The Golden Angeleno's Week 11 Pigskin Parlay

By Peyton Schultze

Lamar Jackson’s Ravens have put massive points on the board all year long in the league’s most versatile offense (via Flipboard).

Welcome to the first-ever edition of our Pigskin Parlay, featuring plenty of enticing matchups for the NFL’s 11th week of the season.

With plenty of contenders duking it out for the top place in their division, as well as plenty of other teams battling for relevance in their respective conference, Week 11 has a lot of potential to be one of the most thrilling weeks of the season after a wild roundup of games a week ago. From Thursday night to Monday night, here’s our five game rundown of the best NFL bets of the week.

Over (50.0) Houston @ Baltimore

Expect a shootout on Sunday afternoon between the top-ranked Ravens’ offense and Deshaun Watson’s explosive Texans (via Flipboard).

This game has potential to be a true thriller. In a battle of two of the best young quarterbacks in recent memory, Houston and Baltimore should be able to light up the scoreboard all night long despite facing solid defenses. With Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson both as hot as any player in football right now, this could be an offensive explosion full of playmaking fireworks.

Although Baltimore’s defense has been exceptional since a bad loss to the Browns in Week 4, it is hard to have a ton of confidence in any group’s ability to stop Deshaun Watson right now. The same goes for a typically solid Texans’ defense, who will face the extremely tall task of having to slow down dynamic quarterback Lamar Jackson. With plenty of big plays for both offenses and both quarterbacks playing like true MVP candidates, how can you not expect a true offensive shootout on Sunday afternoon? There is still a chance that Baltimore’s defense could continue their great play and at least slow the Texans’ offense, but even that will be tough against a very good unit with an improved offensive line, a nice running game, and a great core of wide receivers. With that being said, there are a ton of what ifs when it comes to this matchup. However, it is hard to imagine any of those what ifs having to do with poor play from the offenses, which makes this a very interesting bet. Take the over with a lot of confidence, and sit back and watch two of the league’s youngest stars go head-to-head in an AFC battle of powerhouses. Houston (31) - Baltimore (37)

Jacksonville (+3.0) @ Indianapolis

The Jaguars’ offense could benefit from the return of starting quarterback Nick Foles, whose anticipated return comes at a timely stretch during Jacksonville’s season (via Flipboard).

Nick Foles may be returning from injury just at the right time for the Jaguars. After Gardner Minshew took the league by storm and filled in admirably for the former Eagles’ Super Bowl MVP, Foles and the Jaguars will head into battle with one of the premier threats right in front of them in the AFC playoff hunt in the form of the Indianapolis Colts. With a chance to beat a divisional foe and thrust themselves right back into the middle of the playoff picture, this is one of the biggest games of the weekend in the AFC.

With that being said, the Colts just lost to the lowlife Miami Dolphins. That’s right, they lost to one of the worst rosters of the past decade at home in Lucas Oil Stadium. Although the Colts were without Jacoby Brissett and were forced to start Brian Hoyer at quarterback, Indianapolis played horribly on both sides of the ball and dropped a game that they needed to have. Now, even with a chance that Brissett plays on Sunday, how can anyone have faith in the Colts? This is a team that almost lost to the Broncos, and also recently lost another important game in which they were favored against the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Indianapolis has had a lot of roster scrambling to do all season long, so there really should be little blame placed upon general manager Chris Ballard and head coach Frank Reich. However, this 2019 version of the Colts does not look like a playoff team right now, and the intriguing return of Foles could light a fire for the Jaguars’ roster, especially with a defense that has often had to carry the load at times with the rookie Minshew under center for most of the season. Roll with the late-season Foles magic again on Sunday, and watch out if Jacksonville can roll off a few straight key wins in the conference. Jaguars (24) - Colts (23)

New England (-3.5) @ Philadelphia

The Patriots and Eagles meet up for this first time since Philadelphia’s stunning win in Super Bowl LII (via The San Diego Union-Tribune).

Giving Bill Belichick and the Patriots two weeks to prepare has not been a wise thing to bet against during his longstanding Patriot tenure, and it is tough to imagine New England not coming out with laser focus after a tough loss to Baltimore before their bye week. Even though it is tempting to pick the Patriots’ opponent in Super Bowl LII to replicate their same performance from that crazy battle, this is a game that New England typically wins in impressive fashion against a team that has not found their own marquee win on the season.

