Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
11/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The storyline that wouldn't die is now dead, at least until January 9, 2010.
That's the day the NFC playoffs begin, and the Green Bay Packers hope to hold a place of residency in that bracket. If the Pack (4-3) gets there, chances are the Minnesota Vikings (7-1) will be somewhere within close proximity in the playoff field. Perhaps the rival duo will even get to see one another again, in what would be just their second postseason meeting of all time.
But unless and until that day comes, the Packers will not have to face questions about Brett Favre anymore. The awkward square dance that has taken place between the icon and the organization that employed him happily for 16 years is over, and though Green Bay certainly wasn't hoping to go 0-2 against the hated Vikings this year, Favre did not end the Packers' season when he beat them twice in a five-week span.
In fact, even after their 38-26 home loss to Minnesota on Sunday, the Packers find themselves just a half-game behind the Giants (5-3) for the final Wild Card spot in the NFC.
The upcoming schedule sets up favorably for Green Bay, with road games against the woeful Buccaneers (Nov. 8) and Lions (Nov. 26) sandwiched around challenging but winnable home tests against the Cowboys (Nov. 15) and 49ers (Nov. 22).
Though Green Bay is far from a perfect team, with major problems in the areas of offensive protection and defensive pass rush, to name but a couple, the notion of Mike McCarthy's club getting to December with a chance to do some damage remains very much intact.
"It was talked about after the game," said McCarthy on Monday. "These division games are worth a game and a half, sometimes two. So, you know, this was a tough one. No doubt about it. It was a tough one for everybody. Tough one for our fans...but we need to get ready. Tampa is a different opponent with new coordinators and a new head coach down there. So, we've got to make sure we're prepared for those guys. Winning on the road is always tough. But the opportunity to go 3-1 in the second quarter to put us at 5-3 at the halfway mark, that's our goal."
Frankly, though the Buccaneers aren't simply going to lay down for the Packers, the fact that the league's lone remaining winless team will also be fielding a first-time starting quarterback, Josh Freeman, speaks very well of Green Bay's immediate chances for recovery.
Also encouraging for McCarthy and company is the fact that the Packers battled to the finish against the Vikings for the second time this year, despite once again falling behind by what was thought to be (and ultimately was) an insurmountable 24-3 deficit.
But Aaron Rodgers and the Packers scored on their first four possessions of the first half and recovered a critical fumble during that stretch as well, and with just under six-and-a-half minutes to play, Green Bay was trailing just 31-26 and was holding the football inside the Minnesota 30-yard line.
Almost nothing went well for the Pack for the rest of the day, as a subsequent missed field goal by Mason Crosby was followed by another patented Favre touchdown drive, and Green Bay was saddled with its first home-and-home sweep at the hands of the hated Vikings since 2005.
But McCarthy saw the silver lining in the comeback effort, even if it fell short.
"I told them at halftime that this second half was going to be a turning point in our season. It was important for us to go out there and turn this game around and make a run and win this game. I felt that was happening there in the third quarter.
"I thought there was a lot of positive things."
BEARS: Those questioning whether Jay Cutler truly had the competitive fire to be a successful NFL quarterback aren't questioning now. Well, the competitive fire part, anyway.
Cutler displayed his frustrations late in a 30-6 blowout of the Cleveland Browns, when the Bears offense failed to finish off a long drive for a touchdown. In seven red-zone trips on the day, the Bears punched it the end zone just twice, and against a Browns defense that continues to rank at or near the bottom of the league in most prominent statistical categories.
After that final failure, Cutler became embroiled in a shouting match with Browns defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, who network cameras spotted directing a profane phrase that obscenity experts might call the "old familiar suggestion."
Soon after the game's conclusion, Cutler was seen chatting in less angry tones with Ryan, and the quarterback had only complimentary things to say about the previous subject of his scorn.
"I love Rob Ryan. I think he's always liked and respected me," said Cutler "He's a great coach. You can just see the energy he brings on the sidelines to those guys. I've always enjoyed competing against him. I think he's one of the best in football. It's fun. He brings an energy level and fun level to football that not all defensive guys do. So I've always enjoyed going against the guy."
Whatever the details of Cutler's relationship with the Browns coordinator, clearly the quarterback is growing impatient with the deficiencies of his own offense.
The ex-Bronco has just three interceptions versus six interceptions in his last three games, and won't often be able to count on his defense to bail him out with five takeaways, as the Bears defense did on Sunday.
For his part, Bears head coach Lovie Smith did not sound overly concerned with the direction of the attack when he met with the media on Monday.
"I feel good about what we're doing offensively," said Smith. "There are some things we need to do a little bit better, which we'll do and go from there.
"Of course we have tried to do some things differently. When things don't work, you try to do some different things. It's a process like it is with everything else. I'm pleased with us continuing to get down in the red zone.
"Whether it be us protecting the football or just making a play from time to time, it will come, as long as we maintain what we're doing and just continue to get the ball down there."
LIONS: The best-case scenario heading into Sunday's date with the St. Louis Rams had Matthew Stafford picking up where he left off before he suffered a knee injury against the Bears back on Oct. 4th.
