New England at Tennessee
Alf Musketa's Recommendation: New England
Sunday, 10 am PT - CBS
CRIS Opener: New England -6.5 O/U 47.5
CRIS Current: New England -5 O/U 47
Rob Veno's Power Rating: New England -6
There is a popular trend making the rounds online involving betting against the losing Super Bowl team in Week 1. I'm not buying that garbage; it’s ancient history. It makes no sense to me when you have different personnel versus a team that they have game planned against for months and somehow the hangover effect will come into play ATS. Not a chance. The Giants just proved how much these trends are worth on opening night where the winning Super Bowl team was 8-0 SU the following season in Week 1…now it's 8-1.
The Patriots have yet to unleash their offense with receivers Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd and their two stellar tight ends all together on the field with Tom Brady. The Titans have not shown much of a pass rush and have the same defensive players as last year – a unit that ranked 31st in the NFL. The Patriots upgraded their defense quite a bit via the draft with their first two picks and now the front seven is better than ever. You couldn't run on the Patriots before, now it will be almost impossible.
The Titans have a shot to win this contest if and only if quarterback Jake Locker has a mistake free game. We know from the past that Locker makes many mistakes especially throwing on the run. Tennessee’s running game ranked dead last in the NFL, thus Locker will have to have a magical day to make it close. I don't see how this will be possible with a weak wide receiver group that will be without its best player in Kenny Britt, leaving Nate Washington and rookie Kendall Wright to pick up the pieces. The line has come down from -6.5 to -5 – many handicappers simply cannot resist a home underdog. We'll gladly lay less than a touchdown with the best team in the conference.
Other Sportsmemo Handicapper Previews
Rob Veno: Georgia at Missouri
Marty Otto: Florida at Texas A&M
Erin Rynning: San Francisco at Green Bay 
