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01/18/2009 - Volendam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eredivisie leaders AZ Alkmaar got goals from Ari and David Mendes as the club extended its unbeaten streak in the league to 16 games with a 2-0 win over last-place Volendam.
Ari's goal came 11 minutes into the match, while Mendes scored in the 79th minute to secure all three points and keep AZ three points clear of second- place Ajax, which downed NEC 4-2.
Volendam has now won just once in its last six and is at the bottom of the table by four points.
After a scoreless first half, Ajax and NEC combined for six goals and one red card in an eventful second half that started with a Miralem Sulejmani goal for Ajax in the 48th minute.
NEC answered through Ramon Zomer two minutes later, but Sulejmani restored his team's lead with another goal in the 54th minute.
Again the home side had a reply as Youssef El Akchaoui scored midway through the second half, and things got even better for NEC when Dario Cvitanich was sent off in the 70th minute for Ajax.
However, an unlucky own-goal from Dani Fernandez with 12 minutes to play put NEC behind by a goal, and with the team pushing forward for an equalizer, Gabri sealed the win in stoppage time.
PSV Eindhoven fell even further back of the leaders as the defending champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Roda, which entered the day second from the bottom.
Timmy Simons put PSV ahead from the penalty spot in the 59th minute, but Roda answered less than one minute later through Willem Janssen, earning a share of the points.
PSV has now won just two of its last six games and sits 13 points off the lead in fifth place, while Groningen remains in seventh after playing to a 1-1 draw with Sparta.
<< Thunder host Heat in Oklahoma City
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oklahoma City Thunder are finally showing signs of life
and will aim to finish a three-game homestand in perfect fashion Sunday when
they welcome the Miami Heat to the Ford Center.
The Thunder improved to 2-0 on their
<< Nash, Suns aim to continue success vs. Raptors
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns kick off a grueling six-game road trip
north of the border on Sunday, hoping to record their ninth straight win over
the Toronto Raptors.
The Suns haven't lost to the Raptors since a a 101-94 setback in th
<< Blue Jackets visit Canucks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After sweeping their two-game series versus the Canucks in
Columbus, the Blue Jackets will try to find some rare success in Vancouver
tonight as they visit the club and GM Place.
Columbus has won four straight and six of i
<< Wildcats seek upset of 18th-ranked Golden Gophers
Evanston, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 18th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers shoot
for their first 5-1 start in the Big Ten since 1976-77, as they drop in on the
Northwestern Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Gophers opened league play with a lo
Diamond's double does the job for Aberdeen >>
Aberdeen, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zander Diamond's second-half double
handed Aberdeen a 4-2 win over Celtic at Pittodrie Stadium on Sunday, the Dons
first win at home against Celtic since 2001.
Gary McDonald put Aberdeen on top
Xavier puts perfect conference mark on line against La Salle >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 15th-ranked Xavier Musketeers put their
perfect Atlantic 10 Conference mark on the line, as they welcome the La Salle
Explorers to the Cintas Center in Cincinnati this afternoon.
La Salle is 9-6 on the y
Crosby returns against Rangers >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby
returned to the ice for Sunday's contest against the New York Rangers.
Crosby did not play in Friday's 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks due to a
lower body i
Blues' Polak sidelined with fractured foot >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Blues defenseman Roman Polak will
be sidelined indefinitely with a fractured right foot suffered in Saturday's
overtime loss to Chicago.
The Czech rearguard is minus-five with 11 points (1G,
There is little doubt that the NFL is where the sportsbooks see the most action and also make the most loot. The NFL possesses betting friendly attributes that are unlike any of the other major sports. First off, there are relatively few teams to keep track of in comparison to college football betting or college basketball. And second, these teams play only once a week which makes staying on top of the results much easier than it is in the daily leagues such as the NBA, NHL, and MLB.
These dynamics, along with the sheer excitement of watching and wagering on football, brings more square action to the table than any of the other sports. Almost every Tom, Dick and Harry in America is an NFL expert in their own mind and that is precisely what the oddsmakers prey upon.
Understanding who bets the games is just as important as understanding which teams are playing the games. The market at times will dictate price, which in the betting world means the oddsmakers cater to the public rather than reality.
Knowing the market inside and out is the basis of our NFL handicapping model. That is, our approach to NFL handicapping is of the contrarian or value seeking variety. We will at times place a higher premium on public sentiment than on the fundamentals. This strategy dictates playing dogs and/or lesser competent teams, or teams the public wants nothing to do with. Or better yet, fading the teams the oddsmakers want you to bet on.
Along these same lines, we carry a similar notion that the first week of the NFL season presents one of the ripest opportunities for the astute gambler. This conflicts with conventional wisdom and/or handicapping lore, as most would say it is better to watch a few games and assess each team before jumping in with both feet. That’s all fine and dandy, but there are some interesting trends to exploit in Week 1 and we’d be remiss to ignore them. Let us quickly explain.
Gone are the days of dynasties, where the same core players stay intact and dominate the league year after year. Free agency and player movements can completely transform teams from one season to the next. In today’s parity-driven NFL, poor teams typically don’t stay poor for all that long and excellent teams must constantly reinvent themselves to stay on top.
