Denver Broncos ( 8-4 SU, 8-4 ATS) vs. Tennessee Titans (6-6 SU, 4-8 ATS)
NFL Week 14
Date/Time: Sunday, December 11th 2016 at 1:00PM EST
Where: Nissan Stadium Nashville, TN
TV: CBS
by Bob, Expert Football Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread: DEN +1 / TEN -1
Over/Under Total: 43.5
This Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee, the 8-4 Denver Broncos will come to town and take on the 6-6 Titans. Denver is 3rd place in the AFC West behind Oakland and Kansas City and they cannot afford to lose much more, if any at all. Tennessee on the other hand is somehow in a three way tie for first place in the AFC South with Indianapolis and Houston. It is looking like the winner of the South division will be the only team from that division to make a playoff appearance. Each and every game is important from here on out.
Although Denver is 8-4 and Tennessee is 6-6, the Titans enter this game as a one point favorite at home over the Broncos. Why? Well, first off it is a road game for Denver but also lets not forget that the Broncos are having issues at the quarterback position. Not only that, they have injuries at the running back spot as well. What was already an offense that no one feared has been weakened even more. Much of the public however still has faith that the Broncos defense can get the job done, just like they did all last season when they won the Super Bowl. This is a much different team yet the public still thinks highly of them. 57% of the action is on Denver to cover the point and as for the total points which is set at 43.5, 63% likes this game to stay under that total.
As of now, Denver has yet to name their starting quarterback for this Sunday. This past week, Paxton Lynch got the start while Trevor Siemian was held due to injury. The starting QB for Denver in my opionion is honestly not the key to this weekend. Whoever starts the main focus will be to just not turn the ball over and give the Titans easy scores. In 2016, the Broncos have the 6th best scoring defense allowing just 19 points per game while on offense they are scoring almost 24 a contest. The offense however has benefitted from the great defensive play all year. Statistically for Denver, the offense is not that good, actually it is rather bad. Denver has the 23rd ranked rushing offense and the 24th ranked passing game. Again, defense will be the key this weekend for the Broncos.
The Titans, like stated earlier, finds themselves right in the middle of the AFC South race with just four games left to go in the regular season. Tennessee has been rather average all season from a win and loss standpoint. However, Marcus Mariota in his second season has improved each week and now has the Titans ranked 8th in the NFL in scoring with a 25.7 points per game average. The run game which puts up 141 yards a contest has been the main reason the Titans have had offensive success. This weekend against Denver it will not be easy to get that going. Denver as we know has a good run D and the Titans are going to need to be balanced both passing and running in order to keep the Broncos from stacking the box on them. If Tennessee can find a way to get yards on the ground, they are in good shape…if not, we could see them drop to a below .500 record on Sunday afternoon.
This is a very tough game to predict and quite honestly its one of the games I will not touch this weekend. However, if forced to choose, I just have a feeling that Tennessee just isn’t “there” yet. They are young, things are looking bright, but I have faith that the Broncos will show up on defense and make this a very sloppy low scoring game that Denver ends up winning. Both teams need wins in a bad way and right now, I just have a little more faith in the Broncos.
Bob’s Pick to Cover the Point Spread: TAKE THE DENVER BRONCOS +1 ON THE ROAD
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