Teams that have tied a football game then played on the road are 2-11 against the spread. The Eagles had a thin receiving corps coming into the season, now they're all gone, and there is no one left to catch the ball bar Zach Ertz and Greg Ward. The banged-up 49ers, however, have found ways to decimate the Jets and Giants and have massively out-gained these teams on offence while doing so. Now you all may think i've been on the devils' lettuce here, but I like the Eagles to cover. Now don't get me wrong they are not a good football team, but i don't think the 49ers are that great right now either. They've beaten the Jets and the Giants. The Knicks could beat these teams, and they can't even win a basketball game.

The Last Word

The lights come on for Sunday Night Football, and I can see the Eagles defensive line stepping up and causing havoc for Garoppolo. If the Eagles can find some production from their band of merry men out wide, they could keep this game close.

About the Author

Caveman and his wife Mary reside in Ireland and are proud parents to the world’s greatest dog, Thor. Originally from New Zealand and a Vikings Fan, Caveman has been one of the top Fantasy Football players for over a decade, as in, in his fantasies’ he is a top football player.