Lazy Man and Sports

Anyone who read this site knows that I’m a big fan of being responsible with your money. In fact I write about it nearly every day at Lazy Man and Money. However, there’s a time where I’m tempted by the other side - the evil side. It’s illegal to bet on football games, but let’s think about this upcoming Jets’ game. If you had to place a wager, which side would you go?

Give the Patriots a little motivation and opposing teams are in trouble. They didn’t say much about Smith’s “guaranteed win” throughout the week, but when the game was over, the Patriots began to talk. Belichick broke his usual opinionless demeanor during the post game conference saying, “We’ve played a lot better safeties than (Smith).” This is the first time I’ve heard him say something negative about an opposing team/player.

Yesterday on WEEI Tom Brady said, “It was perfect, the set up was perfect,” Brady said. “All right over the top of (Smith’s) head. Right where we wanted it.”. The Patriots are now good enough to not only win, but embarrass specific players on extremely good teams.

If a loud spoken opponent is motivation for the Patriots to beat a very good team by 21 points, one has to wonder what the Jets are in for. They bring a 3-10 record into Gillette Stadium. However the bigger issue is that the Patriots view the Jets for bringing SpyGate into our lives costing the Patriots a first round draft pick and a chunk of cash. (The truth is that the Patriots did it to themselves, but it reported that the Jets turned information over to the NFL against the Patriots.) If that’s not enough motivation, one must remember that there’s no love between the coaches to begin with. Add it up, and it’s a thousand times the motivation that Pittsburgh gave them.

I think that if the Patriots don’t win by 30+ points, it will be viewed as a disappointment in New England. I don’t think the Patriots are looking to disappoint. The Jets may come out and play an inspired game, but my money would be on taking the Patriots.