One of the great questions surrounding the Denver Broncos is about Peyton Manning. That much is easily understood. The five-time MVP is still nursing his foot injury, and he is taking his time is getting back into action. Rather, the Bronco coaching staff is monitoring his progress very carefully at the moment. But he missed practice a couple of days, with plans to work out on Saturday. Either way, barring an unforeseen circumstance, he will be inactive on Monday night as his team plays host to the Cincinnati Bengals at Sports Authority Field in Denver, as action begins at 8:30 PM ET.

Brock Osweiler is the starter again for Denver on Monday, and for him, it was a tale of two halves, as he completed 14 of 18 with three touchdowns in the first half against Pittsburgh, but then dropped off in the second half, going a dismal 7 of 26, as the Steelers mounted a comeback to beat the Broncos 34-27. Of course, the Broncos had held Oakland to negative yardage the week before, and Osweiler could not produce a point in the second half of a 15-12 loss to the Raiders in NFL football picks.

Cincinnati is moving ahead with a second-string quarterback, out of necessity. AJ McCarron filled in for the injured Andy Dalton last week and made his first NFL start, going 15 of 21 in a win over the offensively-challenged San Francisco 49ers.

In the Monday night football betting odds posted on this game, the Broncos are favored by a field goal:

Broncos/Bengals NFL Monday Night Consensus Picks

Denver Broncos -3 (-120)

Cincinnati Bengals +3 (+100)

Over 40.5 points -110

Under 40.5 points -110

The Bengals, of course, can use all the receivers they can get in support of McCarron. AJ Green has had back problems and may have problems against this very accomplished Denver secondary, which has allowed only 5.6 yards per pass attempt. One of the pleasant surprises in the Cincinnati receiving corps has been Tyler Eifert, who was named to Pro Bowl on the strength of his 564 yards and twelve touchdowns. But now Eifert, who missed last week’s game with a concussion, has still not passed through the league’s protocol.

This is a potential concern for the Bengals because it not all that likely that they will get a ground game uncorked. GTBets are well aware that the Broncos have slowed down almost all running backs, allowing just 3.2 yards per carry, and while Jeremy Hill, Cincy’s workhorse back, may have scored ten touchdowns, he has still averaged only 3.4 yards per attempt.

The Broncos’ offense seemed to be churning last week against the Steelers in the first 30 minutes, hitting on the first eight third down attempts. But it appears as if opponents are able to make adjustments against them with an awful lot of success, and much of that zeroes in on Osweiler’s inexperience and his limitations as a passer right now. Denver had 104 rushing yards last week, an improvement on the 34 the Broncos had against Oakland.

With New England coming into the weekend at 12-2, it is quite likely that the Bengals will clinch a first-round playoff bye with a win, relegating Denver to the third spot.

There are questions surrounding potential player absences for Sunday night’s NFL matchup between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings, but head coach Mike Zimmer of the Vikes, who held star running back Adrian Peterson out of practice on both Wednesday and Thursday, says that A.P. should be in uniform and ready by the time these teams kick it off at 8:30 PM ET at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis in NFL spread picks.

Minnesota is 9-5 straight-up, and the Vikings have performed very well against the football pointspread, with an 11-3 ATS mark. They are a game behind the Green Bay Packers in the NFC North, and they are, as we speak, sitting in one of the wild card spots in the NFC, with the possibility of still winning the division. They throttled Chicago 38-17 at home last week. A win here would wrap up a playoff slot for them; that would be the easiest way for them to do it.

But they had to take Peterson out of the game in the second half with an ankle sprain. His loss would be a considerable one, as he leads the league with 1314 yards on the ground after sitting out almost all of 2014 with a suspension for domestic violence.

Minnesota’s defense could use some guys healing up, although they can heave a sigh of relief that they won’t have to deal with Odell Beckham, the explosive Giants’ receiver, who was suspended for a game by commissioner Roger Goodell for his dirty play against Carolina’s Josh Norman last week.

In the Sunday night NFL betting odds posted on this game, the Vikings are the favorites:

Vikings/Giants Consensus NFL Picks

Minnesota Vikings -5

New York Giants +5

Over 45.5 points -110

Under 45.5 points -110

The Vikings have been missing some starters on defense, and they hope they can return for this game. Linval Joseph, who has an injured foot, has missed three games in a row, while safety Harrison Smith and Anthony Barr have been out of action for the last two.

Minnesota certainly could use the help Peterson can provide; Teddy Bridgewater is always vulnerable for being sacked (38 times, in fact). And he has only 13 touchdown passes. Stefon Diggs, a rookie out of Maryland, has been a pleasant surprise, as he has caught 47 passes for 693 yards.

BetAnySports patrons know that the Giants have to think of some other ways to make big plays without the availability of Odell Beckham, who did a little too much sparring with Carolina’s Josh Norman and wound up getting suspended for some flagrant activities, including an intentional helmet-to-helmet hit (he lost an appeal to have the suspension lifted). He has 91 catches for 1391 yards, and now somebody like Reuben Randle (51 receptions, 638 yards) will have to pick up the slack.

As it is, the Giants could be emotionally sapped after last week’s massive comeback against the Panthers, where they were down 35-7, then came back to tie the game before losing in the last two minutes on a field goal. They have to at least be encouraged by the 161 rushing yards they were able to accumulate.

