October 1, 2011

Week 4 NFL Pick Of The Week – PATRIOTS

Who could have predicted the Buffalo Bills being undefeated (3-0) and the AFC East leader going into week 4 of the 2011 NFL season. Even more surprising, they overcame a 21 point deficit against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in week 3 to remain undefeated.

That was a hard loss for Brady and the Patriots. You can bet the bank that the “Brady bunch” are anxious to redeem the loss this Sunday against the Raiders in Oakland. That’s why the Patriots are our 2011 week 4 NFL pick of the week.

Current betting odds for this 4:15 pm ET matchup have the Patriots 4.5 point favorite. The over/under is 55 points. The game will be aired nationally on CBS.

The Pats (2-1) opened the season with two wins. They beat the Dolphins 38-24 in Miami and the San Diego Chargers 35-21 at home before losing to the Bills in Buffalo, 34-31.

The Raiders are also 2-1. They beat the Broncos in Denver, 23-20, lost to the Bills in Buffalo 38-35, then beat the New York Jets at home, 34-24.

This AFC features the NFL’s top passing offense, led by Tom Brady’s 442.3 yards per game, against the No. 1 rushing attack with Darren McFadden, who leads the league with 131 yards per game.

Against the Bills, Brady completed 30 of 45 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns. But he also threw four interceptions, matching his total for all last season, with one returned for a touchdown.

He should do better against the Raiders, who have allowed more yards passing than all but four teams.

Here’s why the Patriots are our NFL pick of the week:

Although Brady threw 4 interceptions against the Bills last week, he threw a total of 4 in all of the 2010 season.
Tom Brady seldom has two bad weeks in a row. The last time was in 2009 when they lost to the New Orleans Saints (11/30/09) 38-17 and the Miami Dolphins (12/6/09) 22-21.
The Pats are hungry after last week’s loss.
The Patriots defense against the run is ranked 10th best (91 yards per game) — and should have success against a run-oriented attack like Oakland’s.
Patriots are ranked 1st overall in passing yards (437) and the Raiders defense is ranked 28 overall against the pass (289).
Oakland’s QB Jason Campbell has thrown only 82 passes in the Raiders’ three games.