In a surprise to absolutely no one who has followed their history, the Detroit Lions did not experience the best-case scenario.
When he left the Chicago game, Stafford was just shy of what would have been his first career 300-yard passing day, and was one week removed from an effective performance in his initial NFL win, against the Washington Redskins.
In Sunday's 17-10 loss to St. Louis, Stafford looked like a raw rookie again. The top overall draft pick completed just 14-of-33 passes for 168 yards with an interception, though he did rush for the Lions' lone touchdown, and completed a game-tying two-point conversion to running back Maurice Morris in the fourth quarter. Only two of the Georgia product's completions went to wide receivers, as the offense clearly missed wideout Calvin Johnson, who was absent for a second straight game with a knee problem.
"We were a little bit rusty in the passing game, said head coach Jim Schwartz, who saw his team's losing streak swell to a season-long four games. "I'm sure that Matt will put all of those [dropped passes] on himself, he'll say he could've made a better throw in all those situations - but all of them are balls that our receivers should be able to get."
Schwartz acknowledged the effect that Johnson's absence had on the attack.
"There were some deeper balls thrown down the field. We didn't make those plays. Calvin's a guy who makes those plays for us. We didn't, by game plan, get conservative because of not having Calvin, but it's obvious he affects the game; it obviously affects the way that things open up for other people. It's no excuse; our guys need to make those plays when they're given the opportunity."
Johnson could be back this week, as Detroit heads west to play an equally desperate Seattle team, and Schwartz doesn't sound defeated despite the...er, defeats.
"There's urgency to get this done and we're going to get it done," said Schwartz. "This is a hard-working team - they've played hard - but we have to find ways to put them in position and we can't switch courses, we can't make excuses, we need to go out and win."
VIKINGS: Brett Favre's 98th career win at Lambeau Field was slightly more bizarre than his first 97. Not for the performance, of course, which was vintage Favre, but for the fact that he came out of the visitor's locker room, wearing what many Packers fans will tell you was the wrong uniform.
Clearly, Favre wasn't going to make his first experience as a visitor to Lambeau Field a losing one.
After receiving boos from a majority of the Lambeau faithful, Favre completed 17-of-28 passes for 244 yards, four touchdowns, and no turnovers committed or sacks absorbed in the 38-26 win over Green Bay. The "V" word, as in "vindication" was not on the tip of Favre's tongue following the win, though he acknowledged that the victory felt good.
"I knew I didn't have to prove anything," said Favre, who threw four touchdowns without an interception for the first time since Nov. 14, 2004, when he (coincidentally enough) did so against the Vikings at Lambeau Field. "Am I glad, pleased with the way these two games have turned out? Yes, absolutely. I knew I could play. I knew this was a good football team. I knew the Packers were a good football team. But it had nothing to do with trying to prove myself to anyone."
After posting his fourth passer rating of 100 or better in his last five games, the discussion has now shifted to the realm of Pro Bowl and MVP possibilities for Favre. Any New York Jets fan will tell you that such talk in the month of November is a little premature in regards to the legend, but the numbers thus far are indeed award-caliber.
Favre is tied for the NFL lead in touchdown passes (16) along with Drew Brees and Matt Schaub, is fourth in the league in passer rating (106.0), and is fourth in completion percentage (68.0) among current starters.
Favre needs 20 touchdown passes over his final eight games to become the league's first player to reach 500. His four-TD effort against his former employer got the grizzled Wrangler-hawker ever-close to that plateau.
"They're a good team," said Favre of the Packers. "I think people are starting to realize that we are too. That's the satisfying part. We had a tough loss last week. But we played, for the most part, like we're capable of playing. That's the satisfactory part. We haven't underachieved."
<< Celtics, Sixers to tussle in South Philly
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Now that Rajon Rondo's pockets will be fatter thanks to a
new multi-year contract, he can focus on leading the Boston Celtics to a 5-0
start tonight against the Atlantic Division-rival Philadelphia 76ers at the
Wachovi
<< 'Melo leads sizzling Nuggets into Indiana
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets will try to remain
unbeaten on the season when they commence a six-game road trip Tuesday against
the Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.
Denver is 3-0 so far thanks to the red-h
<< Cavs hope to stay on track vs. Wizards
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Cavaliers hope the ship has been righted
after a disappointing start to the season, as they resume a three-game
homestand tonight versus the Washington Wizards at Quicken Loans Arena.
Favored to
<< Mavericks welcome Jazz to town
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Mavericks shoot for their third consecutive win
Tuesday when they welcome the Utah Jazz to American Airlines Center.
The Mavs finished a two-day sweep at Staples Center in Los Angeles last
Saturday when
Now we go back to the Bronx >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You can argue all you want about whether or not Joe Girardi
should have started A.J. Burnett on short rest on the road, or whether Charlie
Manuel should have gone with Cliff Lee a day earlier than he did.
Either way, thoug
U.S. Olympic hockey team to be revealed during Winter Classic >>
Colorado Springs, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The United States Olympic hockey team
for the 2010 Games in Vancouver will be revealed during NBC's broadcast of the
NHL's Winter Classic on January 1.
