The Dog was feeling really good coming out of the early slate on Sunday. We got out of the gate early with a Jacksonville win, which would have been in the dog pound if it wasn’t for a weekend bachelor party throwing a wrench in the logistics.
I was riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels as we came into the afternoon games sitting at 10-5. Then, the 4 o’clock slate came through and put The Dog in the doghouse.
All in all feeling great picking all the games and going 15-12-1
Bad news. The Dog Pound took a loss this week at 2-3. I’ll blame myself first, and the Chiefs secondary next. When you’re thrown a tasty treat you catch it. I’ll be dialing the killer instincts up to 11 next week no doubt about it. If a Dog doesn’t have instincts, what good is he?
Tennessee @ Jacksonville
JAX 20 TEN 7
Gardener Minshew II was about the only bright spot in this game other than The Dog starting Week 3 off 1-0. JAX D didn’t miss a beat after holding Houston to 13 points; kept Derrick Henry under 2.5 yards a carry and only 1 TD. JAX 2-1 ATS this year; looked dominant when considering line in both of those wins.
Interested to see how long Vrbael sticks with Mariotta. He’s been given his chances but has looked average at best. Tannehill is ready waiting in the balance. The Dog hoping they consider the change.
No scares in this one. Honestly would’ve been a Dog Pound pick had we gotten ahead of the Week. Unfortunately, only going to be able to count the dub in the Overall.
Cincinnati @ Buffalo
BUF 21 CIN 17
Had a blast crushing some cruisers/crispy-boys/pops and wings at Kitty’s in downtown Cincinnati whilst watching the first half of this one. That was the only fun The Dog was having though, cause the Bengals looked awful.
Dalton was throwing duds all over the field. Mixon couldn’t get much going on the ground.
Once we hit the road, things turned for the better. Cincinnati clawed back into it to beat the 6 pt spread as expected and we cashed the under, which never seemed in doubt based on how the first half went. Dog sweat this one out, pleased with 2 wins here, though.
Buffalo is 3-0 but not a contender yet. Cupcake schedule up front. Wins over NYG, NYJ, and CIN early means stiffer competition later. Interested to see if 3-0 may influence public opinion, though.
Cincinnati at risk of being held scoreless against formidable defenses. Will continue to monitor Unders with them.
Miami @ Dallas
DAL 31 MIA 6
The Dog didn’t get to watch this but I can guarantee we were never at risk of going 0-2 in this one. Looking at the box score, Miami completing 20-41 (LESS THAN 50%!!!) means they were never going to get on the board.
Dallas never had to worry and racked up almost 250 yards on the ground on 32 rushing attempts. The clock must’ve ran out faster than a Greyhound out of the blocks in a 220 yard sprint.
Dallas will get their first true test next week – a Sunday Night Primetime game on the road in New Orleans. Early lines show DAL -2.5; nothing near the 3 touchdown line that this one was. Come check back later this week to see how The Dog is going to play this spicy cajun matchup.
Denver @ Green Bay
GB 27 DEN 16
This one confused The Dog. Fortunate to come away with a 1-1 split in this one. But I honestly think it probably should’ve gone the other way.
Didn’t get to catch much of the action. Was it the Bronco’s D-Line that bottled up Aaron Jones? A bad Packer’s O-Line. Or was Week 2 just an anomaly. In any case, Packers didn’t run it well and they still put up 27.
I know The Pack Faithful are stoked with their defense this year. But I’m starting to think this was more of a matter of Denver just not having what it takes. Moved the ball better than the Packers, 149 total yards on the group with another 220 thru the air.
The Dog thought Denver was sure to keep it within 7. They just need to take care of the ball and find a way into the endzone. Plain and simple.
Atlanta @ Indianapolis
IND 27 ATL 24
Was a bit disappointed that I let the Dog Pound faithful down by not being at The Fieldhouse for this one like I thought I would be. However, where I didn’t let you down was having this one handicapped to a T.
