The pros at FiveStarPick.com will be giving our members the winner of tonight’s Monday Night Football game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Packers as 3.5-point home favorites with a total of 43.

The Packers (7-4 straight up, 6-4-1 against the spread) didn’t look so good a few weeks back sitting at 4-4 after dropping a game to the winless Bucs.  It’s strange that they struggled so much as their offense was in the Top 10 in scoring (26.9 points per game), yards (382.0 yards per game) and third-down conversions (45.7 percent). So what was the tipping point? The Packer O Line. The Pack have allowed more sacks than any team in the NFL (44).  Maybe Aaron Rodgers wasn’t taking his O Line out for steak dinners on Sunday nights.

During their three-game winning streak, they’ve allowed just eight sacks.  Now Rogers has time to check down his receivers and has completed 71 percent of his passes for 881 yards and 6 TDs with no INTs. In additon, Ryan Grant has compiled 365 rushing yards and two scores on 81 carries during the stretch.  The tandem will need to be on top of their game to beat the Ravens, who have one of the league’s best defenses.

The Ravens (6-5 SU, 6-4-1 Against the spread) for the last few years have been all about defense.  They rank fourth in scoring (17.1 PPG), sixth against the run (97.6 YPG) and seventh in interceptions (12). What’s worth noting, however, is that in 2009 Baltimore has been torched by the top NFL quarterbacks.  Brett Favre threw for 278 yards and three scores, Peyton Manning threw for 299 yards and a touchdown, and Philip Rivers roasted them for 436 yards and 2 TDs. 

What has really plagued the Ravens this year is a lack of offense.  Joe Flacco was excellent last Sunday night in a 20-17 overtime win against the Steelers, completing 23 of 35 passes for 289 yards and a touchdown, but the young pro is completing only 64 percent of his throws for season.

This could prove problematic for the Ravens as the Packers are giving up a stingy 192.5 YPG through the air and have 18 interceptions…third in the NFL. Charles Woodson has been shutting everyone down in the last three starts, picking off three passes and forcing three fumbles.

Something else that could cause problems is the weather forecast. The current report from Green Bay is that it will be 30 degrees with 60 percent chance of snow showers.

So who covers the spread in tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com tonight for just ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The pros at FiveStarPick.com, like many around the country, are really looking forward to this Monday Night matchup between two of the NFL’s top talents.  The undefeated New Orleans Saints are entering their toughest test of the season against a very skilled and crafty Patriots team.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Saints as 1.5 point home favorites with a total of 57.

The Saints have been lighting up defenses this year and have achieved their best start in franchise history at 10-0. They average 420.5 yards/game and are scoring 36.9 ppg. For our purposes, the Saints have been a double-digit favorite in each of their last four games, covering the spread in only one of the contests, a 31-7 blowout of the Bucs as 10-point road favorties.

As a single-digit favorite, the Saints are a perfect 5-0 against the spread and three of those victories came on the road in Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Miami. Very impressive.

When you think about the Saints, you automatically think Drew Brees and his 22 touchdown passes, but New Orleans really does have offensive balance. Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush and Mike Bell have combined for 14 rushing touchdowns this year and their team is averaging 154.3 yards/game on the ground.

The Patriots have seven victories and six were in front of the home crowd, so the road hasn’t been that kind to this Patriots team. The Pats are 1-2-1 against the spread this year on the road, and thier lone cover came against the Bucs in London, 35-7.  Their last two losses on the road were kind of embarrassing for the Patriots coaching staff.  In Week 5 the Pats had a 17-7 halftime lead in Denver, then failed to score in the second half and lost 20-17 in overtime. And of course we all remember Week 10 at Indy…not only did the Pats have Fourth and Two Gate, but the Patriots turned the ball over twice in the end zone.  That game should have been a blowout, instead Peyton Manning led the Colts down for the go-ahead touchdown to keep the Colts unbeaten in a 35-34 winner.  Our members still managed the cover as the Pats were getting 2-points.

Amazingly, the Patriots have won 17 straight “regular season” games against the NFC dating back to 2005.  It was Carolina in Week 2 that managed their last regular season upset.

So who covers the spread in tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com tonight for just ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The pros at FiveStarPick.com are always amped up for Monday Night Football and tonight we preview the H-town rivalry between the old Houston Oilers and the new Houston Texans.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Texans as 4.5-point home favorites with a total of 48.

This will not be an easy game to handicap for most bettors as the Titans (3-6 straight up, 4-5 against the spread) have won 3 straight, while the Texans (5-4 straight up, 5-4 against the spread) are coming off a tough loss and are hungry for a win in front of the home crowd on Monday night.

After a 13-3 season last year under Kerry Collins, the Titans opened the year with six straight losses. Titans head coach Jeff Fisher was forced to start the highly paid Vince Young at quarterback by owner Bud Adams and now Tennessee has rattled off three straight wins.  Young has been impressive under center completing 71 percent of his passes for 507 yards and 2 touchdowns since he regained his starting job, but Chris Johnson has been the spark that has kept the offense firing.  Johnson has carried the ball 75 times for 495 rushing yards and six touchdowns during the Titan’s stretch of wins.

Houston, on the whole, has played very well this season. In their last game against the Colts they held their own, losing to Indy as 7 ½-point road dogs, 20-17.  Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson are the anchors of the Texans offense.  Johnson had 10 receptions for 103 yards against the Colts, but hasn’t scored a TD in his last 4 games.

Now let’s talk trends…Houston is 1-3 against the spread at home this year. The Titans are 2-3 against the spread on the road. The home team trend has not meant much in this series going 5-5 against the spread.  The ‘Over’ is 8-2 in the last 10 head-to-head meetings between these two clubs.  The ‘Over’ is 8-3 on Monday Night this season, but the ‘Under’ is on a two-game win streak. The road team is 8-3 against the spread on Mondays.

