The San Francisco 49ers have been a popular darkhorse pick the last couple years, but it’s put up or shut up time now for head coach Mike Singletary’s squad. Singletary has anointed Alex Smith the unquestioned starter at QB this season, and he already has the second-most snaps under center in the division behind Seattle’s Matt Hasselbeck. With Arizona’s Kurt Warner retired, this seems to finally be the year for the 49ers to strike gold and return to the playoffs.
Continue reading “2010-11 San Francisco 49ers Betting Odds & Schedule Analysis”
The Green Bay Packers showed a lot of promise last season under the leadership of second-year starting QB Aaron Rodgers on their way to an impressive 11-5 record and playoff berth. Unfortunately, it was their former QB Brett Favre who kept them from winning the NFC North and will lead the defending division champs if he decides to come back yet again this year. Favre’s Minnesota Vikings are expected to be the only major divisional roadblock for the Packers, who are +125 to win the NFC North, 6/1 to win the NFC and 12/1 to win Super Bowl XLV.
We have finally made it to the start of NFL training camps – the next step on the road to the much anticipated start of the season. The first teams report as soon as this weekend. If you’re like me then you’re going to devour all of the news you possibly can out of camps because you’re starved for real football action. While following the news out of camps is never a bad idea – more information is almost always better for bettors – there are some kinds of information that you should be paying more attention to than others. Here’s a look at five things to pay attention to, and four things to ignore:
This is a very interesting time when it comes to NFL win totals betting. They have been posted for a while now, so the initial action has bet out any obvious errors, but the public hasn’t yet paid a lot of attention to them. That likely means that the futures are somewhat more accurate now than they will be before the fans jump on the public teams. Because of that, looking at the odds right now shows us some very interesting trends and opinions. Based on the line movement and the prices available there are hints of some strong and interesting opinions held by those who have made bets so far. Here are 11 win totals that have seemed to have one-sided action so far. In each case the one-sided action can be a clue that the total is likely to change as the season nears, and it gives us something to think about when it comes to the teams (odds are form Bodog):
NFL teams are absolutely obsessed with the defensive line. Finding players who can consistently provide pass rushing pressure is very hard to do, but teams use a lot of draft picks and spend millions on free agents in an attempt to do so. A team that can pressure the quarterback gets all sorts of attention form the public and the media. One that can stuff the run is a bit more under the radar, but no less valued by team management. The best way for a defensive front to provide apply pressure is a topic of much debate and contention, and there are about as many advocates of 3-4 schemes as those that back a 4-3.
