So, now that we’ve all firmly sat down to assess the opening weekend of the NFL season, I presume we’ve all made completely rational observations and not jumped to any bizarre conclusions – correct?

Well, don’t worry. You’re not the only ones. Oddsmakers generally do the same, and the days between opening weekend and the following Sunday is usually a battle of wits between us, as to who can stumble upon the most logic while dismissing their go-to, default hot takes.

For me, this is the best weekend of the season to have a wager, simply because you should look at trends rather than execution. If you’re right 50% of the time, and you weren’t last week, well – chances are that you’re in the money now.

Let’s take a look at the three best positions to take on for week two.

New York Giants (+5.5) @ Chicago Bears: -109

I don’t believe I can be in the minority when I suggest that Daniel Jones played very well against what I believe to be the best defensive unit in the NFL.

Massively struggling with zone coverages last year, Jones matured and picked apart the routes that beat particularly schemes and if not for the interception in the redzone, it could have been an entirely different result.

My area of concern does land in the front five from a run blocking perspective, though. While that level of intensity won’t be there from the Bears front four – at least not to the same blistering level – the front five looked clueless when attempting to open gaps for Saquon Barkley.

Jason Garrett, the man in charge of prolonging Zeke Elliott’s career surely went back to the chalkboard midweek to find some different run schemes for his star back.

Chicago, meanwhile, were functional. If you believe Trubisky is actually a functional quarterback in this league, you can stop reading now – and his one performance a year where you think you might have something is out the window already.

The Giants could win this game outright, so 5.5 points is plenty for me. The Giants are (-109) against the spread here at Canplay.

Kansas City Chiefs @ Los Angeles Chargers (+8.5): -109

The Chargers and the Chiefs have faced off six times under the stewardship of Anthony Lynn, in which in his Bolts are 1-5.

But more importantly, the Chargers are 2-17 in turnover differential. Turning the ball over 17 times in six games is criminal, let alone having a net deficit of 15.

In Tyrod Taylor, Los Angeles bring something new: discipline and taking care of the football. The familiarity between the two means there’s usually very few wrinkles. Maybe for once, the element of surprise is in favour of the Chargers as they run a totally new offence. Not to mention the defence, who were probably only second to Pittsburgh in their opening week display.

New England Patriots @ Seattle Seahawks (-4): -105

This pits the best overall team performance from the opening weekend against the most overrated performance.

Yes, New England will take time to adjust of course under Cam Newton, but their entire offence was conducted through a mesh point. To counter a mesh point, you need to have a box safety and very disciplined contain coverage behind it.

The arrival of Jamal Adams gives Seattle exactly that, while they’re frequently the most disciplined of defensive units in the league.

Bill and his Patriots weren’t bad in the opener, but they’re about to be exposed by the, in my mind, early favourites for the NFC. The Patriots are (-105) to win against the spread of -4 here at Canplay.

It has been well documented that our live sports offering has taken a hit in recent weeks. While sport seems insignificant on the larger scale of everything that is happening in the world right now, it’s hard to ignore the sport-shaped hole in our day-to-day lives.

However, there is still some sport for us to savour and some sport that is available to bet on here with CanPlay. One of those sports is table tennis. In fact, the stars of the Ukraine’s Setka Cup and Russia’s Moscow Liga Pro have been pushed into the spotlight in the last few weeks.

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Sports Still Ongoing

The global spread of Covid-19 or Corona virus as it is also known has made some form of impact on everyone’s lives so far whether that be small or large. It has certainly made a major impact in the world of sports betting. All sports slowly cancelled one by one as the pandemic continued to get worse. NBA, NHL, MLB and NCAA all got postponed and cancelled. The truth is that the postponing of events for 2 weeks is the best-case scenario and there is no definite time that we will get to see our favourite sports return.

As more countries and town proceed to go into either lockdown or self-isolation the main question is what sports are still on to fill the boredom? There are several sports still going ahead that you can watch and place your stakes on. Here are a list of some of the sports that are currently still being played.

Ice Hockey

Even though the NHL has been postponed until further notice it doesn’t mean that all hockey is finished. The Belarus Extraleague is still taking place with 6 or 7 games taking place a week. It is not the same standard of hockey as the NHL, but it is still on which is currently in its favour. Apart from relying solely on the Belarus league there is also some Russian Short Hockey being played.

Russian Short Hockey is a separate league known as Liga Pro rather than the high quality KHL which is also cancelled. As ice hockey is a major sport in Russia and the KHL is a rival to the NHL in terms of quality then the Russian short hockey matches are probably the best your going to get at the minute.

Soccer

The majority of the major soccer leagues across the globe have been postponed including the Premier League, Bundesliga and Liga BBVA. Most of these have had to pause almost three quarters of the way into their season. The MLS barely even got started before being postponed which really puts a downer on the fans who were getting hyped for the league all season.

There are still games taking place. A few countries such as Turkmenistan, Belarus and Singapore all continue their soccer leagues currently. You will also find numerous world club friendly matches on at any given time. One of the major soccer leagues is still taking place as the A-League is continuing due to Australia’s strict immigration policy. So, take advantage of some topflight sport while it is still available.

Australian Rules Football

For those who have an interest in the AFL will be delighted to know that it is still going ahead as planned. For those who don’t know about the sport it is a fast-paced contact field sport. It is fully professional and well payed in Australia so it can claim some of the country’s best athletes. Even though it is not largely popular in North America it is never too late to get interested in a new sport.

eSports

A major factor which is coming in to fill the void of a lack of sports. In general, esports has been consistently rising before the Covid-19 virus. With most live sports cancelled it paves the way for esports to increase an already large following. We have already seen some mainstream professional sports turn to esports as a method of engaging with their fanbases.

Both Formula One and Nascar have both taken to competing in esports to fill in the gap for postponed fixtures. You can bet on these events as well as the regular pro gaming events that take place all throughout the year. Some La Liga soccer players have also taken to organise their own esports FIFA tournament as part of a charity event as this trend continues to rise.