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Julio Jones is set for a big game against Green Bay

NFL betting tips: Free betting tips and odds for Sunday's live NFL action on Sky

07:13 · MON September 18, 2017

Our David John has two anytime touchdown scorer bets for Sunday night's live Sky action in the NFL.

New England at New Orleans (1800BST, Sky Sports Action and Main Event)

Sunday’s live football starts in Louisiana with a chance that Super Bowl favourites New England could face an early mini-crisis and slip to 0-2.

Kansas City did not read the script on opening night against the defending champions as they romped to an impressive 42-27 victory at Foxboro and racked up a total of 537 yards of offense along the way.

Tom Brady had the worst completion percentage of any quarterback in week one (44.4) as he looked out of sync with his receivers which led head coach Bill Belichick to sum up the display as "bad coaching, bad playing and bad football".

The pair have not endured too many nights like that in their stellar careers and few teams consistently respond better to a below-par effort so it is no shock to see them six-point favourites to ensure normal service is resumed.

Their hosts got off to a losing start in Minnesota as running back Adrian Peterson’s much-fanfared return to face the Vikings turned into a non-event as he rushed for just 18 yards, spent most of the time scowling on the sideline and claimed afterwards he "had not signed up for nine snaps".

Quarterback Drew Brees managed to pad his numbers late in the game as they tried to cut into a deficit but, like Brady, he too struggled to find any rhythm and an additional injury to right tackle Zach Strief means he will be operating behind a real mix-and-match offensive line.

A Saints defense that had shown real progress over the summer slipped back into their old sloppy tendencies and was picked apart by Sam Bradford so have something serious to prove up against Brady and Belichick not in the best of moods with four additional days to prep for this game.

Patriots receiver Brandin Cooks returns to the city where he enjoyed three successful years but my bet for this is a real roll of the dice on the home side’s Austin Carr at 16/1 in the anytime touchdown scorer market.

I saw the rookie out of Northwestern a couple of times in pre-season in a New England uniform and he was outstanding – hence my surprise to hear he had been cut when all rosters were trimmed down to 53 men.

Snapped up within 24 hours by the Saints, Carr spent all of the summer going up against the secondary he will face here during practice and with Willie Snead still out while he serves a league suspension, he may well be given his opportunity by head coach Sean Payton.

Carr has picked up things very quickly by all reports with his new team and looks vastly overpriced to emerge as a bit of an ace in the pack.

Prediction: New England 30-24 New Orleans

Dak Prescott and Dallas are in Denver

Dallas at Denver (2125BST, Sky Sports Action and Main Event)

The chess match between the Dallas offense and Denver’s defense could well be where this game is decided at Sports Authority Field.

The visitors began their second season with Dak Prescott under centre and Ezekiel Elliott at running back following excellent rookie campaigns and they showed little sign of any drop-off as they guided the Cowboys to a 19-3 triumph over the New York Giants.

Legal wizards have managed to keep Elliott on the field for the time being as he tries to delay a six-game NFL suspension and another 100-yard performance against the Giants means he has picked up exactly where he left off after winning last season’s rushing title.

He is operating behind the best offensive line in the business so it might be a case of making hay while the sun shines once more while those off-field issues continue to hover over his head.

The layers expect him to contribute three figures once more on the ground and another physical display against a defensive front ranked 28th last year against the run could help loosen things up in Denver’s strength – their secondary – for the increasingly astute Prescott.

The latter will have his work cut out as the Los Angeles Chargers’ Philip Rivers last week became the sixth quarterback in the last seven regular season games kept to under 200 yards passing by the Broncos’ "No Fly Zone".

One of Prescott’s many skills though is his ability to take just what an opposing defense will give him and is reflected in the fact he has thrown just four interceptions from 498 career pass attempts to date.

Opposite number Trevor Siemian enjoyed a productive game in the 24-21 win over the Chargers, spreading the ball around nicely as he displayed resolve under pressure in the pocket to make some good throws.

He will need some better protection as Dallas managed three sacks last week against the Giants but cornerback Orlando Scandrick’s absence after suffering a broken hand provides a chance to open up the passing attack and get Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders more involved.

Dallas have been chalked up as 2.5-point favourites on the spread but in all honesty, I am not sure which way this one is going to fall so will sit it out from a financial point of view.

Prediction: Dallas 22-19 Denver

Green Bay at Atlanta (Monday 0130BST, Sky Sports Action and Main Event)

This will be the third time in 11 months the Packers and the Falcons have clashed and the pair will be expected to light up the scoreboard once more having averaged 65 points in those two encounters.

It is 2-0 to Atlanta as well, the second victory coming last January in the NFC Championship game as a convincing 44-21 (having led 31-0) success sent them to the Super Bowl.

Another showdown in post-season could well be on the cards but first up we have round three with the duo getting off to successful starts in their respective openers last week.

The game takes place in Atlanta’s brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium which will be packed to the rafters with 71,000 fans as it stages its first competitive NFL action since the organization moved from the Georgia Dome.

Two top-five quarterbacks cross swords in Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers, the pair not quite at concert pitch last week but overseeing enough positive plays to get the better of Chicago on the road and Seattle respectively.

The Packers defense was outstanding, led by a devastating performance from defensive end Mike Daniels but it flattered at times due to an extremely porous Seahawks’ offensive line that left quarterback Russell Wilson under all sorts of pressure.

The protection in front of Ryan is much stouter and I think it is well worth speculating on a far more productive relationship this week between him and the team’s number one wide receiver Julio Jones.

Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn has been quite vocal during the build-up here in terms of getting Jones involved more after he caught four passes for 66 yards against the Bears.

That is hardly a disastrous set of game stats for the former Alabama star but Jones is one of those players in the league capable of taking over a game on his own and not getting him the ball is hugely counter-productive.

I would expect to see him targeted double-digit times and add another big game to his collection against this rival - he will need a 100-yard plus game to crack the over/under quote so I will go down the anytime touchdown route at a very reasonable 5/4.

Prediction: Green Bay 22-28 Atlanta

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Posted at 1255 BST on 16/09/17.