Cajun Sports

Wildcard Weekend NFC style. The Philadelphia Eagles make the long trip to Cigar City for a Sunday afternoon battle against the champion Buccaneers. The Eagles come into the playoffs with the worst record of any of the teams playing now. The boys from Philly defeated one team with a winning record and that was without key offensive personnel including their quarterback and star running back. The Eagles lost all six games against fellow playoff teams this season. The Eagles secondary will have trouble against this Bucs team. Philly allowed an NFL high 69.4 percent completions. Brady nursing an injured thumb still completed 34 of 42 against this Philly team when they met back in October. Tampa was winning easily before pulling their foot off the gas against the Eagles which made the game appear to be closer than it really was. That will not happen today the Buccaneers will not let up in this one. Aside from that puzzling shutout loss to the Saints in mid-December, the Buccaneers scored thirty or more points in their other seven home games this season and Philly cannot keep pace. Our TPR Index projects a 15.7-point advantage. The MM projects a point differential of +8.15 points against the current line range. The SIM Matrix has the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a 74.04 percent advantage against the oddsmakers number today. NFL teams coming in with more passing yards per attempt are 30-14 straight up and 25-18-1 against the spread. NFL playoff teams who won four or fewer games in the previous season and come in off a loss of more than a touchdown are only 1-8 straight up and a perfect 0-9 against the spread in this situation. With significant support on both sides of the ball for the Buccaneers we will lay the chalk with the boys from Cigar City on Sunday.

Western Conference foes faceoff in the Mile High City Sunday night. The Denver Nuggets are playing the backend of a back-to-back after destroying the Lakers Saturday night and costing us a best bet. Tonight, we are not playing the side we are focused on the total. The Nuggets won their fourth game in their last five as we already mentioned they cruised past the Lakers 133 to 96 last night. They are gaining ground on the Jazz in the Northwest standings. Bad news for the hosts the Jazz have been one of the best offensive teams in the league this season. They average 115.1 points per game, which is first in the NBA. Although over their last five games they have averaged 108.6 and allowed 118.6 points per game. A key to their scoring success comes from the fact they dominate the boards giving their offense second chance opportunities that they have capitalized on. The Nuggets average 109.4 points per game at home this season but over their last five games they have averaged 115.6 points per game. Denver is also third in the league in assists per game with an average of 26.4. The TPR Index projects a game total of 231.9 points. The MM projects a point differential of +7.93 against the current total range. The Pace-Tempo Matrix has an offensive-defensive differential of 7.41 with a transitional average of 43.82. The SIM Matrix has the OVER with a 73.97 percent advantage against the oddsmakers total in this contest. Denver installed as an underdog in the current price range coming off two home game that went Over the posted total has gone 13-4 Over including a perfect 8-0 Over if they won those two home games. Play Over on NBA teams in the current price range coming off two home wins that went Over the posted total, 231-179-8 Over. With significant support for the high side, we will play tonight’s game to go Over the oddsmakers total in the Mile High City.