NFL Best Bets for Sunday, December 19, 2021
We’ve already had some craziness and schedule shifting on the Week 15 NFL slate but we have a full day still in football and we are looking to make some extra Christmas cash. Let’s take a look at a total, side, and player prop.
Jets at Dolphins
There isn’t much to be excited about between these two teams for this game, or heck, even the entire year. The franchises have been very frustrating, but we do get a matchup of two highly-drafted quarterbacks. Zach Wilson has been mediocre at best, and probably closer to bad this year. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much help. They are only scoring on average about three times a game. I think they can still get to that number this week against an adequate Dolphins defense. For Miami, Tua Tagovailoa has been quietly effective this season. Maybe he isn’t the future of the offense, but he might be better than many felt about him at the beginning of the season. I think they should be able to put up between 21 and 28 points on the Jets. I’ll take the over on the game that is sitting at just 41 points.
Falcons at 49ers
Call me crazy, but I’m going to play the Falcons to win this game. They have an outside shot at making the playoffs and a victory here could propel them forward quite a bit. Putting any kind of positive investment into the Falcons is usually a bad idea, and this is a long shot. Most of this is motivation-based for me, the Falcons really need this one if they have any real hope to make the playoffs. Yes, it is possible they lose and they still make the playoffs. The 49ers have also won four of their last five games, so they aren’t a pushover team. I’m not making this a big play but I’ll take a shot in the dark at +340. There aren’t many teams I like for upset potential this week, but the Falcons could find the 49ers napping – they are just 2-4 at home, while the Falcons are 5-2 on the road.
Bengals at Broncos
Frankly, I was surprised that the Bengals lost last week to the 49ers. I didn't think the 49ers were a bad team or anything, but coming to Cincinnati, I just expected it to go differently. It was a miracle game for the over bettors (that would include me). Both teams are evenly matched in a lot of ways, but I do think the Bengals have the better quarterback and offensively will shine over a still strong Denver defense. This is the typical home-field advantage spread, and Denver is not an easy place to play. Denver had a great start to the season, then went downhill quickly before alternating wins and losses. I think the best way to play this game is on the prop side - I'm going to take Tee Higgins to get over 64.5 yards at -114. He's been the Bengals leading receiver in five of the last six games, all of those games he's comfortably been above that total.