The temptation might be to assume prior year results are the best indicator of who is going to cover in Week 1. To Joe Public, playoff teams from the prior season, home teams, favorites, and so one, look even more enticing than usual since there is no current season performance to judge them against. But the question begs: are the oddsmakers setting a trap?
To find the answer, we culled five years worth of Week 1 NFL data. As always, all of our analysis is done from an ATS perspective. The purpose here is to share the most important angles we unearthed and try to explain the logic behind them. So strap on your helmet, throw on your shoulder pads, and follow our lead as we expose some rare holes in the oddsmakers’ line of defense.
Home vs. Away Teams
Over the past five seasons, NFL home teams in Week 1 are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). This of course implies that roadies are a 58 percent winning proposition during this time. The public at large has a tendency to overvalue home teams and this is especially true in Week 1 when there is no current season data to make predictions from. Consequently, the oddsmakers almost surely shade the home teams, by and large making road teams the choice for the value player.
Conclusion: Look long and hard at road teams first when handicapping the opening week.
Price ranges
Favorites are just 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent) in the opening week over the past five NFL seasons (Coincidentally, home teams hold the same ATS record as noted above). This means that underdogs bark at a 58 percent clip. Mid-range favorites performed the worst among our specified price ranges. In particular, favorites priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 are only 8-15 ATS (35 percent) during this time.
The same basic pattern holds true when looking at home favorites (road favorites gravitate towards a 50 percent mean). Home favorites indeed are just 21-32-3 ATS (40 percent) in the first week of NFL action since 1999. Again, mid-range favorites are similarly the poorest performers when we look at home teams. Consider that home teams priced between –3 1/2 and –6 1/2 have stumbled to a 6-13 ATS (32 percent) mark in Week 1 games the past five seasons.
Conclusion: Like home teams, favorites and particularly mid-range favorites are generally overvalued in Week 1.
Playoff teams
It might surprise you to learn that playoff teams from the prior year versus non-playoff teams from the prior year are a mere 16-23-3 (41 percent) ATS in NFL Week 1 games over the past five seasons. Home teams which made the playoffs versus teams which did not make the playoffs from the prior season drop to a meager 7-14-1 ATS (33 percent) during this time.
Why are playoff teams, and in particular those at home, such bad bets the past five openers? Just as the case with home teams and with favorites, oddsmakers intentionally overprice playoff teams in the opening week to compensate for the public’s propensity to over bet them.
This theory holds true just looking at straight-up records from the past season as well. That is, home teams with winning records from the prior season vs. road teams with losing records from the prior season are just 8-13 ATS in Week 1 NFL games since 1999.
Conclusion: Playoff teams from the prior year and in particular, home playoff teams, are overvalued in Week 1 NFL games.
Scoring defense and scoring offense
Do good defenses and for that matter good offenses from the prior season fare better against the number the following year in Week 1 games? Well, sort of. Generally speaking, teams with a solid offense or defense from the prior season tend to do well in the opening week so long as they are on the road. As a host, however, the best offenses and best defenses from the prior year tend to be overvalued in Week 1.
Consider that the top five scoring defenses (i.e. points allowed) from the prior season are a nice 8-4 ATS (66 percent) on the road in NFL openers the past five seasons. Meanwhile, the top five scoring defenses from the prior season are just 3-8-2 ATS (27 percent) as a host in Week 1 during the same time period.
There is no discernable advantage or disadvantage for teams with a top five scoring offense (i.e. points scored) in Week 1 games. However, when we look at scoring offenses from the bottom up (isolating the five worst offenses from the prior season), the results are rather interesting. In particular, teams ranked in the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are 9-4-1 ATS (69 percent) when on the road in Week 1.
The logic is simply that the public perception is a poor scoring offensive unit from the year prior will have little chance of winning on the road in Week 1. In turn, the oddsmakers compensate for this perception and these poor offensive teams from the year prior carry extra line value on the Week 1 trail.
Conclusion: Teams with top-ranked defenses from the previous season are good bets when playing on the road, but poor bets when playing at home. Also, teams ranked among the bottom five in scoring offense from the prior season are generally a good value in their Week 1 openers, provided they are playing on the road.
Scoring margin
An exceedingly straightforward way of measuring scoring offense and scoring defense together as a whole is to look at a team's “margin." Margin is simply scoring offense minus scoring defense, which is a fairly clear-cut measure of how a team does on both sides of the ball. Typically, the higher the margin, the better the team.
In this regard, it might seem counterintuitive that teams carrying the higher margin from the prior season in week one matchups are merely 31-42-7 ATS (42 percent). Furthermore, road teams with the higher margin are 14-20-6 ATS (41 percent), while home teams with the higher margin are 17-22-1 ATS (44 percent). Once again, these results line up with the theory that better teams from the prior year are overvalued come opening day of the following season.
Conclusion: “Better” teams, which often boast a higher margin than their opponent, are overvalued the following season in NFL openers.
In sum
Oddsmakers cater NFL betting lines to match public perception and also to bait the public into poor bets. The temptation to use the prior year’s success as a buy sign for how a team will perform against the spread in Week 1 of the following season is an enormous trap.
The fact is, isolating road teams, road dogs, non-playoff teams vs. playoff teams, teams with a losing record or low margin vs. playoff teams or ones with a high margin from the previous year is where the line value resides. Quite simply, taking the road less traveled is your surest path to NFL betting profits.
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