Neil Miller The NYExtra.com 2025
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With the way this season has opened (1-5) I wouldn’t be surprised if the good folks in Vegas instituted a drink minimum to keep me from further self-destruction.
I am considering getting vanity plates for my car – The Gravedigger.
Shovel please: We need to dig out.
LIONS +4.5 AT RAVENS – Detroit is averaging almost 33 points per game. Baltimore is averaging 40.5. We suspect the over/under (53.5) will go up. We’re taking the over, now.
Pick: Ravens -4.5 over Lions. Lions are starting to fill the Injury Report. A Detroit loss will leave the Motor City in disrepair as questions about the team’s window possibly closing in is as thick as the smoke from those Canadian wildfires. Throw in that over/under for the parlay.
COWBOYS -1.5 AT BEARS – Nothing in pro football is more riveting and divisive than speculation that a team’s highly-drafted QB might be a bust. Caleb Williams was awful in the second half of the opener, and not much better in a 52-21 loss to the Lions as mentioned above. Is the dreadful Dallas defense the fix? We think so.
Pick: Bears +1.5 over Cowboys – Dallas is a 64-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey away from being 0-2 and Stephen A. needing throat lozenges. The Cowboys only have three sacks through the first three games but Williams, who was sacked 68 times last season (68???!), has already gone down six times in two games. Parlay the Bears and the ‘Boys posting two sacks.
SAINTS +7.5 AT SEAHAWKS – I’m going to pick against the Saints every game the remainder of the season. Every game. Maybe next season, too. We are looking, potentially, at one of the worst teams in recent memory. Those brown paper bag ‘Aints hats that New Orleans fans wore to games in the 70’s.
The Saints are tied for the third-worst in penalties (20), with eight being presnap types. They’re averaging 17 points per game. Between the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the Patriots were the NFL’s worst offensive team, scoring 525 in 34 games, or 15.4 points per game.
The Saints are putting the Oy in oysters.
Pick: Seahawks – 7.5 over Saints – The Seahawks are allowing 3.4 yards per rush and haven’t allowed a touchdown on the ground. Which means QB Spencer Rattler is going to have to play superbly well. Superbly. He’s yet to throw a pick. Parlay the Seahawks giving the points and Rattler to get picked once and lose a fumble.
NFL picks last week, 1-2; season 1-5.
COLLEGE PICKS
OREGON ST +34.5 AT OREGON – The Ducks have upped their profile from the top half of the PAC-10 to the top three of the Big Ten. The Beavers have fallen from being a fierce Pacific Northwest foe to people once again asking, “Where’s Corvallis?” I get it. Civil War. Beavers can make their season. But they’re 0-3 and have allowed 38 points per game. Remember OSU fans, when times are tough, you still have the best Pinot Noir anywhere.
Pick: Oregon -34.5 over Oregon State
FLORIDA +8.5 OVER MIAMI – Going on record: Billy Napier is a good man and a quality football coach. His days in Gainesville are over unless the Gators pull a Miracle on Ice-type shocker and upset the ‘Canes in Miami. These are the same Gators who lost at home to South Florida. Miami’s win over Notre Dame vaulted them into the power league known as the WGC – We Got Confidence.
Pick: Canes -9.5 over Gators – Lane Kiffan was once fired on the tarmac. Nappier could face a similar fate on the Florida Turnpike.
MICHIGAN -1.5 OVER NEBRASKA – Here comes the win Matt Rhule has been building towards. Freshman QB Bryce Underwood has the kind of breathtaking athleticism that should lead to stardom. But first there is that often-brutal adjustment to the upper echelon of college football. Big Red QB Dylan Raiola went through that gauntlet last season (13 TDS; 11 picks). He’s thrown eight TDs and no picks this season.
College picks, 1-1; season, 1-1
