The Dish: When 2-6 Is Favored To Beat 6-2
Strange, strange, strange line for the Steelers/Saints game at the Big Ketchup this weekend. New Orleans is 6-2, with an exciting aerial attack, visiting Pittsburgh, who's 2-6, and just gave up three touchdown passes to Jake Plummer. The Saints have the fourth-best passing offense in the game; the Steelers have allowed big days by Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers, Michael Vick and Plummer. And the Steelers are favored by 4.5? Well, either the Wise Guys know something the rest of us don't, or the AFC is about 7,000 times better than the NFC. The Saints got cremated at home by Baltimore a couple weeks back, and squeaked past Cleveland in their only other game against an AFC team. The Steelers lost 41-38 at Atlanta (a team, granted, that the Saints pulverized) in a game where they lost their starting quarterback to a concussion. The combined record of the teams New Orleans has beaten is 18-30 (Cleveland, Green Bay, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay twice). The combined record of the teams that defending-champ Pittsburgh has lost to is 28-20 (Jacksonville, Cincinnati, San Diego, Atlanta, Oakland and Denver). Would the six best AFC teams all beat anyone the NFC could muster in a Super Bowl? Could be. Miami crushing Chicago at Solider Field last weekend certainly didn't make the NFC look good. But that huge upset came in a game where the Bears were double-digit favorites. This Saints/Steelers line is like a "pre-upset." Any time a 2-6 team topples a 6-2 team, no matter where the game is played, that's supposed to be a pretty big surprise, right? Evidently not. Like a lot of people, I was skeptical about Drew Brees's shoulder, about the New Orleans defense, about Joe Horn's health and Sean Payton's first season as a head coach. I still don't think they're an elite team, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them get knocked off in the first round of the playoffs. But I do think they'll be in the playoffs, which is more than I can say for Pittsburgh. Brees has made all the throws, WR Marques Colston is the Rookie of the Year to this point, and the defense has made enough plays in most games to keep the team close. If Pittsburgh really does topple New Orleans this weekend, there will be no more ringing condemnation of the NFC's quality, and that includes the Bears' disappointing performance last week. The Colts are the only defeated team in football. They're also on pace right now to be a historically bad run defense. They've given up the second-highest yards-per-carry to opposing running backs since 1960. Can this team win a championship? BoDog Bookmakers, BoDog.ws : Yes, the Colts are undefeated and coming off big wins over Denver and New England the last two weeks, but this team can’t stop the run, and doesn’t have a consistent enough running game to worry teams come January. This has many believing that Indianapolis will be forced to win games in their vintage style, which is not enough to convince bookmakers that this season will end any better than in recent years. How has the action been for Sunday night games, compared to Monday night games this year, and what the "old" Monday night games on ABC used to do? Has Sunday night really taken over as "Football Night in America" in the gaming community? BDB, BoDog.ws : Sunday Night match-ups have been far more appealing than Monday night’s, but the action is, and will likely always be, significantly greater for Monday Night Football games. The reason for this is simple: Sunday night games have to compete against all the early NFL games and usually a full NBA card for bettors’ money, while Monday night games dominate what people can bet on. It's a mighty big if, but if Rutgers somehow upsets Louisville this week, and winds up going undefeated, do you think they'll play the Ohio State/Michigan winner for the national championship? BDB, BoDog.ws : We think that if a team comes out undefeated from a major conference, and there's no other undefeated team that can match their record, they should play for the National Championship. Is this fair? No; but this is not a flawless system where the two best teams play at the end. There are a couple of one-loss teams who can match up better vs. the winner of the Ohio State/Michigan game than Rutgers. The Florida Gators are the consensus pick to repeat as NCAA hoops champions. What do you think about the likelihood of that? If there's one team to unseat Florida, who would it be? BDB, BoDog.com ">BoDog.ws: Although it's unlikely that they'll repeat as NCAA basketball champions, the Gators will be better than they were during last year's regular season and earn a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Final Four is incredibly tough to win and they face long odds to repeat last March’s incredible run. It's possible, but only two preseason #1 ranked teams have won the NCAA Tournament in the last 10 years: UConn in 2004 and Kentucky in 1996. If any team can unseat them and cut down the nets at the end of the Tournament, Kansas looks like they present the greatest threat; the Jayhawks are loaded with talent everywhere and return all five starters from a team that won 15 of its final 17 games and captured the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles. Christopher Harris is a featured writer for the Professional Handicappers League. Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com |
Other Football System Articles
