The pros at FiveStarPick.com are looking forward to another winning NFL postseason against the spread and today we start with the AFC Wildcard game between the New York Jets and the Cincinnati Bengals.  Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Bengals as 3-point home favorites with a total of 34.

The Jets got into the playoffs by beating the Colts and Bengals in the final two weeks of the season, however both opponents rested many of their starters including Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer.

The Jets were an underdog just five times this season, going 3-2 Against The Spread in those spots, but since Week 5, they have been listed as a ‘dog only twice. Jets’ backers started the season 3-0 Against The Spread, but New York failed to cover in six of its next seven; the lone victory coming at Oakland in a 38-0 shutout. In the final five weeks of the season, the Jets hooked up their backers again by covering four times.

Cincinnati finished the regular season 0-7 Against The Spread as a favorite, but the Bengals did most of their damage against division opponents, finishing 4-2 Against the spread in the AFC North. The Bengals two Spread losses both came against the Browns, including an overtime victory at Cleveland.  The Bengals finished their season going 1-6 Against The Spread in their last seven games.

The catalyst for this Bengals team is Carson Palmer.  Palmer completed his fourth season with at least 3,000 yards passing (3,094), but threw for over 300 yards just once this season, in the 27-21 loss at San Diego. The Bengals running game got a boost this year with running back Cedric Benson who finished the regular season with 1,251 yards and six touchdowns.  And then there is Chad Ochocinco, everyone knows he has talent, but if he could just shut up for 5 minutes.

The Jets will be starting rooking QB Mark Sanchez.  Sanchez is only the third rookie quarterback to start a playoff game since 2000, the others being Atlanta’s Matt Ryan and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco. Ryan fell to Arizona in his debut, while Flacco led the Ravens past the Dolphins, 27-6.  Not only will the Jets be starting a rookie QB, they also have a rookie head coach in Rex Ryan.  Ryan has become the 11th rookie head coach to lead his team to the playoffs since 2000.

Marvin Lewis is making his second career playoff appearance. His first was in the 2005 Wild Card game against the Steelers. The Bengals suffered a 31-17 and Carson Palmer suffered an ACL tear in the first half, ultimately sealing the Bengals fate.

The forecast for today’s game is highs in the 20’s with a slight chance of snow.  Whoever shows up with the best defensive scheme and running attack will win this game.

So who covers the spread in this AFC Wildcard game?  It’s very easy to find out.  Try FiveStarPick.com tonight for just ($19.99) and see if our talent for picking 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 closing out the year in style winning 11 of our last 13 plays against the spread.  Today we will be giving our members two plays on today’s board, but the focus of this preview is tonight’s Sunday Night Football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins. Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Cowboys as 7-point home favorites with a total of 42.

Dallas (9-5 straight up, 7-7 against the spread) handed New Orleans its first loss of the season last Saturday with a 24-17 victory on the road. What’s amazing about this win is that the Cowboys are notorious for their losses in December.  As a matter of fact, the ‘Boys have gone 18-33 in December since 1996.

While Dallas celebrated in Week 15, the Redskins hung their heads in failure last Monday Night. Washington was handed its worst setback of the season as the N.Y. Giants crushed them 45-12.

Seventy Percent (70%) of the betting public believes Dallas is the play tonight, but gamblers should be weary of a few counter-arguments before laying the 7-points in this game.  Washington (4-10 SU, 7-7 Against The Spread) has lost its 10 games by an average of 5.8 points per game.  Their biggest losing margin was 10 points against Philadelphia.  In addition, this is a divisional matchup and it’s rare to see double-digit losses in back-to-back weeks.

In their last meeting, the Cowboys won 7-6 over the Redskins, but failed to cover the 11-point spread. Unfortunately for the Redskins, kicker Shaun Suisham shtoinked two field-goal attempts in the loss, including a 50-yard miss with 4:52 remaining which would have given Washington a 9-0 lead.  Dallas then proceeded to march the ball down the field and Tony Romo hit paydirt on a 10-yard TD pass to Patrick Crayton.

There are also a few trends to consider tonight.  The Cowboys haven’t swept a regular season series from the Redskins since 2004.  Since that 2004 sweep, Washington has gone 6-2 Against The Spread in heads up play.  Something else to think about…there have been 15 games played on Sunday Night this season and the underdogs are 10-4-1 Against The Spread. 

So who covers the spread in tonight’s Sunday Night NFL game?  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

Merry Christmas to all our members and friends. All we wanted for Christmas last night was another winner, and we got it as SMU torched the Nevada Wolfpack 45-10 for our 7th win against the spread in our last 8 games.  Today we will be giving our members the spread winner of the Titans and the Chargers. Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Titans as 3-point home favorites with a total of 47.

Tennessee is attempting to be the first team ever to start 0-6 and finish at least .500. Only five teams have ever begun a season 0-5 and ended with a record of .500 or better.

The Chargers, on the other hand, also looked suspect at the beginning of the season going just 2-3 in their first 5 outings.  But now San Diego is firing on all cylinders and has won nine straight. The Chargers are one victory away from locking up the second seed in the AFC playoffs. After beating Cincinnati last week, the Chargers are now 17-0 in December since 2006.