Whether Johnny Manziel is going to wind up getting a full shot with the Cleveland Browns is something we can’t answer right now. He seems to have a chilly relationship with head coach Mike Pettine, who might not have wanted him in the first place. And management was not happy that he strayed from the home base when he was originally supposed to be preparing for his “full-time” job. But he did lead the Browns to a victory last Sunday, which leaves fans – and some NFL bettors – somewhat optimistic. That had better be cautious optimism, however, as Johnny Football and his teammates travel to one of the more hostile environments in all of football – CenturyLink Field – to take on the surging Seattle Seahawks in a game that will begin at 4:05 PM ET.

Seattle got its wakeup call when it went under the .500 mark (at 4-5) and has responded with four straight victories, all of which have come by nine points or more. Last season they rolled through their last six regular season games, allowing just over 200 yards of offense in those. So this looks a little familiar. The offense has got a lot of life too, and Russell Wilson is getting hot.

Cleveland is just playing out the string right now, and whereas they were at least competitive in some of their losses earlier in the season, they have been dropping games by margins, where they simply could not move it on the ground. After seven straight defeats, that changed a bit last week, as they beat San Francisco 24-10 behind 230 rushing yards, while holding the Niners to just 221 yards of total offense.

Certainly the resistance will be considerably more formidable this week.

In the NFL betting odds that have been posted on this game, the Seahawks are huge favorites:

Who is the betting public on in this game?

Seattle Seahawks -14.5

Cleveland Browns +14.5

Over 43 points -110

Under 43 points -110

The Seahawks have some things to contemplate in their offense, despite scoring 173 points in their last five games. Jimmy Graham, the star tight end acquired from New Orleans, is out for the year. Marshawn Lynch has been sitting out. And his replacement, undrafted rookie Thomas Rawls, who has been sensational, broke his ankle in the 35-6 victory at Baltimore last Sunday and will be out for the duration. So they are scrambling around to see what they can do at running back. Dujuan Harris (3.1 ypc), a journeyman, will get additional playing time, and Bryce Brown, who has talent, was brought back aboard this week.

It’s a good thing Russell Wilson is the hottest quarterback in the league right now.

In his last four games, BetAnySports Sportsbook patrons have seen Wilson complete 89 of his 118 passes and has 16 touchdown passes without an interception. His wide receiver crew of Jermaine Kearse, Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett are looking pretty close to unstoppable right now. And Cleveland’s best corner, Joe Haden, is of no further use this year, as he is on injured reserve with his concussion.

By all accounts, Manziel was very poised in running the Cleveland offense, which piled up 481 yards, 145 of which was supplied by RB Isaiah Crowell. Manziel had an interception, but he was also 21 for 31 for 270 yards. Seattle has shut down the opposition’s run game lately, yielding a total of 176 yards in the last four games. And if there is anywhere the former Heisman Trophy winner might be made to look like a raw rookie, it is this venue, which is notorious for its noise.

The NFL week gets underway on Thursday Night Football with a prime time matchup featuring two playoff caliber teams in the NFC. After a blowout loss at home to the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, the 8-4 Minnesota Vikings will travel to Arizona to take on the 10-2 Cardinals in NFL football picks.

Entering their Thursday Night showdown, the Cardinals have a strong three game lead over the Seahawks in the NFC West. Meanwhile the Vikings currently hold the first of two wild card spots in the NFC with a strong two game lead over a handful of 6-6 teams.

When we start to look at this matchup it will simply come down to the defenses of each team. Last week the Seahawks were able to get a lead and keep Adrian Peterson quiet causing the Vikings offense to stall. For the Cardinals their defense has been strong for most of the season holding opponents to under 20 points in six of their games including the St. Louis Rams to just three points last weekend.

The Vikings secondary will have their hands full trying to slow down the Cardinals receivers. Over their past five games, the Cardinals have had at least one hundred yard receivers in four of those games with John Brown finishing with 99 in the only game they did not reach the mark.

Along with stopping the Cardinals receivers the Vikings will have their hands full with Carson Palmer. Palmer has played himself into the MVP picture throwing for 3,693 yards and 29 touchdowns while guiding the Cardinals to the second best record in the NFC. In all Palmer has nine games with at least two touchdowns including three games with three and three games with four while only having multiple interceptions in two games.

Previous Meeting: The last three times these teams have met the Vikings were able to pick up wins at home. This time around the Vikings will travel to Arizona for the first time since the 2009 season a game they lost 30-17. The last time these two teams met the Cardinals defense held the Vikings passing game to just 58 yards but couldn’t slow down Peterson. Peterson finished the game with 153 yards on the ground and one touchdown.

The difference in the game was a costly turnover by John Skelton who intercepted by Harrison Smith and returned for a touchdown.

Betting Trends: When looking at these two teams the Vikings clearly look like the easy choice against the spread. Entering this game the Vikings are nearly an eight point underdog despite going 5-1 against the spread on the road. Meanwhile the Cardinals are just 2-3 against the spread at home this season.

That being said looking a little deeper the Cardinals are 9-2 against the spread in their last 11 games in December while going 19-7 against the NFC over their past 26 games. On the other side the Vikings have been good this year going 5-0 in their last five on the road against the spread while going 11-3 in their last 14 games in December.

This game will come down two veteran stars looking to make a few big plays.