A Beginner's Guide to Poker Chips Poker is one game that has influenced almost whole of the United States of America. The influence of this table game can be seen in any nook and corner of the country and the world as well. The game has picked so well from the fan fairs due to which it made it to the clubs very conveniently. But that was not where it was meant to be. It found an ...Pac-10 Season Preview - USC For the next ten weeks, we’ll take a look at the teams in the Pac-10 and analyze them in order of their predicted finish. Of course, by the time we get to the tenth week of the season, there should be a surprise here and there, so it’ll be a chance for readers of this article to see where I am wrong.The team on the top of the Pac-10 will ...Online Gambling - The Gamblers Paradise Online gambling – The incessant gamblers paradiseFor all those gamblers who had to make the effort to get up out of their chair and physically go to the casino, here is some good news! Technology has come of age. Now gamblers can sit at home in front of their PCs and play their favorite casino games. And who knows, maybe even win thousand ...How to Create a Private Poker Table Online A private poker table online can bridge the gap between home games and playing yourself on the internet. Playing poker online is great fun and can be financially rewarding, but sometimes you miss the camaraderie of playing with your friends at a home poker game.Well now you can use a table at one of the major online poker sites as your ow ...Learn How To Manage Your Roulette Bets For Greater Profits! Many players seek to increase their chances of winning at roulette by using roulette systems, but there are two reasons why they don’t work.Roulette Is Random Game Of ChanceThe house always has an advantage because roulette is a game of chance. Roulette systems will not be able to achieve anything over the longer term that can canc ...The MIT Blackjack Team Story What's the first thing that enters your mind when you think of MIT, the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology: engineering genius, mathematical wizard, visionary, geek, hacker? If you chose any one of those, you would be correct. Mix them all together, add some smoke and mirrors, big-time anonymous investors, a dash of anarchy for ...Are Online Casinos Safe? How do you know whether you can trust online casinos? Will they pay up when you win? How do you know that the games aren’t fixed? After all when the games are digitised they don’t have to be random to appear random. Online casinos could fix it so that the odds are much more favourable to them than they appear. What might seem like bad luck could ...Does Arbitrage Trading Work? If you are reading this you must be interested in working at home or Arbitrage Trading. When most people think of work at home they think sitting at home doing nothing while the money just roles in. Well that is why 99% of people trying to work from home fail. The money doesn’t just role in. It still takes work and its still a job. ...Pac-10 Showdown We have to assume that No. 2 Texas is going to beat Colorado. After all, the two already met earlier this season and Texas won 42-17 as a 15-point favorite. When you look at the stats of the game, it was even worse. Colorado had just 237 total yards and the Longhorns had 145 yards rushing and 337 passing. It’s hard to believe the Buffaloes will ...Countdown Three Weeks Countdown Three WeeksI wrote this article in time enough to give warning. But wouldn't you know it, my Computer ate my homework!I have regained the title of the article, but the article itself has mysteriously disappeared!Least you think that it was not done by conspiracy, I will here note that I am using a most popular oper ...Poker Tournament Tips - For Experienced Players Only Here are some poker tournament tips (for flop games) that should help your game and results; In the early stages of a tournament plan on being on the table for awhile, you might not get moved at all if it is the “final” table. Get comfortable with your cushions, drinks or whatever you need. I get cold when I play, even on a hot day, so I always ...Jennifer Harman - The World's Greatest Female Poker Player Jennifer Harman is a professional poker player from the United States. She has been called the best female poker player in the world, and many people consider her one of the best players around, regardless of gender.Born and raised in Reno, Nevada, Harman started playing poker at eight years of age. She was taught the rules by her mothe ...Online Gambling For Newbies Often incorporating creative and realistic graphics along with high tech software, online casinos offer a wide variety of game themes with Slot Machines, Roulettes, Craps, Specialty games, Black Jack and Poker rooms. Anyone new to online gaming will want to do a bit of reading up on whats popular and who is reputable before they reach for thei ...Playing Texas Holdem Poker Online: Must Know Info Browsing over the internet we come across various types of online poker, hold’em poker mostly, the most popular American poker. Hold’em is also divided in subcategories of games, obtained by looking at the game from two approaches: bids and structure.Let’s go over some of the most important types of Texas hold’em that belong to the biddin ...Reconnect to Suited Connectors in Limit Texas Holdem Did you know that over 90% of new holdem players incorrectly play suited connectors?Despite what you may have heard, it is incorrect to play suited connectors all the