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| Friday, November 17, 2023 |
| BALTIMORE -- Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| I'm writing today from a hotel room in Baltimore that is filled with dejected Bengals, which makes sense, because it has been a rough 24 hours for them. Not only did the Bengals lose to the Ravens on Thursday night, but the team also lost Joe Burrow to injury, and to make matters worse, the NFL is now INVESTIGATING the Bengals over Burrow's injury. |
| We'll be grading the game from last night, plus taking a look at the details of Burrow's injury and why the NFL is investigating the situation. |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. Let's get to the rundown. |
| 1. Today's show: Best bets for Week 11 |
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| If you're a regular listener of the "Pick Six NFL" podcast or a regular reader of this newsletter, then you know what we do on Fridays: We make picks. And then just when you think we're done making picks, we make more picks. |
| For today's show, host Katie Mox was joined by Will Brinson along with R.J. White and Alex "PropStarz" Selelnick -- two of our gambling gurus over at SportsLine -- and the three of them offered some of their best bets for Week 11. |
| The crew spent an entire hour handing out picks, and we're going to go over a few of their best bets here: |
| Will Brinson (1-2 in picks we shared here last week, 15-14-1 on the season) |
| Chargers (-3) to cover against PackersDolphins (-12.5) to cover against RaidersLions (-7.5) to cover against Bears |
| R.J. White (2-1 in picks we shared here last week, 13-17 on the season) |
| Rams (+1) to cover against SeahawksTitans UNDER 16.5 total team points against JaguarsJets at Bills UNDER 40 total points |
| Katie Mox (3-0 in picks we shared here last week, 12-15 on the season) |
| 49ers OVER 26.5 total team points against BuccaneersCowboys (-17.5) to cover against GiantsSteelers at Browns OVER 32.5 total points |
| As for PropStarz, he handed out a few of his favorite props for the weekend, because when your nickname is PropStarz, that's what the people expect. |
| Chargers at Packers: Aaron Jones UNDER 54.5 rushing yardsBears at Lions: Jahmyr Gibbs OVER 36.5 rushing yardsJets at Bills: James Cook OVER 52.5 rushing yards |
| PropStarz went 0-3 last week and is now 15-15 on the season. |
| To hear what the rest of the best bets are for Week 11 -- and there are quite a few -- be sure to click here so you can listen to the entire episode of the podcast. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here. |
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| 2. Thursday night grades after Ravens' 34-20 win over Bengals |
| Things could not have gone worse for the Bengals on Thursday night. Not only did they lose Joe Burrow to injury -- we'll have more on that a little further down -- but they also lost almost any chance they might have had of winning the AFC North this year. With the Bengals (5-5) now 2.5 games behind the Ravens (8-3), Cincinnati will be battling for a wild-card spot the rest of the way and that's likely only going to happen if Burrow doesn't miss any substantial time. |
| Anyway, here are our grades from the game: |
| BENGALS GRADE: D+ |
| It's almost impossible to grade the Bengals for this game. They were beating the Ravens, 10-7, when Joe Burrow exited with an injury in the second quarter, but after he went to the locker room, it seemed to deflate the entire team. On the defensive side, the Bengals allowed the Ravens to score two touchdowns in the final 2:30 of the second quarter, which allowed Baltimore to take a 21-10 lead into halftime. From there, the game was all but over for Cincinnati. With Jake Browning running the offense, there was simply no way the Bengals were going to overcome a double-digit deficit. Joe Mixon was having a huge game before Burrow left, but was quiet after that on a night where he finished with 100 total yards and a TD on 21 touches. |
| RAVENS GRADE: A- |
| Lamar Jackson wasn't perfect in this game, but he did play nearly perfect football in spurts, staring with Baltimore's opening drive, which ended in a touchdown. Jackson threw for 264 yards, with 178 of that coming on three drives in the first half. Jackson did his most damage on Baltimore's final two drives of the half, which both ended in touchdowns. In the second half, the Ravens played vintage Ravens football. For one, their defense ate Jake Browning alive. Browning got sacked three times while throwing for just 68 yards in two and a half quarters of action. From an offensive standpoint, the Ravens finally got things going on the ground in the second half. After only rushing for 30 yards in the first half, the Ravens showed why they have the NFL's No. 1 rushing attack by steamrolling the Bengals defense for 127 yards on the ground in the second half. The Ravens also got a breakout performance from Odell Beckham Jr., who hit the 100-yard mark for the first time since the 2021 NFC title game. |
| If you want to check out more of our takeaways from the game, be sure to click here. |
| 3. Joe Burrow injury: Latest details including an NFL investigation |
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| It was an ugly night for injuries in Baltimore, with multiple players going down. The most notable injury on Cincinnati's side was easily Joe Burrow. Here's what you need to know about the injury to the Bengals QB. |
