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Football is back.

We waited seven months but we were finally able to enjoy some NFL football this week. Thursday came down to the wire with an AFC Championship rematch in Kansas City. Friday was a fuckin nightmare in Brazil, but at least it was high scoring to keep it entertaining. It could’ve been 2-0 and I wouldn’t have cared because it all led up to seven hours of commercial free football with Scott Hanson on Sunday. There are few things that bring me as much joy in life as the first red-zone intro of the season. Pure perfection. Pizza. Check. Jack and Coke. Check. Full slate of bets. Check. And a Patriots win just for my birthday… surprisingly, Check.

Just about a picture perfect Sunday for me. Since we’ve rebranded to Great North Sports, I’m gonna be covering a lot more football in this newsletter but I wanted to focus solely on the Patriots today. We were picked by just about every outlet and pundit to finish dead last and I get it, I do. This is an entirely new regime with a journeyman QB and nothing to write home about offensively aside from Rhamondre Stevenson. Our best defensive player was traded just before week 1, and there’s a whole lot more question marks than answers surrounding this team coming into 2024. 

That didn’t stop us from playing spoiler in the Bengals home opener. From the rip, we looked like a far more competent football team than I was ready to give us credit for. The Brisket never made any crazy highlight reel throws but he seemed to have a good understanding of the new Alex Van Pelt offense and he continuously picked up first downs. Rhamondre had a monster day logging 120 yards on the ground and torching the Bengals defense. They had absolutely zero answers for the back as he racked up 112 of those 120 AFTER CONTACT. The run that sealed the game was a 9 yard carry where he was stuffed in the back field and somehow managed to get to the first down marker. 

On the other side of the ball is where the Patriots really won this game. We know Cincy struggles early in the season, Burrow clearly doesn’t look 100% as he recovers from wrist surgery. They were without Tee Higgins, and Ja’Marr Chase was MIA in camp due to a contract dispute. Put Christian Gonzalez (the best CB in the league) in front of Chase and that offense was doomed from the start. In Gonzo’s young career thus far, he’s been absolutely lights out (see graphic below)

Keion White was the reason we felt comfortable trading Judon and he proved why. 2.5 sacks and 2 tackles for loss he was everywhere all day long. The last Patriot to start a season with a stat line like that was Mike Vrabel in 2007. Shoutout to Billy B for drafting Gonzo and Keion in his last draft with the team, appreciate you coach. 

Chad Ryland; as bad as he was as a kicker he’s in the tank hall of fame for being the architect behind acquiring Drake Maye. Shout out to you for doinking that kick big dawg. Ja’Whaun Bentley held the middle of the defense down all game long. Jabrill Peppers and Kyle Dugger played well. Nobody gave us a chance to win this game and we defied the odds and kicked off the Jerod Mayo era with a big win. Does this change the fact that this team is pretty bereft of talent? No. Do i think we’re gonna make the playoffs? No. Are we better than I thought we were? For sure. I understand Cincinnati wasn’t at their best and this game was more of an indictment on them than a turning of the tide for us. BUT it was a win nonetheless and one this franchise desperately needed. We’ve got Seattle this week at home and they didn’t overly impress me either. I think we have a chance to win and we gotta enjoy those when they come cuz it’s been few and far between lately. Pats are back. Football is back. I’m a happy camper.

How did your team look on opening week?

Any hot takes let us know on the show on Wednesday. We’re live for Great North Sports at 8:00 EST every Wednesday. Check us out on whatever social media you prefer and tell your friends about us!

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WEEKEND WAGERS!

Another race weekend another weekend of Race Wagers!

This weekend we are in Baku! Azerbaijan offers an interesting opportunity as its a street course with the potential for a lot of chaos. im going to play it a bit safe this weekend with the following:

Norris top 6, Leclerc Podium, Oscar podium (spicy?!) and Max in the points. that should give us enough juice to make it worth it. Norris has been great but Oscar has really come on aggressively the past few races. Wouldnt surprise me to see a 1-2 or a 2-3 for McLaren but dont look past the Ferraris who have looked great in practice.

For football wagers hit that subscribe button and we will deliver a subscriber only football prop SGP into your inbox sunday AM. to subscribe hit the button below I promise we will get your moneys worth ;)

Thats it for us this week! next week we will have our first power rankings for the AFC east and NFC north. We will see you Wednesday on Great north sports!