There are six teams on bye to go along with a lot of injured starters this week. In fact, it seems as though there are more injured starters than usual this week, but that might just be on my team.
All odds are from sportsbook.com. The home team is listed first.
Dallas (+5.5) vs New England - This is the fourth highest spread of week so the bookies think that the Patriots are a solid favorite, even more so considering the game is in Dallas. That's probably not a surprise and you're not likely to bench your Cowboys because of it. The over/under for the game is 53 points - the highest over/under in the league this week. I said on Wednesday this game is going be a shootout and Vegas agrees with me. It's nice when that happens.
NY Jets (+3.5) vs Philadelphia - It's not good news for McNabb and Westbrook owners if Vegas thinks the Birds are only going to win by a field goal. Skepticism about the Eagles runs deep and not just among fantasy football owners. I think the Eagles are going to have a good day offensively, but I can see the oddsmakers point: even if they score 28 points I could still see them giving up 23 or 24.
Arizona (-4.5) vs Carolina - This line seems to be all about the quarterbacks. Vegas must like the (supposed) pass-happy future of the Cardinals led by Kurt Warner and seem to be down on the Panthers' under David Carr. That's probably correct and I think all your Cardinals offensive starters are good choices this week. It's still strange to see the Cardinals as a favorite though.
Baltimore (-9.5) vs St. Louis - When one game has both the highest point spread of the week and the lowest over/under (36.5), it points to a very boring game. Boring or not, it should be a good week for fantasy owners using Steve McNair/Kyle Boller (depending on who plays) and Derrick Mason as bye-week fill-ins.