| Burrow suffered a non-contact injury. The Bengals QB somehow suffered a wrist injury after throwing a four-yard TD pass to Joe Mixon in the second quarter. You can see video of the injury here and if you check it out, you'll see that Burrow grabs his wrist as soon as he makes the throw. Zac Taylor offers few details on the injury. Following the game, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor called Burrow's injury a "sprained wrist," so it's not clear what that means for the Bengals going forward. Burrow literally could not throw a football after suffering the injury (video here), which makes it seem like it could be serious. The Bengals QB will be undergoing an MRI today, and at that point, the Bengals should find out whether it's a short-term or long-term injury.NFL to investigate the Bengals. The Bengals could be in hot water over the injury. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones has reported the the Bengals are now being investigated for non-compliance with the injury policy when it comes to Burrow's injury. As a I mentioned in yesterday's newsletter , Burrow showed up to Baltimore on Wednesday wearing a brace on his right wrist. If he was injured, then he should have been on the team's injury report. After the game, Taylor said he wasn't aware that Burrow had been wearing a brace and that the QB wasn't dealing with any sort of injury, which is why he wasn't on the injury report. The fact of the matter is that the Bengals social media team shared a video of Burrow wearing his brace Wednesday and that video quickly got deleted, which means someone had to make the request for deletion. It's an odd request to make unless the Bengals weren't thrilled about the Burrow injury being made public. It will definitely be interesting to see where this investigation goes. |
| Burrow wasn't the only player who suffered an injury Thursday, Mark Andrew also suffered a serious injury. Here's a look at the Ravens' injury situation following the game: |
| Andrews out for the season. The Ravens star tight end is most likely done for the year after suffering an ankle injury on Baltimore's opening drive. Andrews got tackled awkwardly by Cincinnati's Logan Wilson, and it was a tackle that John Harbaugh wasn't a fan of. After the game, Harbaugh called out Wilson for making a "hip drop" tackle. You can read Harbaugh's full comments and see a video of the tackle here. Huge loss for Ravens. Over the past five seasons, Mark Andrews has totaled 347 catches for 4,305 yards and 37 touchdowns. Those numbers all rank second in the NFL over that span, trailing only Travis Kelce. Those numbers also won't be easy to replace. The injury to Andrew will mean that Isaiah Likely and Charlie Kolar will have to pick up the slack. Lamar Jackson and Odell Beckham Jr. also banged up. Jackson injured his ankle in the first quarter, but was able to finish the game. At times, the Ravens QB was visibly hobbling and Baltimore responded by cutting down on his workload during a second half where he only threw seven passes. As for Odell, he had a huge game with 116 yards, but he also injured his shoulder at one point. Following the game, Beckham said the injury wasn't "that bad." |
| From an injury standpoint, it was definitely a rough night for both teams. |
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| 4. NFL Week 11 picks: Rams upset Seahawks, Dolphins blow out Raiders |
| I hope you're not tired of reading our picks yet, because we have even more of them coming at you right now. This batch will be coming from NFL senior writer Pete Prisco along with Will Brinson, Jordan Dajani, Tyler Sullivan and myself. We almost had a perfect record last week, but I killed those chances by taking the Patriots over the Colts. |
| That being said, we did go 3-1-1 last week, which means that heading into Week 11, we now have a 26-22-2 record against the spread with our picks that have been featured in the newsletter. |
| Here's how things are going to work: I'm going to give you one pick from each guy and then direct you to the rest of their picks. That way, if you like their pick, you'll be able to read the rest of them, but if they pick against your favorite team, you can ignore the rest of their picks and move on. |
| Pete Prisco: Dolphins (-12.5) 31-14 over Raiders. From Prisco: "The Raiders have won two straight with interim coach Antonio Pierce. But this is the spot where the Dolphins get back on track with Tua Tagovailoa having a good day." For the rest of Prisco's Week 11 picks, be sure to click here.Tyler Sullivan: Texans (-4) 28-20 over Cardinals. From Sullivan: "The Cardinals will be more competitive with Kyler Murray under center, but this offense still has plenty of limitations. As for the Texans offense with Stroud at the helm, he has a nice matchup against an Arizona secondary that is allowing a 101.0 passer rating (31st) and a 69.1% completion percentage (28th) to opposing quarterbacks this season." For the rest of Sullivan's Week 11 picks, be sure to click here.Will Brinson: Rams (+1) to cover Seahawks. From Brinson: "The Seahawks, at 6-3, look locked into a playoff spot. The Rams, at 3-6, are being counted out. But the Rams have 4-5 very winnable games left on their schedule. If they can pull off a small upset at home in Week 11, the postseason is very much back on the table." For the rest of Brinson's Week 11 best bets, be sure to click here.Jordan Dajani: Bills (-7) 24-14 over Jets. From Dajani: "The 5-5 Bills are 4-1 in Buffalo this season, and are 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS in their last four games following back-to-back losses. Also, I don't have any faith in the Jets." For the rest of Dajani's Week 11 best bets, be sure to click here.John Breech: Broncos (-2.5) 20-17 over Vikings. From me: "The best way to beat this Broncos team is by running the ball and I'm not sure the Vikings are capable of doing that. (The Vikings rank 29th overall in rushing yards per game.) However, I am sure this will be a close game. Of Minnesota's 10 games this season, nine of them have been decided by one score and this probably won't be any different." For the rest of my Week 11 picks, be sure to click here. |
