Get to the Point
By Jimmy Harris
With the NFL regular season quickly approaching it's now or never for Jimmy to pad his bankroll for the Week 1 NFL rush.
I scoured the trends and examined all the angles for this weekend's CFL and NFL preseason action, and locked in what I hope are some winning wagers. Here is my winning pick for the Friday night CFL game, and one of many NFL Saturday night preseason tilts.
In Friday's CFL contest the Stampeders and Lions meet for the second time this season in British Columbia. The Stamps and Lions met in Calgary back in Week 1, when the Stampeders won 28-18 as a 3-point underdog. In the rematch the Lions are a 3-point favorite at .
Judging by the way Calgary is playing lately it would be hard not to take the Lions in this game. Calgary had lost their last three games heading into last week's bye, although all of those games were close, with a point differential of five or less each time. There's another trend to consider as well.
To put it bluntly, the Lions have completely dominated the Stampeders in British Columbia for almost five years. The Lions are 7-0 straight up and 5-2 ATS in their last seven home games against Calgary. I feel pretty confident taking the Lions at -3 on Friday night.
The weekend NFL game that caught my eye the most was Buffalo at Indianapolis. The spread on this game at has the Colts listed as 5.5-point favorites. Even though the Colts beat Atlanta 16-9 last week it still seems ludicrous that they're going to cover 5.5 points this week.
Seriously, beating the Falcons by only seven points should be considered the same as edging a good team by a single point. Indianapolis' win last week was only their fourth preseason victory since 2005. If you were making a list of teams that don't care about the preseason the Colts would easily be on top.
There's a good chance Saturday's game could be a backup quarterback battle, as Bills QB Trent Edwards is nursing a badly bruised knee and Peyton Manning is still sidelined. No offense to Jim Sorgi, but I'll take J.P. Losman, who actually has some real game experience.
Rounding out my reasons for taking Buffalo as an underdog on Saturday is a pretty tell-tale trend. The Bills are 6-1 ATS in their last seven preseason games on the road. The Colts are a lousy 1-6 ATS in their last seven preseason games at home. Enough said there I think.