Sure, the Eagles dominated the surprising Buffalo Bills on the road in their last appearance on the field, but the Bills seem like a team that was simply the beneficiary of an easy early-season schedule after a bad loss to the struggling Browns in Week 10. In addition, Philadelphia was killed in their last big time game on the road against Dallas, and this is a team that has continuously struggled to find their own identity over the course of the season. One week the Eagles will put up points by running the ball at a high level with Jordan Howard, and the next week Carson Wentz will throw the ball 50 times in the air and be forced to carry the Eagles’ offense on his own. Without any clear direction for what type of team this is, it is hard to have confidence in the Eagles even coming off a bye week of their own. With that being said, New England typically thrives against teams with a clear hole on their roster (a weak Philly secondary and a lack of playmakers on the outside right now on offense), and you can be sure that Belichick will attempt to expose those matchups all night long. There’s a great chance that Carson Wentz could show some superstar flashes in a huge game against a great defense, but the Patriots’ dominant defense, timely play on offense from quarterback Tom Brady, and precise preparation will be too much for the playoff-hungry Eagles to overcome. New England (27) - Philadelphia (17)

Chicago (+7.0) @ Los Angeles R.

Look for a very defense-driven contest between the Bears and Rams this weekend on Sunday Night Football (via Newsweek).

Neither of these teams can be trusted whatsoever at this point in the season, with struggling offenses, a lack of confidence, and suddenly poor quarterback play. With a loss this weekend, the loser of this game could essentially be knocked out of the playoff race in the very competitive NFC, making the stakes extremely high for this week’s Sunday Night Football matchup on NBC. In a battle of two Super Bowl hopefuls in the preseason, this game should be tight and could come down to the wire in the 4th quarter.

A season ago, the Bears and Rams met in Chicago on Sunday Night Football during Week 14, with both teams searching for a big win against a NFC contender. Last year’s matchup exposed some major weaknesses and ended very poorly for Los Angeles, as Rams’ quarterback Jared Goff threw four terrible interceptions and was rattled all night long by the formidable Bears’ defense in the cold depths of Soldier Field. Bears’ quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was not really any better with three poor interceptions of his own, but the Chicago defense stepped up in a major way and completely throttled the typically dominant Los Angeles offense. This year, both teams head into this matchup a lot how they looked in that game last year; poor offense and great defense. With the Rams’ coming off an embarrassing effort in Pittsburgh a week ago, you could certainly expect at least a little better performance from this weekend’s home team. However, the Rams’ lack of commitment of giving the ball to Todd Gurley behind a struggling offensive line has made it hard to have any trust in the way the Rams are playing right now, and the matchup against a top five defense makes the cause for concern even higher. Aaron Donald and the Rams’ defense should also be able to throttle the Bears’ struggling offense, but this game has a chance to be an ugly slugfest that comes down to whichever team can limit their turnovers and put a touchdown or two on the board. Even with the Bears’ offensive troubles recently, take Chicago all day with a spread this large. Chicago (16) - Los Angeles R. (13)

Bet of the Week: Kansas City (-3.5) versus Los Angeles C. (in Mexico City)

After a shocking loss a week ago, the Kansas City Chiefs will be under the bright lights of Monday Night Football against the underperforming Los Angeles Chargers (via KansasCity.com).

The Chiefs lost on Sunday due to a few massive mistakes that let the Titans stay in the game and eventually take the lead in a maddening 4th quarter. Usually this sound a lot more Charger-like than something that the Andy Reid-led Chiefs would pull, but key injuries on the offensive line and terrible defense held Kansas City back all afternoon long in one of the craziest games of the year. However, don’t overreact to their tough loss on the road; this is still the best team in the AFC West as long as quarterback Patrick Mahomes is healthy and under center for the Chiefs.

In the case of the Chiefs, it is very unlikely this type of letdown will happen in back-to-back weeks. If the Chiefs can protect Mahomes up front at a higher level than they did a week ago, they should be able to return to form and play at a high level. Meanwhile, the Super Chargers remain one of the most disappointing, unpredictable, and inconsistent teams in the league, and the Bolts are yet to come up with a divisional win on the 2019 season. After a bad loss to the Raiders, the Chargers now face an uphill climb toward the AFC playoff picture, and they will see several projected playoff teams on their upcoming schedule. Combining their trait to let down in big primetime games with the fact that Kansas City’s offense is nearly impossible to stop with a healthy Mahomes, the Chiefs should be able to cruise all night long on a neutral site in Mexico City. Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers made the typically-poor Raiders’ defense look like a legitimate unit a week ago on Thursday night, and look for a nice performance from the Chiefs’ pass rush to get their unit back on track and into the hunt for a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs. Kansas City (38) - Los Angeles C. (23)

College Football Side Board

The #4 Georgia Bulldogs are in must-win territory if they want a chance to play their way into this year’s College Football Playoff (via Flipboard).

Go For It:

#4 Georgia Bulldogs (-3.0) @ #12 Auburn Tigers

California Golden Bears (+6.5) @ USC Trojans

Stanford Cardinal (+10.5) @ Washington State Cougars

Avoid:

#11 Florida Gators (-7.0) @ Missouri Tigers

Iowa State Cyclones (-6.5) vs #19 Texas Longhorns

#10 Oklahoma Sooners (-10.0) @ #13 Baylor Bears