leafs 786

Las Vegas - If you're all about underdogs in the NFL, you were probably flush after the first four weeks with the dogs sitting at 38-24. If you played all the dogs this past week, you gave back some of your cash, but still were in the black. It was a 7-9 cover mark, but the dogs are still barking with a 45-33 record after five weeks.

Great little piece of minutiae from my old Philly Daily News guy Ed Barkowitz.

'Thursday will be Tom Brady's 16th start on a Thursday night, and Jalen Hurts' first. Brady's first start was Week 13 in 2002 when Hurts was, by my quick estimation, in pre-K.'

Gonna lace up the skates tonight and take a little slice of the Maple Leafs over the Canadiens. We know that the Leafs superstar Auston Matthews is out, but there is a bunch of talent on this team, and REVENGE is on their mind. Why? Montreal came all the way back from a 3-1 hole to knock Toronto out of the playoffs and that was UGLY. The Habs will be without NHL All-Star goalie Carey Price, defenseman and team captain, Shea Weber, as well as shutdown center Phillip Danault who signed with the L.A. Kings. These Leafs will color your bank account...GREEN!

----------------------------------------------------