Pats Bets are Off
I've had fun this year doing my online bets on the weekly Patriots games. The bet was simple: the loser vs. the point spread had to display the winning team's cap (or later, logo) in their online profile for the following week. After pumping some money into our local economy with a few purchases at Lids, I decided to back off and focus strictly on online humiliation rather than forcing the loser to keep buying caps.
I'm not doing the bet this week. The Patriots are playing the Houston Texans, a potential playoff team. In theory, it should be a good game. But, I think that the Patriots will hold back a lot of their starters to rest them and avoid injury. The game will be more like a pre-season game for the Pats. I always thought that betting on games that don't matter was a waste of time. The Texans do need to win the game. The current line has the Texans favored by 8 points. This is reflective of the Patriots likely stance, in my opinion. So, no bet this week. And, no bets during the playoffs as the loser will have their season over in any event.
Here's the recap of my bets:
Wins (vs. spread): Falcons, Ravens, Titans, Buccaneers, Colts, Jets, Dolphins, Jaguars
Losses: Bills, Jets, Broncos, Dolphins, Saints, Panthers (but no one took my bet)
Push (tie vs. the spread): Buffalo
So, the point spreads are, on average, correct. I won 8 times in 15 bets.
I do think that the Patriots have shown that they can play well. If they play like they did against the Jaguars, they can beat anyone. But, they have also had some disappointing efforts, such as against an excellent Saints team. Let's hope they stay hot and do some damage in the playoffs. Go Pats!
