Denver Broncos at Tennessee Titans (-7), Total 42.5 |
Denver heads out on the road for the first time this year after playing back-to-back home games against the Oakland Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals, coming out of the Mile High with a 1-1 record.
The Broncos escaped with a 24-22 win over the Cincinnati Bengals last week as 3.5-point favorites, as the team was out-gained by 64 yards in the contest. It’s still good enough to be deadlocked in a three-team tie at the top of the AFC West standings.
Kyle Orton enjoyed his time in Nashville last year, completing 35 of 40 passes for 341 yards and two touchdowns in beating Tennessee at LP Field. The Broncos 26-20 victory came as six-point road underdogs, holding the Titans to just 288 yards in total offense.
The former Purdue star has been fantastic in the fourth quarter this year, ranking seventh in the league with a 118 passer rating, completing 12-of-21 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. He only needed to complete 2 of 5 passes last week in the final quarter, but threw a touchdown, as the team kept the ball on the ground.
Some big-time performances came from second-stringers in last week’s win, including 101 rushing yards out of Willis McGahee, while Eric Decker came away with 113 receiving yards.
Broncos betting fans will find that they are 11-11 ATS as an underdog and 4-4 ATS in September contests.
Tennessee opened up its home schedule with a 26-13 win over Baltimore as 5.5-point home underdogs, as the defense limited the Ravens to just 229 total yards. The Titans gained 432 yards, which qualified as the highest yardage total in team history against the Ravens.
Plenty of players are pitching in, led by veteran quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who came over from Seattle during the offseason. He finished last week with 358 passing yards and has totaled 621 in two weeks.
The signal-caller’s No. 1 target is undoubtedly, Kenny Britt, as his 271 receiving yards ranked second in franchise history through the season’s first two games.
This will be the 39th all-time meeting between the two teams, with the Titans coming in with a 21-16-1 advantage, which includes a 20-14-1 record in regular season play and a 1-2 mark in the playoffs.
All eyes of the media will be squarely focused on Titans running back Chris Johnson in this particular game, as he’s gained just 77 yards on 33 carries since holding out during the preseason to receive a larger contract. He’s still happy about the team’s performance and expects the new-found passing game to open holes for him.
“A lot of teams come in thinking they can just load the bog and if they stop me they can win,” Johnson commented during practice this week. We have other ways to beat you.”
Sportsbooks players will find that the Titans are 15-18 ATS over the last two plus seasons, including a 1-5 ATS mark when playing as a home favorite of 3.5 to 7 points.
Total players will notice that the ‘over’ has cashed in the last four meetings, which fits nicely with the Titans going over in nine of 12 home games.
