Weekly Taste: John Venezia’s best NFL Week 13 bets and tips

DADDY’S HOMEEEEE. Right back to business as we should be. Straight cleaned the slate like Family Guy’s beloved cleaning lady, Consuela. Oh by the way, the Monday night taster wasn’t too bad either. Hit quite a few there as well.

All about getting back onto the winning streak. We have almost a full line up for Week 13 (Tampa Bay and Carolina have Byes). If we’re doing a heavy scout, it’s quite honestly a hot garbage slate of games in terms of betting outlooks. We can probably count on one hand how many plays are worth smashing this weekend. Nevertheless, there are just a couple to gaze those eyes upon.

Check out the full Weekly Taste Sunday Morning on @JohnnyVTV FYI. We have been monitoring the lines and injury reports all week, here are the contests that we should be honing in on. Let’s bring on the final month of the 2020 NFL year.

Best NFL Week 13 Bets and Tips:

Cleveland Browns (+5.5) @ Tennessee Titans | Can the Browns hang with the big boys in the AFC?

In all fairness, this is more about me almost blindly betting the road team getting 5/5.5 points than loving the Browns. The 8-3 Brownies have had their best start to a season since The Sopranos went off the air (2007 if you’re counting), but they have yet to convince a lot of the public they are for real. Cleveland beats the sh*t out of bad teams. Aside from the Colts, they have yet to beat a winning team in 2020, so downing the flaky, but talented 8-3 Titans would go a long way validating their claim to legitimacy. Many have finally realized this is a RUN FIRST team behind savage RB1A/1B Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt despite star wideouts Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. The key as always for this offense; run the rock 35+ times. Oh by the way, star DE Myles Garrett is back from the Covid list…. That should help.

The Titans are in no stretch of the imagination the team I claim, but man I can watch the one true King of the NFL apply his trade all day long. Derrick Henry is one of my favorite players. Few teams rely on one player the way the Titans bank on Henry. Opponents know it’s coming, but just cannot stop it. The league’s leading rusher (1,257 yards) is so disgusting that with a monster (but realistic) finish of the last four regular season games, he could wrap up his campaign with 2,000 rushing yards and 20 rushing touch downs. Although he would need to average about 188 ground yards and 2 scores per game to hit this milestone, I’m not putting it past him. Just saying. On pace for 372 carries this year, Henry has only proven he transforms into Hercules as the season progresses and the calendar flips to December. 22 is in the thick of the MVP hunt. Goddammit I love King Henry.

This is a prime matchup of the week with two of the strongest ground games in the NFL. Chubb/Hunt vs. Henry. Not sexy to tune into a running back duel, but it certainly is one to pay attention to. Titans have these moments where they falter against enemies that they should straight vanquish. It’s not hard to imagine them being in a dog fight vs a talented Browns unit.

PREDICTION: Browns lose but cover the road 5.5.


Washington Football Team (+7) @ Pittsburgh Steelers | Is this the game the Steelers lose?

One of the most sneaky tough opponents in the NFL lately is the organization that seems to lack the most creativity in the free world. The only team that has no name has quietly built a formidable game plan the previous few weeks; ground and pound. Fresh off a 41-16 Thanksgiving Day drubbing at Dallas, WFT is gearing up for the NFC East playoff race behind a strong defense (4th overall) allowing only 22.1 Points per Game (7th best in the NFL). Believe it or not, this was something I highlighted on my twitter account around draft time. Now, it appears they have finally allowed stud rookie back Antonio “Gibby” Gibson take over as the head honcho after his monster game last Thursday where scored thrice. This formula can travel against a shorthanded Steelers team coming off an extremely short week.

The 11-0 Steelers appear to be a team ready to wreak havoc in January. Finding new ways to win games every week is something to be commended, right? Well, yeah, but taking a deeper dive into this, it’s troubling to say the least. One knock on this organization over the years is they play down to their competition. Way too often, they’ve let inferior teams hang around for too long. That will come back to haunt them in the post season. Having just lost breakout OLB Bud Dupree for the year, it’s a big hole to fill on one of, if not the best, defensive units in football. It’s extremely difficult to go undefeated in this league. If they don’t watch their P’s and Q’s on Monday night, Washington could hand them their first L.

This game is more of a gut feeling. Gibby has 8 touchdown over his last 5 outings (TD in 5 straight contests. This young dynamo is starting to heat up. Complimented by a budding run game, this defense can prove a lot to handle for a slumping Steelers offense. This may be the upset of the week.

PREDICTION: Washington covers the 7 and wins on the road.



Week 13 NFL Teaser Play (+6):
Let’s Make Winning Great Again. Two team teasers until we get hot again.

Green Bay Packers -2.5 (originally -8.5): Packers are ready to go on a run. Against the pitiful Philadelphia Eagles, a field goal W should be feasible with Aaron Rodgers playing at an MVP level.


Las Vegas Raiders -1.5 (originally -7.5): Ordinarily I would be all over the Raiders crushing the New York Jets, but now they are missing star back Josh Jacobs and stud safety Johnathan Abram. New York could hang around enough to cover the spread, but I don’t see Vegas losing this.


JohnnyVTV currently sits 51-51 on the season. For all NFL betting plays, follow @JohnnyVTV and @InTheZoneIO on Instagram.