Free Picks and Premium Service Plays for Monday, September 12th, 2016 from some of the nations best and worst handicappers.
Tony Finn
Los Angeles at San Francisco
Play: Under 46
Welcome to Week #1 of the 2016 National Football Season and that includes you suffering NFL fanatics in the greater Los Angeles area. After two decades of trying and failing by influential politicians, Hollywood brokers and millionaire -- make that billionaire developers --- the National Football League is back in the nation's second-largest backyard. And where better to play backyard ball than on the beachfront of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California.
The powers that are in the NFL, the owners, voted 30-2 to allow the St. Louis Rams to move to Los Angeles for the 2016 season and to give the San Diego Chargers a one-year option to join the Rams in Inglewood beginning in 2017. While far from official -- or set in stone -- the Oakland Raiders are likely to become the Las Vegas Raiders in the next two years. The news, rumors and migrations of Golden State's football franchises are off the chain. In truth, the excitement is just beginning for California residents in the realm of the National Football League.
It is never too early or late to have an opinion and reliable information when it comes to American Football, especially when that gathering comes from the National Football League. Despite the 2016 NFL exhibition season being nothing more than a toddler with a large amount of growing and experiencing still to come the Week #1 schedule and Las Vegas and Offshore Sportsbook point-spreads are readily available and with this information comes soothsayers and their prognostications.
As the 2016 NFL season rapidly approaches, most publications stamped their season preview pieces for each team in the league and while this isn't a full season preview of any one team in the NFL it is a Week #1 prediction of who will score a victory when the Los Angeles Rams travel north to square off against the San Francisco 49ers, The opening contest for the 2016 season will be the second meeting between these two teams as they took the gridiron on January 3rd of this year at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara with 70,799 fans in attendance. The stadium was full despite the Rams having a 7-8 overall record and the 49ers a meek 4-11 mark.
Week 17 of the NFL regular season was ready to close and open the doors to the playoff slate. The Rams entered the season's finale off back-to-back-to-back wins after upsetting the Seahawks in Seattle. The questions confronting this game last January were nothing more than could the Rams close their tenure in St Louis with a .500 record and who would be the next head coach of the proud 49ers franchise.
Sunday morning newspapers and NFL pre-game shows addressed the queries of whether the Rams could finish the season with a .500 record, a 4-game winning streak and a 5-1 overall mark in the NFC West and whom was the most likely candidate to be leading the 49ers in the 2016-17 campaign.
The questions have been answered and the predictions are in for the opening contest for Los Angeles and San Francisco on September 12th.
The 49ers closed out a disappointing campaign with a dramatic victory in what was Jim Tomsula's final game as the San Fran bench boss. Phil Dawson kicked a 23-yard field goal with 3:27 left in overtime, giving the 49ers to a 19-16 win against the then St. Louis Rams. Just hours following the Niners victory the San Francisco front office announced that Tomsula was let go after one season that ended with a 5-11 record.
There will be very few 2015 player personnel similarities in this 2016-17 season opener between the two California clubs. Looking back at Week #17 of last year's game between St Louis and San Francisco the Rams starting quarterback, Case Keenum, completed 22-of-37 passes for 231 yards.
San Francisco is without their talented core that offered them three straight trips to the NFC title game under coach Jim Harbaugh. No longer are the familiar names and reliable player pieces of Frank Gore, Justin Smith, Patrick Willis, Mike Iupati, Aldon Smith nor Vernon Davis available for new coach Chip Kelly. A differing view from that of the 49ers faithful there will be no quick fix to the overall success of the franchise. The 49ers entered free agency with salary cap space as vast as the Grand Canyon but alas, all General Manager Trent Baalke offered up was a fair salary shake to ex-Jacksonville guard Zane Beadles. How patient will Baalke and the Niners be with a new head coach and inexperienced roster?
“We’re a draft-and-develop team. That’s what we have been and who we are," Baalke told the San Francisco media before summer camp began.
The Rams had a chance to finish .500 for the first time since 2006 in last January's game on Levi Field. A win would have earned the franchise a season closing record of .500 or better for the first time since 2004. Instead of heading to LA with a bright shiny 8-8 mark in their final St Louis campaign the Rams lost to their struggling NFC West rival and finished with a losing record.
The problem with the Rams on the field is offense. Not all of the struggles that the Rams have had the last decade are head coach Steve Fisher's doing. It is noteworthy to mention that since 2007 the Rams have never finished with a season ending offensive ranking of 23rd in the league and have closed six of the last nine seasons out with an offensive efficiency that ranked 26th or lower.
The Rams have a much more promising core of young talent than that of the 49ers but for the most part both of these teams will struggle offensively and understanding that even under Chip Kelly the 2016-17 success of the 49ers lies in their ability to defend the field. Kelly is known as for his ability to be creative offensively but the challenge he faces with the current San Francisco personnel, and offense that averaged an NFL-worst 15 points per game last season, and ranked 31st in total offense, 29th in passing and 21st in rushing, is more than just a challenge, it is a one or two season project.
LA's first round draft pick, rookie franchise QB Jared Goff, was expected to play from the second through the third quarter in his preseason debut against the Dallas Cowboys but coach Fisher sat him after only two series. The Rams head coach learned at the half that the team's rookie quarterback had a sore non-throwing shoulder after taking a hit in the second quarter, Fisher decided to sit him for the remainder of the game.
This will stunt the growth of Goff and Fisher confirmed the concerns of the team. In his post-game interview with ESPN’s Lisa Salters, Fisher said that Goff was held out due to soreness in his non-throwing shoulder. With the media thereafter, Fisher said it might be a while for Goff to get back into action:
The injury could well prevent Goff from winning the opening game starting gig and regardless of which signal caller gets the call for the opening kickoff in the Monday Night affair Goff will be behind the eight-ball without a full preseason of work with the first unit.
Unlike in NFL preseason events the defenses of both the Rams and the Niners will be well ahead of the opposing offenses and a FREE PLAY to the UNDER the total in Week #1 is the smart investment.
Bryan Leonard
Pittsburgh at Washington
Play: Over 50
The Steelers threw deep more than any other team last season. Thats a huge part of the Pittsburgh offense, unfortunately the Steelers are susceptable to the same down the field passing game. The key to beating this Pittsburgh defense is stretching the field. Washington has added to its passing game with solid additions. While the adding of CB Norman will help, the Skins are still very weak against the run. With both teams willing to throw the ball long we will look for large chunk plays to help this contest exceed the posted total.
Fezzik
Pittsburgh -3
The Steelers WERE the best team in the NFL, then they got hurt with big injuries which slowed their path to the Super Bowl. DESPITE that, they were in position to beat Denver @Denver in the playoffs when their back up running back fumbled away the game.
I have the Steelers rated right now as the no1 team in the NFL. They outscored their opponents in 2015 by 100 points. Contrast that with the Redskins who parlayed an easy schedule and a crap division (Philly, Nyg, Dal were all losing teams) into a 9-7 Division title despite barely outscoring their opponents. Wash didn't beat a winning team all year, and that was in their breakout 'aberration' lucky year. They go back to being a losing team in 2016, and Pit wins this game by 7-10.