Tennessee’s found their groove with the 1-2 punch of Vince Young and Chris Johnson.  Johnson has been the most explosive player the NFL has seen in recent history and is the league’s leading rusher amassing at least 100 yards rushing in nine consecutive games, including 11 TDs. The Titans are now 5-3 against the spread in their last 8, but have failed to cover the spread in their last two games. Tennessee was up 24-6 on Miami until the Dolphins rallied to force overtime.  The Titans won 27-24 in OT, but the Dolphins cashed as 4.5-point road dogs.

These two teams met twice in 2007.  The first meeting was December 9, 2007 in Nashville. The Chargers beat the Titans, 23-17, covering as 1.5-point road favorites. The Titans then traveled to QualCom for a first-round playoff game. San Diego won 17-6 and covered the spread as 10.5-point home favorites.

Accoring to SportsBook.com, San Diego has seen 79% of the betting public back them today, but the Chargers have already clinched the AFC West, while Tennessee has to win out and get help from other teams for the final Wild Card spot.  The question is will San Diego rest some starters if Tennessee gets up on them early? We think we have the answer to that question.  

So who covers the spread in this Christmas night AFC 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

It’s Monday Night Football again and the pros at FiveStarPick.com have been crunching stats, trends and injury reports to bring our members a big winner tonight.  The New York Giants head to DC to take on the Redskins and Las Vegas sportsbooks have listed the Giants as 3-point road favorites with a total of 43.5.

The Giants(7-6 straight up, 5-8 against the spread) are struggling to stay alive in the playoff race after last week’s 45-38 setback at home against Philadelphia as one-point home dogs. New York is currently sitting in seventh place in the NFC playoff race, one game behind the Cowboys, so a win tonight is a must. Eli Manning played great in the loss completing 27-of-38 passes for 391 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions.

In the first 5 weeks of the season, the Giant offense was averaging 407.4 yards per game and converting 47.9 percent of their third-downs. Since then, they’re offensive production has dropped to 360.5 YPG and they are converting on third-down just 37.9 percent of the time.

The Giants’ defense started the year hot as well giving up just 210.6 YPG. Now the G-men are allowing 365.1 YPG…not so good. In addition, Tom Coughlin’s D-line can’t seem to muster a sack.  They had 14 sacks and 5 interceptions through the first 5 weeks. In the eight games following, the Giants have sacked opposing quarterbacks just 13 times and have only 5 INTs.

The Redskins (4-9 SU, 7-6 against the spread) have no shot at the playoffs, so their only motivation is the spoiler role. But what’s intersting, is that the Skins are playing great right now.  Washington is 5-0 against the spread in their last 5 games and QB Jason Campbell is the biggest reason for the turnaround. In his last five starts, Campbell has completed 64 percent of his passes for 1,269 yards and 8 TDs.  Clinton Portis (concussion) and Ladell Betts (ACL, MCL) are both out for the rest of the season, so Campbell has no choice but to but his team on his back and make plays.

The Washington defense will also have to play well to get by the G-men tonight. The ‘Skins currently rank 4th in the NFL giving up just 188.0 YPG through the air. However, they have given up 276.0 through the air in their last three games.

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

It’s Thursday Night, the holidays are fast approaching and the pros at FiveStarPick.com will be in the war room today crunching stats, trends and injury reports for tonight’s game in Jacksonville.  The Jaguars will have a lot to play for tonight as Indianapolis (13-0 straight up, 9-3-1 against the spread) will comes to Alltel Stadium. Las Vegas sportsbooks list the Colts as 3-point road favorites with a total of 43 which has been adjusted drastically from the 6 ½-point opening line on Monday with a total of 46 ½.

The Indianapolis Colts stayed perfect this past week by beating Denver 28-16 as a 6 ½-point home favorite. The Colts were up 21-0, but gave up 16 unanswered points that put the Broncos in position for a backdoor cover.  But then Manning led his high powered offense on a 14-play, 80-yard drive capped off by a one-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Clark with 2:25 remaining.

Jacksonville (7-6 SU, 5-8 against the spread) at the moment is in the playoffs as they have the tiebreaker over the Jets, Dolphins and Ravens.  The Jags had won four of their last five games before losing to Miami this past Sunday, 14-10, as 2.5-point home favorites. Garrard was less than stellar completing only 11-of-26 through the air for 139 yards and no TDs.  Jones-Drew rushed the ball 18 times for 59 yards and one touchdown.

But will the Colts pull their starters tonight?  Jim Caldwell told the Associated Press, “We’re going to approach the 14th game exactly like we did one through 13. We’ve got a great rhythm in terms of our preparation and we’re going to go out and play it just like we have done the previous 13.”

Peyton Manning has completed 68.1 percent of his passes for 3,905 yards with a 29/14 touchdown-interception ratio this year and Reggie Wayne has caught 87 balls for 1,078 yards and 9 touchdowns. Dallas Clark has 82 catches for 902 yards and eight TDs.  But will they play tonight???  We are working on that answer as I type.

Now let’s talk trends… Jacksonville has won twice this season as a home dog beating Tennessee and Houston in both spots.  Having said that, the Jags are just 2-5 against the spread at home despite winning five of their seven games. Indy is 6-0 both SU and against the spread on the road this year.  In their last meeting, the Colts beat the Jags 14-12, but the Jags covered the spread as 6.5-point road dogs. The ‘under’ has cashed in four consecutive Jacksonville games.  The ‘under’ is 7-6 overall for the Colts, 3-3 on the road.

So who covers the spread in tonight’s Thursday 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