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01/29/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (The Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Back when I was covering the NFL, Bill Parcells was a constant source of wisdom for me.
One of my favorite Parcells' quotes is his famous "You are what your record says you are" rant.
If that's true the 2011-12 Philadelphia 76ers are pretty darn good.
Open up the newspaper on Sunday and you will find Doug Collins' club with a 14-6 mark. That's good enough to lead the Atlantic Division and for third in the Eastern Conference behind powerhouses Chicago and Miami.
For the most part I buy Parcells' thinking but only when everyone has crossed the finish line. A sample size of 20 contests during a truncated 66-game schedule is certainly statistically significant but there can be anomalies.
For instance entering Saturday's game against Detroit, the Sixers had played the easiest schedule in all of the NBA, facing opponents with a winning percentage of just .436. That type of thing, however, tends to even out over the balance of a full season and sure enough Philadelphia's upcoming schedule is a bear. The Sixers will face teams with a combined winning percentage just south of .700 over their next seven games.
Of course, it's not the Sixers fault that the NBA's schedule maker lined up a bunch of patsies during the first 20 games of the season. You can only play who is put in front of you and Doug Collins has done a wonderful job getting his team ready.
Philadelphia has rarely played down to its competition. In fact the 76ers haven't just beaten the NBA's also-rans, it has destroyed them.
The Sixers are outscoring opponents by a league-high 11.7 points this season and all of their 10 home wins have come by 10 points or more. The team has won eight games by 20-plus points this season after having just seven in all of last season and the 76ers lead the NBA in fewest turnovers (11.6) and assist- turnover ratio (1.92-1).
"[You can only] play the teams in front of you," Collins said of watching his team dismantle the 4-17 Pistons 95-74. "We've got 10 home wins. Win at home and that's what we've got to try to keep doing. We know we've got some great teams coming in. We've just got to be ready to play."
The Sixers tough stretch begins with home games against the Magic, Bulls and Heat next week. Then comes a road game in Atlanta before Philadelphia returns home to play the Lakers, Spurs and Clippers after that. Those seven teams are almost guaranteed to play in the postseason and it's hard to imagine Philly blowing them out of the building.
So it's time to take the Sixers' temperature and see just how good this club really is.
Philadelphia constantly glosses over the one glaring weakness the team has, the lack of a true closer. Forget about Mariano Rivera, the Sixers don't even have a Brad Lidge and are 0-5 in games decided by seven points or less.
Collins' has piecemealed it at the end of tight affairs thus far. Sometimes it's Andre Iguodala and others it's Jrue Holiday or Lou Williams -- options that hardly strike fear in opponents.
Win one next week and everything is OK, win two and Philly fans should be ecstatic. Sweep Orlando, Chicago and Miami and we might be talking about a serious contender.
The following week features both LA teams and San Antonio, who all look imposing on paper but have been paper tigers on the road.
So at the end of this stretch you will be able to look at the Sixers' ledger and say for sure "They are what their record says they are."
<< De Jong's hat trick moves Twente into second
Enschede, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luuk de Jong's hat trick propelled
Twente to a 4-1 win over Groningen on Sunday, moving the club past third-
place AZ Alkmaar on goal difference.
AZ's surprising 2-0 defeat to Roda on Saturday
<< Falcons add former Fresno State coach Pat Hill
Flowery Branch, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former Fresno State head coach Pat Hill
will join the Atlanta Falcons' staff as offensive line coach.
Hill spent the past 15 seasons guiding the Bulldogs and was fired in December
after the team strugg
<< Clippers and Nuggets square off in Denver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Western Conference contenders meet in the Rockies
Sunday when the Denver Nuggets entertain the Los Angeles Clippers at Pepsi
Center.
The surprising Nuggets sport the second best record in the West and come into
<< Irish to try their luck in Big East brawl with Huskies
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Notre Dame Fighting Irish conclude their
two-game road trip with a visit to the XL Center to square off with the 24th-
ranked Connecticut Huskies.
This will be the 27th meeting in the all-time series betwe
Irish escape Connecticut for third straight win >>
Hartford, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It wasn't pretty, but Notre Dame extended its
winning streak to three with a 50-48 victory over 24th-ranked Connecticut at
the XL Center.