time in any position."Suited connectors play well in multiway action." I have to tell you, when I read this years ago I had no idea what this meant.Here's the ...Identify Your Opponent to Maximize Value at the Texas Holdem Poker Table There are many types of Texas Holdem Poker player, and, of course, many levels of experience between those players. Texas Holdem the card game is similar to pushing spaghetti around a plate – some will get more, others will get less and the house always takes a slice. The statistics of cards over time dictate that we all have the same opportun ...All About Free Satellite TV Deals I am sure you've seen these ads online and offline -- "Free satellite TV!" "Get a 4-room Satellite TV System Free!" and "Satellite TV Dish and Receivers Absolutely Free!" But are these deals really free? Are them worth for the money? But are these satellite TV offers really free?The answer to that question is yes ... and no.It's a ...States Lottery Basics For those who dream of quitting their jobs and being independently wealthy, the lottery is an affordable way to take some chances and move toward a goal. Lotteries have been a great support to those aspiring to be great through the stroke of luck. The lotteries have been a source of income to the people who believe that the lady luck is on their ...Gambling Psychology Gambling psychology for most people conjures up images of stony faced poker players and their habits and actions (tells) that suggest the value of the cards they are holding.I contend that there is much more to gambling psychology. When we look at successful gamblers, they all have a sound money management strategy, a sound game strategy ...Rocks at the Poker Table This article will focus on how to spot and defeat any rock at the poker table. First, I will define a “rock” as a poker player who plays very few starting hands, yet plays aggressive when he/she decides to play a pot. I was recently playing in a NL 5 – 10 poker game at a local club. After about an hour, I had a pretty decent read on everybody at ...No Limit Texas Hold'em Poker Most online casinos offer three different types on Texas Hold'em Poker, namely No Limit Texas Holdem poker , Limit holdem Poker and Pot Limit holdem poker.The only differences in these three types of poker are the restrictions placed on betting.In No Limit Texas Hold'em Poker there are no limitations on the size of th ...BGS 2006 NFL Power Ratings: Sept 4/2006 Before getting to the 2006 BGS Pre-Season NFL Football Ratings, there are a few notes you should take into considertaion. As a rule, effective Power Ratings have no place for opinions or subjectivity of any kind.Additionally, many publishers of these ratings release Power Ratings 'tweaked' with their own subjectivity which not only defla ...The Secrets of Converting Come Bets Pssst...! Wanna know a secret?How about the secret of converting come bets?Most of us were taught to play the pass line with odds, and have two come bets up. Come bets are liked by most players because they represent the hot numbers. By betting the come, many people believe that they can take advantage of a hot streak or a "monster ...Pai Gow Poker Basics Using the standard poker hand ranking methods (see below), the players must organize their cards so that the five card hand is of higher value than the two card hand. If both hands beat the banker's two hands, the player wins. If both hands lose, the player loses. If one hand is higher and the other lower, the hand is a draw or push. Finally, if ...Calculating the Overround - How to Calculate the House Margin The overround is the built in profit enjoyed by the bookie or casino, either in a game or in the prices offered on a horserace, for example. All that is required is to know the odds offered on all possible outcomes of a game or sporting event. In the case of the sporting event the prices are all published, for games such as roulette the odds on ...NFL and NCAA Sportsbook Parlays In NFL sportsbook parlays you are supposed to link together some individual bets. You win if all your individual sportsbook parlays win. Even if you lose a single one, the entire sportsbook parlay bet is lost.The NFL sportsbook parlay can be reverse down to the next level. For example, a four team parlay bet would become a three team parl ...Limit Shorthand Poker Strategy Let's say you are in the middle of a game of poker – the game is limit shorthand. There are some situations you might wanna take a look at to make a better idea of what strategies and actions you should think of.When in preflop and you just realize you have been dealt a pocket pair, a small one then you must think if your pot is a large o ...The GOP In 2008: Overview and Analysis (Second of three parts) III. ALAN KEYES:Alan Keyes is a Maryland resident and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Social and Economic Council under Ronald Reagan. He earned a Ph.D. in government affairs from Harvard in 1979 and is also the host the radio call-in show, "America's Wake-Up Call: The Alan Keyes Show." He launched his first bid for the Sena ...Bet on Sports Online Like a Pro Or Be a Pro Online Sports Better Online sports betting, online gambling, internet betting or cyberspace betting --- A name of entertainment, exhilaration and payouts. Access the quick and secure wagering lines on all sports, basketball, football, baseball, and place bets right from your computer. Bet against real online betters with real money. So whether there is NBA season, o ...
|
