Morning Coffee: Bucs should lean on rookie Irving in must-win versus Giants

It was only a matter of time before the snow and heavy winds descended on Cleveland on Thursday night.

For yours truly, I would have loved to see winter’s fury arrive about an hour earlier.

As somebody who featured Najee Harris over 16.5 rushing attempts as his FanDuel Best Bet for Thursday Night Football in this column 24 hours ago, it wasn’t very much fun to see Russell Wilson throw the football 14 times in the first half last night.

When he did hand the football off, Jaylen Warren was there to handle 11 total carries.

That was one too many Warren touches for anybody who bet Harris over 16.5 rushing attempts, as he finished with exactly 16 and burned us with the hook.

More importantly for Steelers fans, their team struggled to punch the football into the end zone once again on Thursday Night Football, as they were held to two touchdowns and two field goals in a narrow loss.

Mike Tomlin’s teams fell to 0-6 straight up all-time in road divisional games on Thursday Night Football.

Pittsburgh fell to 1-5-1 straight up in its past seven games in Cleveland.

With the loss, the Steelers’ brief stint as the favourite to win the AFC North at FanDuel ended quickly.  

Pittsburgh is now the second choice to win its division behind the Baltimore Ravens.

While they have exceeded all expectations with eight wins, the Steelers have a very difficult upcoming schedule to close out the regular season.

Nobody is crowning them as a lock to make the playoffs.

After a tough beat last night, I’m looking to turn the page and get back on track with a winner for this NFL Sunday.

In fact, I’ve already circled a couple of players props as my FanDuel Best Bets for NFL Sunday Week 12.

This is the Morning Coffee for Friday November, 22nd, 2024.

Bucs Should Lean On Rookie Irving In Must-Win Versus Giants

It feels like just yesterday that I swept the NFL Sunday afternoon slate with a perfect 8-0 run in Week 11.

After a couple of tough beats, I’ll be looking to get back on track with some similar results this weekend.

In case you missed it, I’m on a traditional parlay with the Denver Broncos to beat the Las Vegas Raiders outright and the Washington Commanders to cover the alt spread of -2.5 against the Dallas Cowboys at -120 odds.

I’ll also recommend a Same Game Parlay with Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie running back Bucky Irving to record 40+ rushing yards and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to beat the New York Giants outright at -120 odds.

Irving is coming off a 73-yard rushing performance on 5.6 yards per carry in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers two weeks ago.

Despite trailing for most of the game, the Bucs leaned on their rookie fourth-round pick with 13 carries.

Irving is fresh off a bye week and could be in line for a much bigger workload with Tampa Bay currently a 5.5-point favourite against the New York Giants.

The Giants defence has allowed an average of 116.6 running back rushing yards per game this season – the fifth-highest mark in the NFL. 

With Mike Evans back in the lineup and Tommy DeVito set to start for New York, I like Tampa Bay to come out on top in a must-win game against an inferior opponent after their bye week.

I’ll take an SGP with Irving 40+ rushing yards and the Bucs to win outright at -120.

Next up, I’ll lock in a Same Game Parlay with De’Von Achane 50+ rushing yards and Jonnu Smith 25+ receiving yards at even-money.

Achane has recorded 60+ rushing yards in four of his previous five games.

Now he faces a New England Patriots defence that has allowed 116.6 rushing yards to opposing running backs this season – the fourth-worst mark in the entire NFL.

Achane’s explosiveness will be a key to victory for Miami, which is a seven-point favourite against the Patriots.

Meanwhile, the former Patriot Smith has emerged as a key playmaker for the Dolphins this season.

Smith is coming off his best performance of the year after recording six catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns in a double-digit win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

Smith has finished with 40 or more receiving yards in three straight games.

He had five catches for 62 yards on eight targets in Miami’s first meeting against New England in Week 5.

Achane and Smith should play key roles for the Dolphins on Sunday.

I’ll lock in Achane 50+ rushing yards and Smith 25+ receiving yards as an even-money SGP as a FanDuel Best Bet for NFL Sunday Week 12.

Finally, David Montgomery’s rushing yards prop seems a little low to me at 54.5.

We know that the Detroit Lions want to run the football.

Now they get another opportunity to do exactly that against an Indianapolis Colts defence that has allowed an average of 115.1 running back rushing yards per game this season – the sixth-worst mark in the NFL.

The Lions are a 7.5-point favourite at FanDuel.

While they’ve been one of the best teams in the NFL, Detroit has also allowed a league-worst 188.7 receiving yards to wide receivers this season.

Josh Downs has 60+ receiving yards in four straight and seven of his last eight games overall. 

I’ll lock in Montgomery 40+ rushing yards and Josh Downs 40+ receiving yards as a FanDuel Best Bet at even-money as a FanDuel Best Bet.

Have a great weekend, everyone!