Steve Maltepes, known as “The Philly Godfather,” is one of the nation’s hottest sports betting experts who appears weekly on national radio, including Jakib Media. Each week, he will impart his gambling wisdom on the Eagles and where the smart money is going.
NFL Week 8
Pittsburgh Steelers (2-5) at Philadelphia Eagles (6-0), 1:00 p.m. Sunday
The Line: Eagles minus-10.5/Total: 43
What is the line telling you: This line originally opened up Eagles minus-12 offshore and -11 in the U.S. We’ve seen a slight downtick on the price. The Eagles are currently minus-10.5 point favorites over a gritty Steelers team, that regardless of a 2-5 straight up record has found a way to stay in games and cover the Vegas spread in three of five games with one push this season.
The 10.5 points is a ton in the NFL against a well-coached team like the Steelers.
If you look at the Steelers schedule, Pittsburgh has beaten the Bengals and Buccaneers while losing three games by six points or less. The Steelers defense isn’t great this season and has some holes in it, but the Pittsburgh run defense is ranked sixth in opponent yards per rush attempt, and they get real stingy in the red zone, ranking seventh in opponent Red Zone Scoring.
Bottom line: We the Eagles to win the game, but the Steelers to cover +10/+10/5. We also like the under 43 points. The Steelers offense has struggled all year and rank in the basement of the NFL in almost every offensive category.
Arizona Cardinals (3-4) at Minnesota Vikings (5-1), 1:00 p.m. Sunday
The Line: Vikings minus-3.5/Total: 49
What is the line telling you: The Vikings opened up as four-point home favorites over the Cardinals, with a combined total set at 47 and there’s been early movement on the side and total already. The current line on the game is Minnesota -3.5 and we’ve seen the total jump up to 49. We like the Vikings here and bought the hook to take the game down to Vikings -3. Minnesota is the much healthier team, while Arizona has 11 players on their injury report and three of them are starting offensive linemen. The Cardinals are really banged up. We have the Vikings ranked 10 spots better in overall team efficiency, they’re coming off the bye, playing at home and are 100% healthy.
Bottom line: The smart money likes the Minnesota Vikings minus-3 and over 49 Points. Both Pass defenses rank 23rd (Ariz.) and 32nd (Minn.) in opponent yards per pass attempt metric and 17th (Ariz.) and 32nd (Minn.) in opponent red zone scoring defense.
The Philly Godfather can be followed on Twitter @Phillygodfather & his website is www.thephillygodfather.com.
