Let's kick off a new week in the NFL with another Thursday Night Football game, this time between the Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.
We've got a market report on the game from South Point director Chris Andrews and a best bet from Adam Burke as Week 16 gets underway.
San Francisco 49ers (-3.5, 44) at Tennessee Titans
Market Report from Chris Andrews: The 49ers got a lot of market respect the last two weeks vs. Cincinnati and Atlanta. They ashed those tickets, and five of their last six. I opened San Francisco -3.5. Sharps must have thought that was a bit high, since they took the hook with Tennessee. I’m down to San Francisco -3. My opening total of 44.5 hasn’t moved. I see 44’s out there. With so much going on in the sports world right now, this matchup may not draw heavy action until game day.
Burke: The 49ers drew the short-week travel straw this week and have a long trip from the West Coast to the Music City, but this game is a story of two teams going in opposite directions. The Titans have one win since the middle of November, and it came against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars right before Urban Meyer was fired. The same Jaguars team that just lost to the Houston Texans this past week.
Of course, Tennessee also has a recent loss to the Texans on its ledger, a microcosm of what has gone wrong for this team since Derrick Henry was placed on injured reserve. The Titans had five turnovers in that game and have 13 turnovers over their last four games. They have not exceeded 20 points in that span and have lost two games in which the opposition was held under 200 yards.
The 49ers, meanwhile, have won five of their last six games and Jimmy Garoppolo is rolling right now. Overall, the 49ers have gone from 2-4 to 8-6 and grade extremely well by a lot of the advanced metrics sites out there. They are + 0.7 in yards per play differential and Tennessee now has a negative YPP differential. By DVOA, the 49ers are a top-10 team on both offense and defense.
This is a tough travel week for the Niners, especially for a third road game in four weeks, but they are playing really well right now. Tennessee has to try and fix a lot of glaring issues with the short turnaround.
Now that -3 has returned after being there early in the week, the 49ers are back to being a solid play.
Pick: 49ers -3