🎄Merry NFL Christmas🏈

Shorter and Sweeter than ever before, but still, there are three games today and I would feel bad not saying Merry Christmas and good luck to you!

Because I saw some confusion this weekend regarding the “Peacock Game” here’s how to watch everything today:

• Not a ton of movement in this line over the week, but the direction has been toward Kansas City, pushing this up to -11 in some shops this morning. The Total has come down from 42/42.5 at open to the current 40.5

• Isiah Pacheco is BACK! The Chiefs have ruled out LT Donovan Smith, RB Jerick McKinnon, and WR Kadarius Toney. Mecole Hardman will not be activated off IR after a week of limited practices

• The Raiders will be without TE Michael Mayer. The offensive line is getting a bit of a boost, with center Andre James being removed from the injury report after missing two straight games and LT Kolton Miller getting back to practice. Miller along with DE Maxx Crosby, RB Josh Jacobs, and CB Jack Jones are listed as questionable.

• While it appears that most of the rain will be done by the time the game kicks off, there is still a chance of some lingering showers. The winds will be margin (10-15 mph), but we could see some gusting up to 25.

The last time out, the Raiders jumped out to a 14-0 lead on the Chiefs before ultimately succumbing to the adjustments made on both sides of the ball and losing the remainder of the game 31-3 (and not covering).

They now head on the road in a spot where Kansas City is poised to clinch their 8th straight AFC West title and doesn’t have to worry about Kadarius Toney gifting anything to the opposing defense.

I promised I wouldn’t bet just to bet on these stand-alone games considering how that’s going on Saturdays. That said, I am excited to see just how involved Richie James gets and am anxiously awaiting some lines up for him. If the numbers are reasonable, I may play his receptions and receiving yards overs.

• Fairly one-sided action here as well, with the Sunday opener at -10.5 and the Monday number at -11.5 seeing Eagles money all week. Up to -14 at some places. The total saw a slight tick down early in the week but buyback has it right back where it started for the most part.

• Eagles WR Devonta Smith says he’s ready to go but they will still be without Darius Slay on the other side of the ball. G Landon Dickerson and LB Zach Cunningham are also OUT for this one. CB Avonte Maddox is still out after just coming off the IR.

• The Giants’ front four is in a bit of disarray with NT Dexter Lawrence and DL A’Shawn Robinson listed and questionable and DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches out. OT Evan Neal is also out.

Considering how the Eagles have looked in coverage at times, I’m not terribly excited for this game. It should be a routine win like we’ve seen other top teams manage down the stretch, but I’m worried that we may run into a similar situation as the current Packers, where the opposing QB, no matter how bad, ends up looking like a star player for that week.

I guess I’m saying whether or not the big number gets covered likely comes down to the Eagle’s pass rush. If they can take Tommy Cutlets to the ground on early downs and put them in bad spots repeatedly, this game should be a blowout.

Playoff Picture: Despite the Cowboys’ loss, the Eagles still would likely need to win out to take the NFC East crown. If the Eagles drop a game in the next three weeks while the Cowboys win the remaining two the tiebreaker would give Dallas the division title since Miami is an AFC team and the loss doesn’t affect the division or conference record tiebreakers. The good news is that Dallas and Detroit play next week, so at least one of the two teams right on their tail will end up taking an L.

• Slight movement toward San Francisco, going from -5 to -6, but it’s not as if we saw a massive move that crossed a key number. The total had been slowly moving up until some weekend money came in on the under and brought it back down to 46.5 again.

• WR Jauan Jennings and DT Arik Armstead have both been ruled out. DT Javon Hargrave and RB Elijah Mitchell are listed as questionable.

• For the Ravens, WR Zay Flowers is listed as questionable but did get a full practice in on Friday. They ruled out two CBs: Arthur Maulet and Jalyn Armour-Davis. Both are depth pieces but will likely mean someone like Rock Ya-Sin will have to step up in formations calling for extra defensive backs.

With two smart head coaches manning the ship I think this one likely comes down to the defensive coordinators and what they are able to put together in order to stop the dynamic playmakers on offense.

The One Bet I Did Make Today:

Baltimore/San Francisco over 46.5

This total is dropping a bit, but it seems that the WRs for Baltimore are good to go against a San Fran secondary that’s been picked on quite a bit over the past month and change. Teams aren’t beating the 49ers, but they are scoring. I rate both offenses in my top five at the moment and both defenses near the middle of the league.

There were so many games with playoff implications this weekend, but this is the crown jewel for sure.