| For more Week 11 NFL picks, you can check out out our CBS Sports picks page here. |
| 5. Bold predictions for Week 11: Browns top Steelers despite losing Deshaun Watson |
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| Since you're probably tired of picks at this point, we're going to spice things up by giving out some bold predictions, which are like picks, except spicier. Garrett Podell has five bold predictions for Week 11, and we're going to share three of them below. Last week, Garrett boldly predicted that the Texans would upset the Bengals and that's exactly what happened. |
| Let's see what Garrett has in store for us this week. |
| Bold predictions for Week 11: |
| 1. Browns will beat Steelers despite starting a rookie QB. "With Deshaun Watson out, the Browns are turning to fifth-round rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson to make his second career start. Despite that, the Browns will still end up beating the Steelers by multiple scores this Sunday thanks to their outstanding defense. They have the No. 1 total defense in the league this season, allowing 242.7 yards per game. Inexperienced rookie quarterback be damned, Garrett and the Browns defense carry Cleveland to a multi-score win." 2. Jordan Love throws for 300 yards against the Chargers. "Facing the NFL's worst passing defense in the Chargers -- who are allowing an NFL-worst 291.2 passing yards per game -- will provide Love with the ability to snap out of a funk and end the Packers' 27-game streak without throwing for 300 or more yards. That's the longest active streak in the league and their longest streak since a stretch that partially predated the Brett Favre era in Green Bay from 1991-1993."3. Matthew Stafford returns and leads Rams to small upset win over Seattle. "Stafford will likely return from a thumb injury this week, and thanks to telepathic connections with Cooper Kupp and rookie Puka Nacua, the Rams will score enough to win. The Rams upset the Seahawks, 30-13, in Week 1 in Seattle as 4.5-point underdogs, and they're going to sweep the 6-3 Seahawks with a win Sunday in Los Angeles." |
| Garrett has five bold predictions for Week 11, and you can check out all of them by clicking here. |
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| 6. Extra points: RGIII wants to play for the Browns |
| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
Robert Griffin wants the Browns to call him. With Deshaun Watson now done for the season, RG3 thinks the Browns should call him about possibly replacing their injured QB. "The Browns should start me as quarterback," Griffin recently said on his podcast. "One, at 33 years old, I understand the game better than I ever have in my entire career." You can read his full comments here. Browns bringing in Joe Flacco. The Browns haven't called RGIII yet, but they are bringing in JOE FLACCO for a workout. Flacco is expected to be one of several quarterbacks who get a workout with the team on Friday. The one-time Super Bowl winning QB with the Ravens started four games last season for the Jets. For more on Flacco's trip to Cleveland, be sure to check out our full story here.
Steelers special teams coach suffers in-game injury. It's not often you seen an NFL coach suffer a serious injury on the sideline, but that's exactly what happened to special teams coordinator Danny Smith. The Steelers assistant tore his rotator cuff in three places after getting run over in Week 10 . Smith is expected to undergo surgery to fix the injury. Lions star to be featured in Netflix documentary. After doing a QB documentary with Patrick Mahomes, it looks like Netflix is going to turn its focus to wide receivers this time around. According to the Detroit News, cameras have been following around Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown this season, and that's because he's going to be one of the players featured in the next Netflix football documentary. The QB version featured Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota. |
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| | | | | College Football on CBS | | NFL on CBS | Saturday at 3:30 PM ET, the SEC on CBS brings you an outstanding matchup with major college football playoff implications. #1 Georgia faces one of their toughest tests of the season when the Bulldogs head to Knoxville to take on the #18 Volunteers. Watch live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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| | Get ready for an NFL on CBS doubleheader headlined by an AFC North rivalry between the Steelers and Browns. Then, the AFC East takes center stage when the Jets fly into Buffalo to take on the Bills. It all begins at 12:00 PM ET with JB and the Guys on The NFL Today.
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