So who covers the spread in tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com tonight for just ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

The pros at FiveStarPick.com are coming off a 2-1 against the spread Sunday in the NFL as we gave our members the Dolphins -10, the Over 47 in the Chargers/Eagles and the Patriots +3 last night.  Today we are focused on Monday Night Football and the rivalry between the former Cleveland Browns and the current Cleveland Browns.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Baltimore Ravens as 11-point road favorties with a total of 39.5. 

Baltimore is currently sitting at 4-4 and is in desperate need of a victory.  The Ravens started the season winning three straight games. The offense was crushing opponents behind second-year quarterback Joe Flacco with victories over the Chiefs, Chargers, and Browns. Baltimore then proceeded to lose their next three games, falling to New England, Cincinnati and Minnesota.

The losses to the Bengals and Vikings could have gone either way. Cincinnati scored the go-ahead touchdown with under 30 seconds remaining and covered the 9-point spread, 17-14.  In Minnesota, Baltimore rallied from a 17-point fourth quarter deficit to take a late 31-30 lead, before Brett Favre and his 2-minute drill drove far enough down to kick the game-winning field goal. The Ravens covered as three-point road dogs, 33-31.

After a bye week, Baltimore thought they had it figured out pounding the unbeaten Denver Broncos, 30-7, but the Ravens could not capitalize off the Broncos’ victory losing to Cincinnati again the following week, 17-7.

The Browns have really sucked this season, and there are several reasons why…Eric Mangini, Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson.  Quinn got the starting job at the beginning of the season, but threw just one touchdown and three interceptions in three losses.  Quinn was benched in favor of Anderson, who didn’t play much better.  The lone Browns’ win was a 6-3 snore-fest at Buffalo under Anderson.

As fare as anyone reading this story is concerned, the Browns covered three straight games in which Anderson started including the Bengals, Bills and Steelers.  In the last two games Anderson started, the former Pro-Bowl QB led the Browns to a total of nine points in losses to the Packers and Bears.

Quinn will come of the bench tonight to try and rejuvinate his career and hopefully lead this Browns team to there 5th touchdown of the season.  Did I just say 5th touchdown of the season? Can that be right?

Baltimore has won the last three meetings against the Browns with the last Ravens win coming by the score of 34-3.

So who covers the spread in tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com tonight for just ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com

FiveStarPick.com is coming off a 1-1 against the spread Sunday for our members in the NFL as the Miami Dolphins covered the 11-point spread, but neither team could score points in the 4th quarter and the combined 44-points did not eclipse our 46-point Over play. Tonight is Monday Night football and The World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers are traveling to Denver to take on the hot Denver Broncos.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Steelers as 3-point road favorites with a total of 40.

The Broncos (6-1 straight up, 6-1 against the spread) suffered their first loss last Sunday, 30-7, to the Ravens as a four-point road underdog.  Denver’s record is not getting much respect in the world of sports betting and we can certainly understand why.  The Broncos are 20th in the NFL in scoring offense (20.0 points per game), 17th in passing offense (231.0 yards per game) and 11th in running the ball (123.1 YPG).  Depsite the avergae offensive numbers, Kyle Orton has been very good in Denver so far this season. He’s 12th among all quarterbacks with a 95.5 passer rating and has touchdown-to-interception ratio of 9:1.  Any NFL team would be happy to have a QB that manages turnovers like Orton.

Denver’s defense is what’s winning games for them this year. The Broncos have the second best scoring defense in the league (13.7 PPG), they are eighth against the pass (180.6 YPG) and third defending the run (86.1 YPG). The Broncos also have a mere 23 sacks this season.

The Broncos will need all their defensive prowess if they want to take down Pittsburgh (5-2 straight up, 2-5 against the spread). The Steelers are playing much better recently, winning four straight after dropping their second and third games of the season.

Pittsburgh has changed their gameplan recently by taking the ball more to the air, and less to the ground.  The Steelers are averaging 295.4 passing YPG in 2009 to rank 3rd in the NFL. Ben Roethlisberger has completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 2,062 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Steelers still have a dominant defense. They are seventh in scoring defense (18.4 PPG) and second overall against the run (80.3 YPG).  Yet the secondary has had its troubles.  Pittsburgh has allowed 214.4 passing YPG in 2009; they were the best pass defense in 2008, allowing only 156.9 YPG through the air.

The Broncos have been a home dog twice already this season, winning outright both times. The Broncos are +130 on the money line tonight (risk $100 to win $130). This money line does not seem to add up to the pointspread. And that’s because bettors are heavy on the dog moneyline and heavy on the favorite pointspread.

Now let’s talk trends.  Pittsburgh is 7-7 straight up in their last two seasons as a road favorite, but only 4-10 against the spread. In 2009, the favorite has gone 4-2 against the spread on Monday night. Denver is 3-0 straight up and against the spread in its last three Monday Night Football games that they were a home underdog. Eight of the last 10 head-to-head meetings between the Broncos and Steelers have seen the ‘over’ cash tickets.

This game means the world to the Steelers as they are right in the thick of the AFC North hunt, but Denver’s world doesn’t end should they suffer a setback on Monday night.  A loss for the Broncos will keep them in first place, but by only one game against the Chargers.

So who covers the spread in tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com tonight for just ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking college and pro football winners exceeds your expectations.  We are the only sports handicapping service in the business who documents wins and losses and displays them on our homepage for all to witness.  It’s because we have nothing to hide…we just win games against the spread.  Join our family today and start your winning streak tonight.

Rick Riley – FiveStarPick.com