🏈 QB Continued
Joe Burrow is ready to dethrone Patrick Mahomes in the NFL.
Happy Friday and Independence Day weekend. It's Eric.
🍔 Eat like a champion: June 30 is National Food Truck Day. Grab your favorite grub and support your local entrepreneurs. Then, fire up the grill.
🎶 Sounds like: "Summertime" by Janis Joplin.
This newsletter is 1,191 words — a 5-minute read.
💪 QUICK HITS
🏆 The Bengals and Joe Burrow could have all the pieces.
💩 The 2023 Mets are the worst $360 million team in history.
🏀 The WNBA has never seen anything like the Las Vegas Aces.
🐅 Eye of the Tiger
Only a few more weeks until NFL training camps open. The Cincinnati Bengals have never won a Super Bowl. That could change this season.
🏟️ Welcome to the jungle: The Bengals had a big offseason. They added depth at key positions and strengthened their offensive line, signing left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. from the Kansas City Chiefs to protect Joe Burrow's blind side. Burrow was sacked 92 times over the last two seasons (41 in 2022, 51 in 2021) and still almost led the Bengals to the promised land. Give Burrow more time and fewer hits, and Cincinnati could hit paydirt.
Kansas City Chiefs +600
Philadelphia Eagles +650
Buffalo Bills +900
San Francisco 49ers +1000
Cincinnati Bengals +1100
Dallas Cowboys +1400
New York Jets +1800
Baltimore Ravens +2000
🔥 Chief beef: The rivalry between the Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs has been kicked up a notch. First, there was trash-talking on both sides. After Burrow said Pat Mahomes is the No. 1 quarterback in the NFL, Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase said Burrow is the top dog. Of course, Mahomes and Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce disagree.
✅ Talking schemes: Brown got Chiefs fans mad when comparing the difference between blocking for Mahomes and Burrow. "Now, as opposed to having to play in a lot more space with guys on my edge, guys have got to rush through me because Joe isn’t necessarily at 12-1/2 or 13 yards on certain drops. He’s going to be at 7-1/2 getting the ball out." Brown was not taking a shot at his former quarterback. Just making an observation about schemes. And he wasn't wrong.
🍿 QB1 vs. QB1A: For now, Mahomes has the head-to-head stat edge and hardware (two Super Bowl rings, two NFL MVPs). Burrow could catch up. Winners always do.
Patrick Mahomes +700
Joe Burrow +750
Josh Allen +800
Jalen Hurts +1100
Justin Herbert +1300
Trevor Lawrence +1400
Lamar Jackson +1500
Aaron Rodgers +1600
🎯 Let us prey: The Bengals and Chiefs renew their rivalry on the field this season in Week 17. There's a lot of football to be played before then, but add up every tangible and intangible, and something tells us this could be Cincy's year.
💰Cincinnati Betting Insights
Cincinnati had a 12-2-1 record against the spread in 2022.
Last season, six Bengals games went over the point total.
Cincinnati ranked eighth in the NFL in total offense with 360.5 yards per game in 2022 and 16th in total defense (335.7 yards allowed per contest).
The Bengals were 6-1 at home and 6-3 away.
When underdogs, Cincinnati had one victory (1-1) versus its 11-2 record when favored.
The Bengals were 8-3 in the AFC, including 3-3 in the AFC North.
Source: WSAZ
All odds are subject to change.
RELATED NFL STORIES ON STADIUM TALK
🎾 Quote du Jour: Equal Opportunity
"I want the Golden Gate Open to set an example for all combined tennis tournaments around the world. Combined tournaments with equal pay are the future of tennis."
—Golden Gate Open founder and CEO Pablo Pires de Almeida on organizing a new pro tennis tournament in the Bay Area and setting a new standard for gender equity in tennis. The inaugural Golden Gate Open will be played Aug. 12-19 at the Taube Tennis Center on the campus of Stanford University and is the first 125-level event (the sport’s second-highest tier on the Challenger Tour) to offer equal prize money for men and women competitors. The Golden Gate Open also is the first-ever combined ATP/WTA men’s and women’s pro tournament in Northern California.
👀 Miracles Don't Grow on Trees
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen made billions in hedge funds, but he is learning that money can't buy championships. The Mets have the highest payroll in baseball history at a projected $360 million. They are in fourth place in the NL East at 36-45, 17.5 games back of first-place Atlanta and 9 games out of the last wild-card berth. Their odds of missing the playoffs (-600) are way better than making the playoffs (+450). This isn't 1969. The most exciting thing about this team is Mets fans, who never cease to amaze us with their loyalty and masochism.
RELATED BASEBALL STORIES ON STADIUM TALK
🎧 Listen Up
⛳️ Rocket blast: Betting Predators podcast host SleepyJ and Uncle Dave Essler talk Rocket Mortgage Classic and give their picks.
📈 Number of the Day: 24
That's how many perfect games have been thrown in MLB history after New York Yankees right-hander Domingo German threw a perfect game in Oakland against the A's on June 29. It was the fourth perfect game in Yankees history and the first since Felix Hernandez on Aug. 15, 2012.
🧠 Sports Betting Tip
Use power ratings.
Creating power ratings is a time-consuming, arduous process. Find a rating system you trust, make it your own, and identify value from there. Jeff Sagarin’s Ratings, ESPN’s Football Power Index, Bill Connelly’s SP+ Ratings are great places to start. From there, you can tweak the power ratings to your opinions without starting from scratch. —Steve Reider, NFL, Betting Predators
♦️ Aces High
The Las Vegas Aces won their first WNBA title last season with Becky Hammon as a rookie head coach. They might be even better this year. It's still early, but the Aces are 14-1 and have been almost unstoppable, averaging 93.1 points per game and limiting opponents to 77.7 points per game for a +15.4 point differential. According to The Washington Post, the oddsmakers have noticed. After opening as co-favorites with the New York Liberty to win the championship this season, the Aces are the lone favorites, at -170, meaning the Aces are more likely to win the title than the league’s other 11 teams combined.
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