If you drink, get nice and lubed before this one starts; that is, if you're a happy drunk. If you're an angry drunk, either stay sober or grab yourself some Nyquil and chug it down about an hour before the game starts. Read about it Tuesday morning or, like waking up in the dentist's office prematurely and discovering that you're laying on your stomach with your pants down around your ankles, just pretend it never happened.
There isn't a lot of sense in going into detail for this game. Eli Manning's older brother is on fire and so is the rest of his team. John Fox is a damn good coach and their defensive coordinator, Jack Del Rio, looks like he'll pour a can of gasoline over his head and self immolate if he doesn't win a Superbowl with this team. His players are playing like they feel the same way.
It's horrible to have to admit that such a hated rival is probably the best team in the NFL, but they are. And the NFL schedule makers saw fit to put the Raiders, easily one of the preseason's best bets to lose to a good community college team, on the Monday night schedule against what was easily going to be one of the best teams in the league. I personally don't think Americans like to watch getting fish shot in a barrel but I don't do the programming at ESPN. If Al Davis hadn't assumed room temperature a couple of years back I would be crying about conspiracy theories designed to humiliate him. Or maybe the league just doesn't like Mark Davis's haircut and this is their way of giving him a wedgie on national TV.
The best Raider fans can hope for is to keep this one competitive until some time into the 3rd quarter. Just look respectable baby.
On the other hand, maybe Denver hasn't really played any good teams yet. After all, the Giants, a team the Broncos stomped in New York last week got trounced by the Panthers 38-0 this week. And maybe because the Colts beat the 9'ers in San Francisco, and because Oakland played the Colts tough in Indi... feel that warmth? That's the cozy feeling of sunshine being blown up your ass.
The most interesting thing about this game is that Denver is favored by 15 points: FIFTEEN! The problem with taking Denver and giving up the points is that garbage time touchdowns become very meaningful. If you have to bet this game, take the Raiders and the points. Manning is playing lights out but this point spread assumes he's going to continue doing so. That's by no means a certainty. The Raider defense, despite it being a group of nobodies under one year contracts have been playing well. It's too early to say they're better than the embarrassing group of fumble-fucks from the last ten+ years but so far they've held their own pretty well.
If you don't like the spread then maybe the 49.5 over/under seems like a good thing. I like the under in this one. It allows for six touchdowns and two field goals. In most NFL games that's a lot of points.
So far on the year I'm 50% which means if you've bet the way I've told you, you've lost money, but only on the juice. My disclaimer remains the same: if you listen to some guy on the internet that you don't know and has no verifiable track record when it comes to betting games, you're a moron.
Raiders 17
Denver 31
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