The NFL schedule giveth and the NFL schedule taketh away.

That’s the name of the game when using situational handicapping — also known as spot bets — to find hidden value when betting on the NFL.

We dig into what the schedule is serving up with our best NFL spot bets for Week 4, pushing pause on the stats, standings, and power rankings to size up the psyche of teams and uncover hidden edges.

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Last weekend saw seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady come up short in his latest heroic postseason comeback attempt, as the Buccaneers clawed all the way back from a 27-3 deficit only to let it slip in the dying moments. 

That loss to the Rams put an end to the Bucs’ title defense, but could it have also brought an end to Brady’s career? Despite the legendary quarterback putting together an MVP-worthy season at age 44, retirement talk has circled over the last week, including from Brady himself.

The NFL betting market is never too far behind, so Tom Brady retirement odds are on the board as the NFL’s most successful player ponders his future. 

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For many football fans making NFL picks and predictions, the Divisional Round is the best part of the playoffs. 

Gone are the scrappy contenders of the Wild Card Weekend, leaving us with the NFL’s version of the Elite Eight. We don’t get the high stakes of the conference championships or the pageantry of the Super Bowl, but we have four solid NFL betting options on the board to keep us busy Saturday and Sunday.

Of course, this being a column titled NFL Underdogs (in which I can only make picks getting the points), we have to size up just how pups do at this point in the postseason. 

Long-term, Divisional Round dogs have been pretty good at 47-35-1 against the spread since 2000-01 (57%). But while those underdogs went 3-1 ATS in las…

Looking through the Week 7 odds, I truly feel why fantasy football analysts call this “byemageddon” — there are six teams inactive this week, including some very fun defenses to attack for Overs (Tennessee and Carolina), as well as a few that help when betting the Under on NFL odds (Dallas and the New York Jets).

So, we’re left mostly to gleam through either a bunch of games involving the middle of the pack for making NFL picks this week… orrrrrrrr….. we just hammer what few bad defenses are available this week.

That sounds like the better option; so after fading the Giants, the Cardinals, and the Bolts with my first three NFL player props for this Sunday’s slate, I’m continuing to attack bad defenses (including pic…

It doesn’t get much better than this for an NFL regular season game. The Miami Dolphins will host the Buffalo Bills as the Fins will aim to do something they have not accomplished since 2008 on Sunday Night Football in Week 18 and win the AFC East.

Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen is trying to prevent that. He’s had quite the adventurous season with some extreme highs and some low points that were just the same. Still, he sits in the season’s final week with the opportunity to cash in on the majority of preseason goals his team would have set.

You can see how I’m betting the Josh Allen odds as we dive into the Sunday Night Football odds in my free NFL picks below.

For more Sunday Night Football odds coverage, check out our Bills vs. Dolphins predictions and …

It took more than a year, but Aaron Rodgers finally has a victory under his belt as a member of the New York Jets. 

The four-time MVP threw for 176 yards and two touchdowns as he guided Gang Green to a 24-17 win over the Tennessee Titans in Week 2. It was just Rodgers’ third regular season game for the franchise as he makes his way back from a devastating Achilles injury suffered in his home opener in 2023.

A-Rod and the Jets will try to soar again when they take on the 1-1 New England Patriots tonight in primetime. The Pats are still smarting from a 23-20 OT loss to the Seahawks and enter the game as 6.5-point underdogs.

There are a number of subscription-based TV channels and streaming services available to watch this evening’s game, but did…

It is a week since Liverpool ended their 30-year title drought and as they prepare to face Manchester City as champions, I am yet to unhook myself from the intoxicating red rush of eulogising articles, videos, podcasts and social media content I have been mainlining ever since. If it is going to be another 30 years until the next title win I am taking in everything, even grainy footage of Jürgen Klopp gegenpressing the hell out of a dance floor like a man six tequilas into his daughter’s wedding reception.

I should point out that, Like the vast majority of Liverpool’s estimated 700 million supporters around the world, I am not a Liverpudlian. Indeed, I grew up in Wollongong, New South Wales, and now live in Melbourne, Victoria. About as…

Newcastle United saw off AFC Wimbledon with little fuss as Fabian Schar s penalty sealed a 1-0 win in the EFL Cup.

Tuesday s tie was rearranged and moved to St James Park following flooding damage at the Dons home ground last week.

And despite relying on a spot-kick from Schar in first-half stoppage time to get over the line, Newcastle never looked in danger of offering the lower-league visitors a sniff of an upset.

Miguel Almiron won the penalty after he was fouled by Joe Pigott, though referee Darren Bond needed a lengthy consultation with his assistant before he pointed to the spot.

Fab sends us into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup

— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC)

Almiron, Sean Longstaff and Harvey Barnes could have added to Newcas…

Toni Kroos says he is not feeling nostalgic about the possibility of his career ending on Friday when Germany face Spain in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.

Kroos came out of international retirement to play for Germany on home soil at the European Championships, but announced in May that he would be retiring from football at the end of the tournament.

The German won LaLiga before earning a sixth Champions League title in his farewell game for Real Madrid and is now aiming to finish his career by lifting the Euros trophy for the first time.

With a place in the next round not guaranteed, Kroos could play his final game on Friday should Germany lose to Spain, but that is not something he is thinking about.

It is the second most important title you can win, an…

Bayern Munich are again the team to beat in the Bundesliga in 2017-18, as Carlo Ancelotti bids to lead the champions to a sixth consecutive title with a re-shuffled squad.

Meanwhile, closest rivals Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig have kept hold of their star strikers, with bridging the gap their target.

Leon Goretzka has stayed at Schalke after shining at the Confederations Cup, as Domenico Tedesco s men look to return to the upper echelons of the top flight.

Here, we examine five players to watch out for in the Bundesliga this season.

JAMES RODRIGUEZ

James Rodriguez s stock has taken a hit since Zinedine Zidane took over at Real Madrid. The attacking midfielder, who burst onto the global scene at the World Cup in 2014 and impressed in…