The Fighting Irish (14-8, 6-3 Big East) started their run by kn
Buckeyes down Wolverines to move atop Big Ten >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lenzelle Smith, Jr. finished with 17 points
and 12 rebounds, and No. 4 Ohio State pulled away for a 64-49 victory against
20th-ranked Michigan.
The teams had been tied atop the conference standings, but th
Chelsea's Ramires out up to four weeks >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea midfielder Ramires will be out for
up to four weeks after sustaining a knee injury in his team's 1-0 FA Cup win
over QPR on Saturday.
Scans after the match revealed that the Brazilian had suffere
Foot injury sidelines Podolski >>
Cologne, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Relegation-threatened Cologne received
some bad news on Sunday as it was revealed that striker Lukas Podolski will be
out for the next three weeks because of a foot injury.
Podolski scored the opening
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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New York, NY – October 3, 2007 – The dress rehearsal is over! The NHL preseason has ended and now that fans have had a glimpse of what is to come it is time to hit the book! Stanley Cup odds are live at MySportsbook.com, the world’s largest online sportsbook and casino.
The Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings remain on top of the odds charts after an impressive start in the preseason. Betting lines opened for both teams at 6-1 in June. Since then the Sens have fallen to 7-1 and the Red Wings are now caught in a pack including the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes, the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks, all at 10-1.
MySportsbook.com has also posted props on each team’s point total for the regular season. The Senators lead the charge at 108.5 followed by the Ducks at 106.5. Detroit will attempt a repeat for the prize as the Red Wings are deadlocked with the Predators at 104.5 a piece. The temporary loss of highly touted rookie Evgeni Malkin puts a lot of pressure on the stick of assistant captain Sidney Crosby - his lowly Pittsburgh Penguins are listed at 71.5.
Even if bettors are not brave enough to put their money on the underdog, an early bet on the favorites at sportsbook.com tends to produce bigger payouts than a mid-season wager. Placing a $1,000 bet last summer on the Detroit Red Wings or Ottawa Senators would have paid out to $8,000 and $10,000 respectively, opposed to a $2,500 or $3,000 payout at the beginning of the playoffs.
| Ottawa Senators Detroit Red Wings Carolina Hurricanes San Jose Sharks Anaheim Ducks Philadelphia Flyers Calgary Flames New Jersey Devils Buffalo Sabres Dallas Stars New York Rangers Nashville Predators Vancouver Canucks Colorado Avalanche Minnesota Wild Tampa Bay Lightning Boston Bruins Florida Panthers Montreal Canadiens Atlanta Thrashers Toronto Maple Leafs Edmonton Oilers Phoenix Coyotes Los Angeles Kings New York Islanders Columbus Blue Jackets St. Louis Blues Pittsburgh Penguins Washington Capitals Chicago Blackhawks |
7-1 10-1 10-1 10-1 10-1 12-1 12-1 12-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 15-1 20-1 20-1 25-1 25-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 40-1 40-1 50-1 50-1 80-1 80-1 100-1 100-1 |
NHL Regular Season Points - Team Must Play 82 Games
| Team Ottawa Senators Anaheim Ducks Detroit Red Wings Nashville Predators San Jose Sharks Calgary Flames Philadelphia Flyers New Jersey Devils Buffalo Sabres Carolina Hurricanes Dallas Stars New York Rangers Minnesota Wild Atlanta Thrashers Montreal Canadiens Team Los Angeles Kings Tampa Bay Lightening Vancouver Canucks Boston Bruins Colorado Avalanche Edmonton Oilers Phoenix Coyotes Toronto Maple Leafs Florida Panthers Columbus Blue Jackets New York Islanders Chicago Blackhawks St. Louis Blues Washington Capitals Pittsburgh Penguins |
Over/Under 108.5 106.5 104.5 104.5 103.5 101.5 100.5 99.5 97.5 97.5 97.5 95.5 94.5 93.5 92.5 Over/Under 91.5 91.5 91.5 89.5 89.5 88.5 88.5 86.5 84.5 82.5 80.5 72.5 72.5 72.5 71.5 |
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