ESPN's New NFL Gambling Expert Is Still Red Hot — Here Are His Picks For Week 16

Johnny Manziel
Johnny Manziel

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Sal Iacono, a writer for "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and better known as "Cousin Sal" on Bill Simmons' podcasts, is ESPN's new NFL gambling expert and he hasn't lost a pick on his weekly "SportsCenter" segment in over a month.

Last weekend Sal went 1-0-2. But over the last four weeks he is 10-0-2 and he is 14-2-2 on his picks over the last six weeks.

That's pretty good.

So let's take a look at who Cousin Sal likes in week 16:

First up is his "crooked line" pick.

  • Cleveland Browns +6 (@ Carolina Panthers) — "76% of those betting this game are picking the Panthers ... Why is everybody in love with this 5-8-1 team? We're going on Johnny Football's bandwagon again."

His second pick is his 2-team teaser (must pick both games correctly, but you get a more favorable point-spread in each game). Cousin Sal is 6-1-1 on teasers over the last eight weeks.

  • Detroit Lions -4.5 (@ Chicago Bears) — "[The Bears] have quit on their coach. They have no fire. And they are up against a Detroit team that needs to keep winning to make the playoffs."

  • Atlanta Falcons +12.5 (@ New Orleans Saints) — "It's no secret, [the NFC South] is the worst division in all of sports. If you can get double-digits in an intradivision game, you take it."

This season, Iacono is 10-3-1 on his "lock of the week."

  1. Green Bay Packers -11.5 (@ Tampa Bay Buccaneers) — "This is a crazy stat," Iacono said jokingly. "Tampa Bay is 0-75 in games that they are tanking on purpose for better draft position. That's very impressive."

[UPDATE] The graphic used by ESPN had the incorrect lines in two of the games. The Browns were originally shown to be +4 while the Lions were -6.5. The corrected lines are shown above.



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