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The Denver Broncos traded five draft picks, including two first round picks, two second round picks and three roster players for Russell Wilson in March.

If one of my fellow fantasy football managers paid that price for Wilson in a trade, I’d kick them out of our league. 

As if the trade capital wasn’t bad enough, the Broncos signed Wilson to a five-year, $245 million extension that includes $165 million in guaranteed money. 

Imagine what ownership had to be thinking last night as they watched their fans pour out of Empower Field at Mile High during a prime-time game that was headed to overtime.

The decision to beat traffic turned out to be a good one for the fans that didn’t stick around, as the Broncos ultimately ended up on the wrong side of the first overtime game without a single touchdown since 2017.

Only the most hardcore football fan would have watched until the end if they weren’t sticking around for betting or fantasy football implications.

You can count me among the latter, as with a little help from FanDuel, the TSN EDGE team turned Thursday Night Football into an absolutely epic thriller.

Here’s the Morning Coffee for Friday October 7th, 2022.

How The TSN EDGE Team Turned Thursday Night Football Into An Epic Thriller

It didn’t take long for the drip to turn into a full-blown waterfall of hyperbole as Thursday Night Football trended on social media late into the night.

Indianapolis and Denver combined for zero touchdowns, four interceptions and 10 sacks in a game that featured seven field goals. 

Per the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the most combined field goals in a game with no other score type in NFL history.

For all of the capital that the Broncos have invested in Wilson, they’ve been rewarded with an offence that ranks 31st in the NFL with 15.0 points per game this season.

Believe it or not, the only team that has averaged fewer points per game this season is the team that beat them last night.

Matt Ryan overcame six sacks, two interceptions and a handful of false start penalties to throw for 251 yards and lead the Colts to a 12-9 win.

Chase McLaughlin made three 50+ yard field goals to help send Indianapolis to 2-2-1 – tied for the most wins in the AFC South heading into the weekend.

Meanwhile, Wilson and the Denver offence went 0-for-4 in the red zone for the second time already this season. 

Wilson is now 2-of-18 on throws into the end zone this season, including an absolutely critical interception in last night’s game.

Fortunately, he managed to connect with Courtland Sutton on five catches for 74 yards, to cash the over 4.5 receptions and over 63.5 receiving yards.

As it turned out, the interception that Wilson threw set the stage for a Colts comeback in overtime, giving Parris Campbell and Kylen Granson the opportunities they needed to go over 20.5 receiving yards and over 13.5 receiving yards, respectively.

 

In this space, there’s nothing better than giving out winners.

Lately, we’ve been fortunate to hit on a lot of them.

After going 6-1 with my best bets for Thursday Night Football, I’m now on a 31-10 run betting the NFL.

That includes an 18-3 run in prime time games.

I’ll be the first to tell you that a 76 per cent win rate over two weeks is unsustainable.

However, I’d also point out that run has included a couple of really bad beats, like Granson appearing to go over 1.5 receptions last night before a flag negated a catch, or Irv Smith Jr. going for 23 receiving yards in the first half but getting zero catches in the second half to stay under 25+ receiving yards on Sunday.

If betting on the NFL and winning consistently was easy, we’d all do it.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with striving to win as many bets as you can win and seeing where you end up when it’s all said and done.

I’m looking forward to going back to work with my best bets for Sunday.

So far this season, we’re looking pretty good.

Let’s never talk about last night’s game again.

Introducing The FanDuel First To Five

As we turn the page from last night’s debacle, there’s a lot to get excited about in addition to a full NFL slate for this Sunday.

First up, the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators drop the puck in the NHL regular season opener this afternoon.

FanDuel has Nashville as a -194 money line favourite.

The come back on San Jose is +160.

Meanwhile, if you don’t want to stick around to watch the full game in its entirety, you might want to consider the new NHL market that FanDuel will debut today.

FanDuel has set a market for the First to 5 Shots on Goal.

It’s as simple as it sounds.

You can bet on either the Predators or the Sharks to be the first team to five shots on goal in the game.

As of this writing, Nashville is a -136 money line favourite to be the First to 5 Shots On Goal, with San Jose at +106.

After an amazing ride betting on NHL shots on goal totals and other props at FanDuel throughout last year’s playoffs, I’m looking forward to trying to find an edge in this new hockey market.

The 2022 MLB Playoffs Have Arrived

In addition to the start of the NHL regular season, the MLB playoffs are set to get underway with four Wild Card series games today. 

The action is set to get underway just after noon ET, when Shane Bieber and the Cleveland Guardians host Shane McClanahan and the Tampa Bay Rays in their opener.

Later on, Alek Manoah will get the nod for the Toronto Blue Jays against Luis Castillo and the Seattle Mariners in Game 1 of that series.

The Blue Jays are a -136 money line favourite for the opener.

It’s important to keep in mind that the winner of Game 1 of a three-game regular season series went on to win the series 78 per cent of the time.

I haven’t bet on any of the openers just yet, but once I talk with “The Big E” Eric Cohen and Evan Render later this morning, I’ll definitely have a couple of bets locked in at FanDuel for today’s games.