Jacoby Jacoby. He went toe to toe with Matt Ryan and came out on top at home. He rode this Colt to victory as confidently as David Cohen rode 4.4:1 Her Kare to victory at Churchill Downs in the 5th race on Friday; my other lock of the week. Go check it out, you won’t regret it.
A well balanced team and a steady Brissett with the reigns, The Dog plans to keep riding these Colts to the Winner’s Circle.
Atlanta is too one-dimensional. Not sure if it’s a blocking/play calling problem or he done lost a step, but Devonta Freeman can find his form of yesteryear. And STAT!
But until Freeman gets going, opponents can and will continue to key on the pass and be able to limit big plays thru the air. Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley are a hell of a tandem, but so far the Dirty Birds aren’t owning the air like they once did.
Baltimore @ Kansas City
KC 33 BAL 28
First – The Dog is kicking himself for not posting what turned out to be an easy Over. That’s what we were thinking but we can’t take credit for that. But I think this one turned out as most people would’ve expected, a higher scoring affair with two power offenses.
Second – The Dog is kicking the KC secondary out to the Dog House. LamJacks threw what should have been 3 interceptions that KC defensive backs just refused to take; just like your mangy mutt turning his nose up at the dogfood you laid out for him. Those rascals, cost me the -7.
Mahomes looks good at the helm of the offense. Any already unstoppable offense gets a weapons upgrade with the acquisition of Shady McCoy at RB. Even at his advanced he’s a huge asset reacclimating with his old coach Andy Reid.
This KC team is Insta-Over until further notice.
The Dog also has the Ravens trending up.
Oakland @ Minnesota
MIN 34 OAK 14
The Dog was happy to see the vikings covering the spread easily and hit the over thanks to a garbage time TD by Oakland. Minnesota’s offense continues to put points on the board and The Dog likes it.
Oakland is on the road a bunch coming up when you include their home game in London and is in need of some improvements on both ends of the ball.
New York Jets @ New England
NE 30 NYJ 14
Something smells fishy but The Dog can’t dig it up. Why did Belichick pull Brady in this one but piled on last week against the Dolphins? Who knows. He don’t answer questions. That move cost us a cover but directly handed us the over.
Cause we learned that Jarrett Stidham doesn’t look like the heir-apparent to #Tommy. His pick 6 got us to the Over. But The Dog was left wondering if Brady under center all 60 minutes would’ve cashed both these bets.
Consider them in The Dog House. The Dog won’t be playing the Jets any time soon.
Detroit @ Philadelphia
DET 27 PHI 24
This was an exciting game start to finish. Philly just looked a little too depleted on the offensive side of the ball to have a fighting chance in this one spotting 7 points. Never in jeopardy of taking an L in this one, Stafford and Company marched into Philadelphia, and marched out with a W.
Eagles might have been able to come away with the victory had Nelson Agholor not made some crucial mistakes. Redeemed himself by promising to bring West Philly hero and his family to the next game!
Lions need to start roaring their offensive engines. Despite being 2-0-1; The Dog isn’t really looking at the Lions until we start seeing +4.5 or so. Eagles are trending downward.
Carolina @ Arizona
CAR 38 ARI 20
The Bird Dog pointed you to Arizona Overs early this year. That hit by 11.5 points. The BloodHound Gang Dog sniffed out McCaffery rebounding in Week 3. He went for 188 all purpose yards.
Week 4 Match-Ups. Panthers @ Texans. Cardinals host the Seahawks.The needle is leaning towards The Dog not playing playing either of these teams ATS.
Check back later in the Week for more and see what The Dog will be lockin in on.
New York Giants @ Tampa Bay
NYG 32 TB 31
Both teams will be so worried about getting the W that watching this one will be like watching paint dry. A conservative chess checkers match. A field position, punt-fest, clock management symposium with either team winning by a FG or less. – The Dog, Week 3 Preview
What a game! This Dog knows there is more than 1 way to skin a cat. Definitely knew it was going to be a tight game and that’s why The Dog went with NYG at +6.5 calling it as either team winning by FG or less. That’s a 20/20 hindsight that should’ve been in the Dog Pound.
