—Fox has the doubleheader of the year this Sunday. One of its early games will be Detroit at Minnesota which will be shown to much of the country. Their late game is Kansas City at San Francisco in a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl. Minnesota and Kansas City are both undefeated at 5-0 coming off byes. Detroit is 4-1 coming off a big win over the Cowboys while San Francisco, hobbled by injuries this year, is only 3-3 after beating Seattle last week. The Vikings and 49ers are both favored by about 1.5 points but nobody would be surprised if both underdogs win. The Chiefs haven’t been at the top of their game but Patrick Mahomes finds a way to pull out games And coach Andy Reid has an NFL record 21-4 coming off byes. Be interesting to see how good the ratings are.
–The weekend started with Denver’s easy win over New Orleans Thursday night and four other national games are scheduled starting with New England vs. Jacksonville at 9:30 am Sunday on the NFL Network. Both teams are 1-5 so it is not likely to have a big audience, but it is critical for Jaguars Coach Doug Pederson, who is already on the hot seat because owner Shad Khan said at the start of the season that it was time to win. His seat will get hotter if he loses to an underdog. New England is the first year of a rebuild with a new coach and rookie quarterback so there is no pressure on them.
–The Sunday night game has the 4-2 Steelers hosting the 2-4 Jets. Surprisingly, the Jets are favored. It helps they have added Davante Adams to give Aaron Rodgers one of his favorite targets. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has indicated he may bench Justin Fields now that Russell Wilson is healthy so this could be an intriguing game. Rodgers has yet to be the quarterback the Jets thought he would be but maybe the addition of Adams will help jumpstart his play.
–There are two Monday night games starting with Baltimore at Tampa Bay. Both are 4-2. The other game pits the 3-2 Chargers at the 2-4 Cardinals. The Ravens are favored by 3.5 points and the Chargers are a 1.5 choice over the Cardinals.
–The best game Sunday afternoon besides the Fox doubleheader is the Texans at the Packers. The Texans are 5-1 while the Packers are 4-2. The Texans are in control of the AFC South since the Colts are 3-3 and the Titans and Jaguars have won only one game. But the Packers are in the best division in football and need a win because the Vikings, Lions and Bears are a combined 13-3 and since the Vikings and Lions are playing each other; either the Vikings will be 6-0 or the Lions 5-1.
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