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Surprisingly, Week 6 of the 2020 NFL season featured some of the best defensive performances of the year so far. It’s surprising because scoring is at an all-time high.
Three teams - Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Seattle - all remain unbeaten. Barring a tie in Week 7, one of the Titans or Steelers will have a loss as the two play each other.
One team - the Jets - remains particularly bad. Not only are they 0-6, they are also 0-6 ATS. That brings us to our first examination of Week 6’s numbers.
The 0-Fer Jets
New York didn’t score in its sixth straight loss of the 2020 season. Miami recorded its first shutout since 2014 in a 24-0 Jets defeat. The Jets have yet to cover a point spread this season, which is odd since head coach Adam Gase is supposed to be an offensive guru.
The Jets start brings up the question “has this ever happened before?” The answer is yes.
Since 1985, six teams started their season 0-6 SU and 0-6 ATS. The most recent were the Rams and Dolphins in 2011. The Rams wound up 2-14 SU and 3-12-1 ATS. The Dolphins came back to go 6-10 SU and an amazing 9-6-1 ATS.
Those six teams covered the spread nearly 58 percent of the time over the rest of the season. Maybe there is hope for the Jets after all.
Did you see last week’s NFL Week 6 Best Bets?
Defense! Defense!
The Green Bay Packers came into Tampa Bay averaging 38 points per game. The Packers left with their tails between their legs after putting up just 201 total yards and 10 points.
It was a similar result in Pittsburgh where the NFL’s leading rushing team, Cleveland, looked to run all over the Steelers. That didn’t happen as the Browns were held to just 75 yards on the ground, 113 below their season average. Cleveland managed just 220 yards and seven points.
Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh have the top two run defenses in the NFL and it’s no surprise the Steelers are 5-0 and the Bucs lead the NFC South with a 4-2 mark. Head on over to ActionSportsPicks.com on Sunday for your NFL free picks.
Go For Two, Lose By Four or More
In one of the week’s strangest decisions for fans to figure out, Houston interim head coach Romeo Crennel decided that his Texans would go for two with his team up by seven.
Bettors that had Houston +4 at online sportsbooks were probably feeling pretty good when the Texans, already up by one, scored a touchdown with just under two minutes to play in the game.
The thinking behind the decision actually makes sense. A successful two-point try puts Houston up by nine meaning the Titans would have to score twice in order to win.
Crennel figured going for two would guarantee a victory. With the league average right around 50 percent on two-point attempts, it was worth a roll of the dice. The problem is that it backfired on Crennel and the Texans.
They missed the two-point try, kicked the ball back to Tennessee, and watched as the game went into overtime. Houston QB Deshaun Watson’s body language at the overtime coin flip told the story.
The Titans won the flip, took the ball, and marched right down the field to watch RB Derrick Henry, who had 212 yards rushing, score his second touchdown of the day. It was the game-winner and prevented Houston from covering.
