Our resident NFL tipster @marcasbrennan continued his rich vein of form last week with four successful selections and he returns to take a close look at week nine of the NFL season.
Denver Broncos -4.5 @ 10/11
Regular readers of this column will know I tend to focus on what players will star on the night, but upon reading the handicaps this week it came as a major shock to see the Broncos at -4.5. Yes, divisional games tend to be close run affairs and they lost their unbeaten tag last week to the Colts, but this is a team with the best defence in the league and are playing at home against a side missing their best player. The Chiefs look toothless without Jamaal Charles and I'm expecting the Broncos to keep them to less than 14 points tonight. Denver will be seething after last week's loss and the backing of a raucous home crowd is a huge advantage.
Calvin Johnson over 80.5 receiving yards @ 17/20
The Lions face a tricky tie in Lambeau Field against a Packers team that will be out to prove a point after successive defeats in the past two weeks. However this will play kindly into our bet as this will force Matthew Stafford into throwing the ball more often, as I expect them to be chasing the game for much of the matchup. Johnson is a nightmare for any defence and is clearly in form having surpassed the above total in his last three games.
Tom Brady over 290.0 passing yards @ 5/6
Only two reasons to doubt Brady surpassing the above total. Injury or weather. It will certainly not be the Giants pass rush or secondary that stops him, especially when you consider they have given up the most amount of passing yards in the league and have a deplorable nine sacks on opposing quarterbacks. The Patriots QB is on a mission this year and has failed to cover the above total in just two out of eight games and it will come as a major shock if Brady does not have another 300 yard outing.
Antonio Brown over 80.5 receiving yards @ 5/6
Last week we correctly predicted that Brown was set to bounce back to form and now is not the time to doubt the explosive wide receiver. The above mark is slightly low for one of the game's best wideouts but I think that is more to do with the status of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger more than anything else. I would not be surprised to see Big Ben play but it will be irrelevant who plays under centre as the game plan will be to get the ball in Brown's hands as much as possible. Cleveland has given up nine plays of 40+ yards so a deep ball will definitely be thrown in his direction over the course of the four quarters.
Allen Hurns over 67.5 receiving yards @5/6
Hurns is the main deep threat for the Jaguars and this coincides with Baltimore's weakness- their secondary and their inability to cover a speedster. The Ravens have given up 8 completions of 40+ yards and this is something Jaguars QB Blake Bortles will have no problem in testing. I expect this game to be a high-scoring affair and plenty of yardage gained by both teams. Jacksonville's wideouts could be in for a good outing with the in-form Hurns the one to follow.
Dez Bryant over 80.5 receiving yards @ 17/20
One notable aspect that is catching the eye of late is Tampa Bay's inability to defend physical wideouts. The elite receivers tend to enjoy good outings against the Buccaneers and I expect that to continue with Dez Bryant. Julio Jones, Odell Beckham jr and DeAndre Hopkins have all surpassed a 100 yards against Tampa Bay and there's no doubting Bryant belongs in that category. Any fears about his recent return from injury where quickly cast aside last week when he caught five balls for 104 yards against the Eagles.