But boy we couldn’t have been more wrong on how we picked the O/U. Mike Evans and Famous Jameis Winston hooked up for 3 touchdowns in an early offensive assault that killed our Under Dog Pound Pick only midway through the 3rd quarter.
Flash me some of them Dimes. Career Record in games when the Giants trailed by 18 points. Daniel “Danny Dimes” Jones: 1-0. Eli Manning (0-44). Dimes even did it without Saquon for the majority of the game, getting knocked out for what looks to be multiple games with a bad ankle sprain.
Houston @ Los Angeles Chargers
HOU 27 LAC 20
This one could’ve just as easily been a 2 pick loser instead of a 2 pick winner. Philip Rivers came up just short of leading the Chargers to a TD in the final 2 minutes. Houston has a stout defense that just got too much pressure onto Rivers and broke up some big passes down the stretch.
This game was all DeShaun Watson & Philip Rivers in the air. Both team laid it all out there. The Dog thinks he’s putting all his treats in their bowls next week.
Pittsburgh @ San Francisco
SF 24 PIT 20
I really don’t know what to say about this one other than it was arguably the worst game Sunday. I was just happy to come away from this one with a tie instead of a flat out 0-2.
San Fran 49ers rushed it 40 times for 168 yards and 2 TDs. Garappolo threw for less than 300 yards and 2 INTs against a suspect secondary.
Rudolph was a completion over 50% rate with 1 INT, but the Steelers receivers again letting the team down with critical drops. He connected for TDs on a prayer deep chuck to J2S2; the other a wide open Diontae Johnson walked into the endzone for the easiest TD of the year.
Both teams are trending down in The Dogs eyes. Gonna keep on walking on to the next.
New Orleans @ Seattle
NO 33 SEA 27
When you’re wrong, Damn do things go wrong. Teddy Bridgewater played well enough in his first start of the season, but it was the Saints stealing defensive and special team TDs and The Dog knew this Dog Pound Pick didn’t stand a chance of ca$hing.
This one is really making The Dog think about taking a time out and skipping playing O/Us for a few weeks.
Saints will have a big test next week hosting 3-0 Dallas. The Dog is leaning Home Dogs in this one.
Seattle goes on the road to play the 0-2-1 Cardinals. Will have to see how the line develops in this one.
Check back into the Dog Pound to see if either of these matchups make the grade.
Los Angeles Rams @ Cleveland
LAR 20 CLE 13
The Brownies coming out party has been put on hold for another Week. Will have to wait until the next big game to see if they can prove they’re not just believers. They’re 1-2. Head Coach Freddie Kitchens was adamant that this loss is on him and not his players.
Mayfield is now 1-10 against teams over .500. OBJ hasn’t had a breakout game yet. Tick tock on when this offense will show up.
Rams just keep on doing what they need to do. Goff hasn’t yet hit his stride this year. Donald is unstoppable on the defensive end. If things start to click, The Dog likes Rams.
Chicago @ Washington
CHI 31 WAS 15
If Mitch ever does good, “Trubiscuits” for this Dog! Hooking up with Taylor Gabriel for 3 touchdowns, The Dog was already digging holes to bury this 2 game Trubiscuit in the backyard with The Bears up 28-3 at half.
However, Bears couldn’t keep the offense going and getting only a field goal in the final 2 minutes of the game. The Over was salvaged due to Redskins getting 2 second half touchdowns when the game was already out of reach.
The Dog was happy with how Week 3 wrapped up, going 2-0 on Monday Night.
Redskins stocks are down, Bears stocks are up.
2019 Record
The Dog Pound🐾 2019 Record: 6-4 🚀
The Dog’s 2019 Record: 26-23-1 ⚠️
Check back Thursday morning when The Dog will throw you another bone with his Picks, what you need to know and how you should play Tennessee @ Atlanta, Kansas City @ Detroit, and the rest of the Week 4 plate of games.