This year's Winter Classic will feature the
Kessel set to debut in Leafs' clash with Lightning >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Maple Leafs will see their biggest offseason
addition on the ice for the first time this season tonight when they welcome
the Tampa Bay Lightning for a battle at Air Canada Centre.
The Maple Leafs pulled off a
Soehn will not return to D.C. United >>
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United coach Tom Soehn removed his
name from consideration for United's head coaching position Tuesday ahead of
his contract expiring at the end of the year.
Soehn was D.C. United's assistant fr
Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.
“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.
“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).
Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.
Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.
The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.
Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game
Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.
Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.
Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”
To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.
Will Ohio State continue to run the table in College Football betting odds?
MySportsbook.com favors Buckeyes, Fighting Irish and Golden Bears in this weekend's big games.
NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 21 - My Sportsbook NCAA football fans: things are beginning to get really interesting on college football's national stage. Following last weekend's "Separation Saturday", which included five teams ranked in the top 15 dropping games, the BCS Championship picture is beginning to take shape - with Ohio State leading the charge. And, according to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, the number-one-ranked Buckeyes will continue their winning ways this weekend.
Revenge will be the name of the game in Columbus this Saturday, as Ohio State looks to even the score following last season's loss to Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions. Although Penn State are listed as 16.5 point underdogs, they are 11-10 all-time versus the Buckeyes. Paterno and the Lions, however, will have to shut down Heisman Trophy favorite Troy Smith who has thrown for 769 yards and seven touchdowns this season.
Speaking of revenge, Notre Dame will be out for some against Michigan State, following last year's 44 - 41 overtime loss to the Spartans in South Bend. The thirteenth-ranked Irish, listed as a 3-point favorite, will also be looking to avenge last Saturday's thrashing from the Michigan Wolverines. The Spartans, meanwhile, have won seven of the last nine match-ups against Notre Dame and are coming off an impressive 38-23 victory over Pittsburgh.
Out west, 22nd-ranked Arizona State will be battling for their first victory over 21st-ranked California since 2000. Although the Golden Bears are listed as 7.5-point favorites, the Sun Devils are 3-0, lead the nation in sacks with 18 and possess the Pac-10's leading passer in sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.
NCAA Football betting lines (home team in CAPS)
--------------------------------------------------
Date Favorite Opponent Point Spread
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sept 21 GEORGIA TECH Virginia 17
Sept 22 NEVADA Northwestern 6.5
Sept 23 MICHIGAN Wisconsin 14
Sept 23 Minnesota PURDUE 3
Sept 23 SYRACUSE Miami (Ohio) 6.5
Sept 23 MISSOURI Ohio 21.5
Sept 23 Louisville KANSAS STATE 14
Sept 23 TENNESSEE Marshall 22
Sept 23 CLEMSON North Carolina 16.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA Kentucky 24
Sept 23 Iowa ILLINOIS 20.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA STATE Rice 30.5
Sept 23 AUBURN Buffalo 41.5
Sept 23 BOWLING GREEN Kent 7
Sept 23 NAVY Tulsa 4.5
Sept 23 VIRGINIA TECH Cincinnati 27
Sept 23 BYU Utah State 29
Sept 23 OHIO STATE Penn State 16.5
Sept 23 TEXAS Iowa State 25
Sept 23 Washington State STANFORD 10
Sept 23 CALIFORNIA Arizona State 7.5
Sept 23 UCLA WASHINGTON 3
Sept 23 INDIANA Connecticut 1.5
Sept 23 Central Michigan EASTERN MICHIGAN 4
Sept 23 WYOMING Air Force 1
Sept 23 UTEP NEW MEXICO 9.5
Sept 23 West Virginia EAST CAROLINA 21
Sept 23 Boston College NORTH CAROLINA STATE 7
Sept 23 GEORGIA Colorado 27
Sept 23 ARKANSAS Alabama 1.5
Sept 23 BAYLOR Army 11
Sept 23 WESTERN MICHIGAN Temple 28
Sept 23 MISSISSIPPI Wake Forest 2.5
Sept 23 KANSAS South Florida 5.5
Sept 23 TEXAS A&M Louisiana Tech 23.5
Sept 23 UAB Mississippi State 9.5
Sept 23 LSU Tulane 36
Sept 23 Utah SAN DIEGO STATE 6.5
Sept 23 BOISE STATE Hawaii 15
Sept 23 Notre Dame MICHIGAN STATE 3
Sept 23 USC ARIZONA U 22
Sept 23 Oklahoma State HOUSTON 1
Sept 23 OREGON STATE Idaho 23
Sept 23 OKLAHOMA Middle Tennessee State 29
Sept 23 MARYLAND Florida International 18.5
Sept 23 AKRON North Texas 17.5
Sept 23 SOUTH CAROLINA Florida Atlantic 29.5
Sept 23 NEBRASKA Troy 23
Sept 23 SMU Arkansas State 6
For complete NCAA football odds and World Series odds please visit MySportsbook.com
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting