By Razor Sharp Sports
The countdown is down to 2 weeks until the NFL kicks off for real. Our handicappers at Freeplays.com have had a chance to take a look at each team a couple times in the pre-season, know what they did last year and know who they lost or gained in the offseason. Now it is time for them to put their money where there mouth is. Ten of our Freeplays.com handicappers were asked their picks for each of the NFL divisions, their wildcard picks, along with their Super Bowl and BCS Championship picks. They were Razor Sharp Sports, Mike Wynn, Jim Feist, Kenny Towers, Vegas Steam Line, Totals 4 U, Arthur Ralph, Teya’s Sports, Dr. Vegas & Huddle Up Sporrts. So what did we find out and who do you agree with the most?
By Razor Sharp Sports
The NFL Preseason is winding down and now it is time for our experts to make their predictions. Let’s see who everyone likes and feel free to send your predictions in to compare to our handicappers. We had eleven of our handicappers give us their picks. Of the 11, four of them have the Atlanta Falcons taking home the Lombardi Trophy, while 3 others took the Falcons division rivals, the New Orleans Saints. Interestingly, no one picked the Vegas favorite and defending champion Green Bay Packers to repeat. We did have 2 teams with a complete sweep of the division picks. Both the Chargers (AFC West) and the Green Bay Packers (NFC North) were selected by all 11 handicappers to win their division.
By The Vegas Steamline
Man, this is the most incredible NFL season I can remember. Each and every week there are at least 2 or 3 games that completely catch me off guard when it comes to the result. Last week was no difference. We did sweep the NFL board last week going 3-0 in the regular service with Miami, Seattle and New England & getting a Supersteam Play/Day winner on the NY Jets. Still we saw a double digit favorite in the Giants lose by 13 to Dallas. The down and out Broncos came out and drilled the division leading Chiefs and then on Monday Night saw Philadelphia break a NFL record by scoring 45 points on the road in the first half. The one thing that remained constant was the ability to play the OVER in the NFL. Things were even more OVER the top with 11 of the 14 games getting over the total. That now makes the OVER 61-34 over the last 7 weeks, thats 64% winners.
By The Vegas Steamline
Wow, we are on our final week of NFL Byes already! Week 10 is here. By the end of the week every team in the league will have played 9 games. We have Thursday night NFL action starting and the most wins by any team in the league is 6, thanks to the Cleveland Browns shocking blowout of the New England Patriots. The Bills once again came up short, and remain the leagues only no win team, but they get another good shot this week at home against the Lions. We are two weeks into the new NFL policy on hitting with the helmet and we have yet to see our first suspension, though Nick Collins and a few others wallets got a little lighter this week. As we reach week 10, the good teams will start to rise to the top and the posers will come back to the pack. This is when teams have kicked things into high gear and the best teams also show there depth, even with injuries, they don’t miss a step. Two weeks ago, we mentioned how Vegas was missing on their totals. After the OVERS went 35-20 in a 4 week span, the OVER went just 5-8 in week 8, but things were back to the season norm last weekend with the OVERs going 10-3. That now makes it 50-31 for the OVERs in the last 6 weeks.
By The Vegas Steamline
OK, so there isnt a week 8½ so this is the closest we can come to the Middle point of the season even though some teams have only played 7 games so far. So what have we seen? Who has been hot? Who has been disappointing? Lets take a look back and then a quick look ahead. First of all, the season so far has been full of surprises and for a lack of a better word, parity. Here we are 8 weeks in and not only do we not have a undefeated team remaining, but New England is the only team in the league with only one loss. On the other side of the spectrum, the Buffalo Bills are the only team in the league without a victory and they have lost their last two games to 2 very good teams in overtime. So lets take a look at the top teams & individuals, along with the bottom teams and individuals so far.
By The Vegas Steamline
As I took a look at this last weeks action in the NFL and tried to figure out what to write about this week, two things jumped up at me! #1 is how Vegas has not adjusted their totals. The OVERs have dominated over the past 4 weeks including this week where 10 of the 14 games went over. Last week the 14 games in the NFL had a average closing total of 41.6 points per game and the average points in those games ended up being 52.6. Yes I understand that those averages get pushed up by a couple of games that score way over the total. It is easier to go way over than way under. Still a difference of 11 points per game tells me that something is off. Now over the last 4 weeks if you would have played every NFL game over the total you would have a record of 35-20 (63.6%) and 19-9 (67.9%) over the last 2 weeks. This week, we may have seen a slight adjustment, with the average total being 43.0. The second thing that jumps out is PARITY. Last wee we almost saw two 13 point underdogs win outright when Cleveland beat New Orleans and Buffalo went to OT with Baltimore before losing by a fieldgoal. Right now we have only 1 team in the NFL (Buffalo) without a victory and in the NFC every team has at least 2 losses. Because of the parity, playing underdogs, have also been the easy way to make money. Last week, the underdogs went 9-5 and for the season are now 61-38-5 (61.6%). So will these trends continue, we will keep an eye on them for you and I expect them to adjust a bit, but not drastically.
By The Vegas Steamline
Well it is pretty obvious what the big talk is after last weeks games. the NFL has decided to put the hammer down on players taking cheap shots and making helmet to helmet hits. So how do I see it? Well first lets just clarify something that alot of people don’t really look at. The NFL is not changing the rules that they already had, all they are doing is upping the penalty for breaking these rules. I have no problem with that. Yes, the NFL is a contact sport and we love to see contact, but the idea of hitting someone is to knock them down to end the play, to prevent the player from catching a pass or to knock a ball out of the hands of a ball carrier. It isn’t to injure someone, in some cases very seriously. Players these days are bigger, faster and stronger and the collisions are already more violent. There is no need for someone to be out there trying to hurt someone on purpose, we have enough injuries without that. Now with that being said, the only hit last week that I truly believe should have warranted such a suspension was that of Brandon Merriweather on Todd Heap. You could see that the hit was being made to cause injury and no other reason. As for the case of Dunta Robinson or James Harrison, I think that those were part of football. Robinson was just colliding with DeSean Jackson and did not lead with his head. He actually had a text book hit with his shoulder pad, but because the collision was big and Jackson sustained a concussion, the NFL felt that they had to do something. Harrison’s hit was caused by Massaquoi moving. Because of this, Harrison’s hit ended up around the helmet, where if Massaquoi would have remained standing, the hit would have been just fine.
By The Vegas Steamline
So for the early time since the 1972 Miami Dolphins ran the table to complete the perfect season, we no longer have a undefeated team remaining in the NFL . When the Colts knocked off the Chiefs last week, every team now has a mark in the loss column. We only have 3 teams that have yet to get in the win column (Bills, Panthers & 49ers). The statement of “Any Given Sunday” couldn’t be more true. Last week we saw 4 teams that were at least a 6½ point underdog win outright. We also have 3 divisions that have leaders with a record of just 3-2, including the AFC South, where all 4 teams are tied at 3-2. Some people say that parity is not a good thing, but I believe those are fans of teams that are perenial winners and mini-dynasties. Parity is a great thing in the NFL. The feeling that your team, whether it is the Patriots or Saints or Rams or Lions, has a chance to win each week and can make a run to the playoffs is what makes the NFL the best league in professional sports. Besides parity, I have also noticed that the injury lists continue to grow and grow. Take a look at the key players this week. When the lines came out on Sunday Night for this weeks action, there were 9 games that either did not have lines posted or had the game circled do to some situation. Last week we saw an injury to Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers (concussion), who may miss his first start since taking over fro Brett Favre. Lions WR Calvin Johnson will be out for this weeks game against the Giants. It looks like Colt McCoy will get his first career start in Cleveland after injuries to Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace. Also the Colts RB Joseph Addai is questionable this week, as if Indy needed more problems trying to run the ball. Others that remain hurt include Philly QB Michael Vick, Saints RB Reggie Bush, and Oakland RB Darren McFadden and QB Bruce Gradkowski are both listed as questionable.
By The Vegas Steamline
We have hit the quarter pole of the NFL season. 4 weeks down and plenty of surprises to talk about. First of all, just one team remains unbeaten, the 3-0 Kansas City Chiefs, who finds themelves a touchdown underdog this week against Indianapolis, as they look to get win #4, which was the same number they had all of last year. Speaking of the Colts, they are just 2-2, a spot they are not used to, but is it the Super Bowl Hangover. The Super Bowl Hangover, if you haven’t heard of it, is the trend of the loser of the Super Bowl not making the playoffs the following season. Of the last 9 Super Bowl Runner-Ups, only the 2009 Arizona Cardinals & the 2006 Seattle Seahawks made the playoffs the following year. That even includes the 16-0 New England Patriots, who failed to make the playoffs the next year, even though they finished 11-5. So are the Colts jinxed or can they get back on track and beat the curse. Other surprises this season would have to be that St Louis, Tampa Bay and Jackonville are going for their third win of the season this week and with the Jags and Rams playing teams without a win odds are pretty good. We also have seen a couple of big trades this week also with the prodical son returning to Minnesota, as Randy Moss will be wearing the Purple and Yellow again. Seattle also added new legs to their backfield as Marshawn Lynch, who has struggled the last couple season in Buffalo, will join his former college roommate, Justin Forsett, to handle the rushing duties.
By The Vegas Steamline
Week 3 is in the books and who would believe that the only 3 undefeated teams remaining would be the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are on their 4th string QB, the Chicago Bears, who were 7-9 last year and the Kansas City Chiefs hat were 4-12 last year. I know that no one guessed it. Still hats off to all three. Last year at this time there were seven 3-0 teams. I can tell you that the 1972 Miami Dolphins are already putting their champagne on ice. Here are my individual awards for this week. On offense, the top performance goes to Minnesota Running Back Adrian Peterson. He got his Vikings in the win column rushing for 160 yards and 2 scores. On defense, Chicago Bears Linebacker Lance Briggs lead the way on Monday night win over their division rival Green Bay. Briggs had 9 tackles, 1 interception and was in on the tackle on the play that Brian Urlacher caused the fth quarter fumble that led to the winning fieldgoal.