NFL Week 17 – Betting News, Matchups, Injuries, Live Spread

Week 17 – the last week of the 2008 NFL regular season. Last chance to hit that nice little three-teamer and end the year on the plus side (thereby justifying keeping your gambling habit alive for another year). With a few playoff spots and homefield advantage still up for grabs, a lot of teams still have something to play for on Sunday, so we’ll focus on those games in this week’s writeup. The Giants, Titans, Colts and Steelers have already locked in their playoff seeding, so expect to see reserves playing early and often. And then we have the Lions. They are calling this week’s game against the Packers their Super Bowl, while the Packers really don’t have much motivation other than making sure Detroit stays winless. Can the Lions pull it together and avoid the embarrassment of 0-16 by pulling off the upset in Lambeau?

Key Injuries

• Both Harry Douglas and Michael Jenkins are listed as questionable for the Falcons.
• The Bears placed safety Mike Brown on Injured Reserve with a calf injury

• Ken Dorsey is out for the Browns, leaving them with Bruce Gradkowski as the starter for this week’s game against the Steelers

• Marion Barber is still dealing with that toe injury and will see limited action against the Eagles

• Jeremy Shockey is out for the Saints

Key Matchups

Remember, you can always visit SpreadWeekly’s Live Spread page to see the current NFL odds for every game, every week from three top sportsbooks – Bookmaker, Bodog and Sportsbooks.

Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

Spread: Philadelphia -1

Gametime: 4:15 EST

Weather: 61 degrees, showers and wind 22mph from SW

Preview:

Major playoff implications in this NFC East showdown. If the Cowboys win, their in. The Eagles need to win and get some help. Both teams are relatively healthy, although Marion Barber’s toe is still hurting so don’t expect to see him get anywhere close to 25-30 carries.

Trends:

• The Cowboys are 1-8 against the spread in their last 9 December games
• The under is 6-2-1 in the Eagles’ last 9 home games
• The underdog is 7-1 against the spread in the last 8 meetings between the Cowboys and Eagles

SpreadWeekly prediction: Cowboys 24 – Eagles 17

Miami Dolphins at NY Jets

Spread: NY Jets -3

Gametime: 4:15 EST

Weather: 58 degrees, showers and wind at 21mph from SW

Preview:

If you’ve had ESPN on for more than a few seconds at any point this week then you know the story – Chad Pennington going back to New York with a chance to get the Dolphins into the playoffs while also ending his former team’s season. Miami wins the AFC East with a win, The Jets need to beat the Dolphins and then get some help. Brett Favre has been looking every bit of his 39 years over the past few weeks and now it looks like his shoulder might be injured. If he can’t turn back the clock this week, look for the Dolphins to complete a remarkable turnaround from last season’s 1-15 and ESPN to relapse into 24/7 Favre Retirement Watch.

Trends:

• Dolphins are 4-0 against the spread in their last 4 games as a road underdog
• Jets are 4-1 against the spread in their last 5 games against teams with winning records
• The road team is 4-1-1 in the last 6 games between the Dolphins and Jets

SpreadWeekly prediction: Dolphins 21 – Jets 19

Denver Broncos at San Diego Chargers

Spread: San Diego Chargers -8

Gametime: 8:15 EST

Weather: 61 degrees and sunny

Preview:

Gotta hate being the Broncos right now. The AFC West was theirs for the taking…for the past two months. Just a home win against the Raiders or the Bills would’ve clinched it, but they blew it. Now they have to travel to San Diego to play against a Chargers team that’s finally playing near expectations. Winner goes to the playoffs, loser goes home, very, very disappointed. Throw in the personal rivalry betweeen Jay Cutler and Philip Rivers and that was in full display at the end of last season and this should be a pretty decent finale to the regular season.

Trends:

• Broncos are 1-5 against the spread in their last 6 December games
• Broncos are 0-4-1 in their last 5 games against the Chargers
• Chargers are 4-1 against the spread in ther last 5 home games against teams with a winning record

SpreadWeekly prediction: Denver 31 – Chargers 35