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Welcome to the latest edition of the Newsweek Sports Betting newsletter, which you can start receiving in your inbox by subscribing here. Right now, here's what your free subscription entails: Weekly look at college basketball (every Monday evening) Weekly look at the NBA (every Tuesday evening) College football weekend preview (every Thursday evening) NFL weekend preview (every Friday morning) College Football ATS picks (every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. ET) NFL ATS picks (every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. ET) This morning's edition is available below, to subscribers only. Though it certainly didn't get off to a strong start -- Raiders vs. Broncos was objectively hard to watch, even for those of us who had the Raiders at +9.5 or Troy Franklin's receptions props -- I still think this has a chance to be the best weekend of the 2025 NFL regular season. The primetime Week 10 matchups (Steelers at Chargers on SNF and Eagles at Packers on MNF) are probably already on your radar. We also get an interesting Sunday morning clash between the Colts and Falcons, followed by a fascinating 1 p.m. showdown between Drake Maye's Pats and Baker Mayfield's Bucs in Tampa. And the afternoon window features a massive NFC West meeting between the Rams and 49ers. Hit the link below for my early take on all 14 Week 10 games against the spread. After a horrific 3-11 showing in Week 8, we got back on the right track, going 9-5 in Week 9 to improve the YTD record to 72-64. Rams-49ers Betting Odds, Injury News, Best Bets Rams' NFC West winner odds: (+125 at DK, +120 at FD) 49ers' NFC West winner odds: (+360 at both DK, FD) After beating the Rams (6-2, 3-1 NFC West) in L.A. as 8.5-point underdogs on TNF back in Week 5, the 49ers (6-3, 2-1 NFC West) are once again catching points against the current NFC West favorites. QB Brock Purdy and WR Ricky Pearsall are most likely still out for the Niners, but they will have star tight end George Kittle and WR Jauan Jennings, who both missed the early-season matchup with the Rams. Despite all the injuries, the 49ers racked up 407 yards of offense, 27 first downs and 26 points in that one thanks to huge nights by Mac Jones and Kendrick Bourne, and the defense forced a couple of massive turnovers to help San Francisco pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season. Read More This week, while the offense is healthier (even if Purdy and Pearsall remain sidelined), there are red flags all over the defensive depth chart. In addition to being without stars Nick Bosa and Fred Warner for the rest of the year, two other defensive ends (Yetur Gross-Matos and first-round pick Mykel Williams) are both out this weekend. Five more current projected starters in the front seven are currently listed as questionable. Against one of the best offenses in football, a Rams unit that scored 69 total points the last two weeks, Sunday could be a brutal afternoon for the San Francisco defense. As of Friday morning, I'm still not sure I want to bet against the Niners at home. But given all those injuries, I do love the Rams to go over their team total of 27.5 points. For now, that's my best bet in what looks like a brutal matchup for San Francisco. Best bet: - Rams Team Total Over 27.5 (best odds: +100 at FanDuel) 🔥Take Of The Week: I Don't Trust Denver I don't trust Denver in the playoffs, I should have said. For the headline, though, I had to go with what would fit -- and grab your attention. Had Bo Nix been playing excellent -- or even above-average -- football all year, I would have been less concerned by what I saw from Denver's second-year QB last night. But against a Raiders D that just gave up 26 first downs and 367 yards of offense to the Jaguars in Week 9, Nix (16-of-28 for 150 yards, 1 TD and 2 interceptions) had one of his worst games of the season. Finishing with 10 points says it all, but gaining 220 yards of offense on 57 total plays marked a new low for this offense. To his credit, Nix has made a number of timely plays -- including a few huge scrambles -- to get Denver to 8-2. But he's now averaged 6.2 yards per attempt or fewer in 7 (!) of 10 games this year. And two of the three games that Nix finished with solid numbers came against the atrocious defenses of the Cowboys and the Bengals. At some point, he is going to need to play well against a good defense for four quarters for Denver to win. Time will tell whether that happens later this regular season (the Broncos still have to play the Chiefs twice, the Packers and the Chargers) and/or in the playoffs. Either way, right now, it's hard to feel good about this offense in a pressure situation. The Broncos D is outstanding, and it deserves a ton of love for its strong play without star corner Patrick Surtain II the last two weeks. But no matter how well Denver plays defensively, to make a playoff run, it needs much better play from Nix, who is currently bottom five in the NFL in yards per attempt (6.1) and seventh-worst in passer rating (85.7). He's done a great job in the red zone, with 18 passing TDs (only Matthew Stafford has thrown more). He also boasts by far the lowest sack rate in the NFL, but his play to date still makes it hard to trust him in the postseason. I don't know if the following strengthens my point here or just means that it's not actually a hot take*, but Denver's futures odds in a couple of key markets are notable. While the Broncos are one of four AFC teams with just two losses (and the only one with eight wins), FanDuel lists this team at +700 to earn the top seed in the AFC, well behind the Bills (+140), Colts (+340) and Patriots (+480). At DK, the Bills are +150 to win the 1-seed, followed by the Colts (+330), Patriots (+450) and Broncos (+450). As for the AFC conference winner odds, FanDuel gives four teams shorter odds than Denver (+950) to win the AFC, including the 3-5 Ravens and the 5-4 Chiefs. DraftKings is showing the Broncos a bit more respect in this market, but their odds at DK (+700) are still significantly longer than the Bills' (+300), Chiefs (+330) and Colts' (+450). *OK, so the answer is probably "both." Newsweek may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up through any links in this article. See the sportsbook operator's terms and conditions for important details. Sports betting operators have no influence over newsroom coverage.
