Betting Breakdown: Week 12 vs. Vikings

The New England Patriots (+3) are back on Thanksgiving night for the first time in 10 years, and will look to continue to ride the high from Marcus Jones’ near walk-off punt return touchdown last week. Standing in their way is the 8-2 Minnesota Vikings who had a different story last week, getting beatdown 40-3 by the Dallas Cowboys.

The Vikings currently sit as a 3.0-point home favorite and are receiving just over 75 percent of the public money. The point-total for Thursday night’s matchup sits at 42.5 over on the DraftKings Sportsbook.

Here are five bets to watch throughout the matchup.

This is the game. This is the game the Patriots passing attack shows some life.

To start, the Vikings secondary is extremely banged up. They will be without cornerbacks Andrew Booth Jr. (knee) and Akayleb Evans (concussion), while Cam Dantzler already resides on IR.

From there, New England should be able to find some success through the air against Minnesota’s zone based defense. The Vikings have been one of the worst teams against play-action this season, allowing the third-highest expected points added per play-action attempt (+0.25). New England found some success in their under center, play action game against the Jets last week and should continue to lean on it.

To put the cherry on top, Thursday night’s game in Minnesota is in a dome. Perfect conditions for Mac Jones and Co. to go to work. If the offensive line can hold up just long enough, look for New England’s passing attack to have improved success through the air.

1.    Mac Jones Over 19.5 pass completions (-105)

2.    Mac Jones Over 222.5 passing yards (-115)