Cleveland running back Nick Chubb’s “significant knee injury” per Head Coach Kevin Stefanski following last night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That makes two devastating injuries for the Browns in two weeks as All Pro Tackle Jack Conklin tore his Achilles last week.
These are just two in a string of injuries to key personnel around the NFL just two weeks into the season. All inhabitants on this planet are aware of The Achilles Tear that broke the hearts of Jets’ fans four plays into Week 1.
Other key injuries: C.J. Gardner-Johnson of the Detroit Lions tore a pectoral muscle on Sunday. Chargers’ running back Austin Ekeler (ankle) seems destined to miss more time, the Colts’ Anthony Richardson (concussion) can’t stay on the field, and Saquon Barkley (ankle) is expected to miss three weeks.
And oh by the way, Joe Burrow’s calf is a thing.
The boys from Bet the EDGE discussed a few of thse injuries and their effect on the handicap of Week 3.
Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati and a hobbled Joe Burrow host the LA Rams Monday night. The line has moved at DraftKings and the number is down to two for the still-favored Bengals at DraftKings and Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper) agrees with it.
“The move is fair…I think it’s fair because whether or not he goes, he’s not right. And the idea that one week of practice when week of therapy one week of anything is going to all of a sudden get him back into the form we saw from him last season is kind of nonsense.”
Bet the Edge is your source for the day in sports betting. Get all of Jay Croucher and Drew Dinsick’s insight Tuesday through Saturday at 6AM ET right here or wherever you get your podcasts.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Led by a seemingly rejuvenated Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay hosts Philadelphia. Jalen Hurts & co. are favored by 5½ at DraftKings. Neither host believes the Bucs will win this one, but the final score will be a factor in how they handicap this team moving forward according to Croucher (@croucherJD).
“He’s (Mayfield) got two weapons in Evans and Godwin that are the best weapons he’s had really in his career. And there’s still talent on that defense. There’s still a lot of players on this team overall, the team that won Super Bowl a couple of years ago. So, I do think that the Eagles are a particularly bad matchup just because you’ve got Jalen Carter going up against a very weak interior offensive line. And so I think we’re just going to learn a lot about the Bucs. If they lose this game by three in a really competitive fashion, then I think you’ll look at them as a team that could win a really weak division. IF they get blown out by twenty then probably not.”
Tua and the MVP
Dolphins’ signal-caller Tua Tagovailoa (+600) is the current favorite to claim the league’s top individual honor. Dinsick is not dismissing Tua’s first two performances of the season, but he is not willing to back the former Bama quarterback.
“I think the guys that you would consider other realistic top of the pile here, namely Allen (+800), Mahomes (+700), and Hurts (+850) are they’re going to have better games in the middle and towards the end of the season than they’ve had for Weeks 1 and 2. It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish. I basically just want to be a bet against Tua right now at 2-0…I just think that the risk of injury, injury in a sense that he misses not just one week but multiple weeks and or gets injured in game and he performs poorly. I think those are real outcomes.”
The roller coaster has just recently left the station. She is a long season.
Enjoy the ride and enjoy the sweat.
*Odds provided by DraftKings
