Playoff Underdogs Bite
By Mike Harrison / SPORTSBETTING.COM
Wow! We haven?t seen dogs with this much bite since, Cujo.
As opposed to the Wild-Card round, where we saw all the road teams as favorites, last weekend?s Divisional playoff round set up with all four home teams laying the points.
But, as bettors who played the favorites found out, sometimes it?s best to take the path less traveled, or at least it was this past Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend?s biggest underdog, the Arizona Cardinals, played those 9.5-point favorite Panthers in Carolina on Saturday night (they were -10 at many places as well).
The Cards were champions of arguably the NFL?s weakest division, the NFC West, with a 9-7 record straight up, while the Panthers won the NFC South with a 12-4 mark SU.
Fortunately for Arizona bettors, and unfortunately for Carolina?s, Panthers? birthday boy Jake Delhomme threw five picks in an awful performance. The resulting 33-13 loss dealt a blow to the betting public, as the Panthers were heavily backed to cover the spread, but as well the straight up loss killed a lot of teaser and moneyline parlay tickets on Saturday.
Arizona is now 6-1 ATS when underdogs of 8-points or more and advances to its first ever NFC championship. Who knows, that trend might come in handy if the Cards meet Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl (although the line probably wouldn?t get that high).
- Remember that semi-quarterback controversy in Philadelphia earlier in the season, where Donovan McNabb was benched in favor of Kevin Kolb?
Remember how the New York Giants won the Super Bowl last year?
Both are distant memories now as the Philadelphia Eagles ensured that the Giants won?t defend their Super Bowl title, covering as +4 road favorite in a 23-11 win on Sunday.
The Under had cashed in 10 of Philadelphia?s last 12 visits to play the New York Giants and now you can make it 11 of the last 13, as the Total fell below the 39.5 line.
The Eagles are now a 3-point road favorite heading out to Arizona.
- There have been rumblings about how this season?s Baltimore Ravens resemble the championship team that won Super Bowl XXXV and those rumblings have become even louder after this Saturday?s game against the Tennessee Titans.
Listed as field goal underdogs going into Tennessee, the Ravens defeated the Titans by a final of 13-10, earning a spot in the AFC championship game. How they won is a different story as the Titans outplayed them in almost every area, but not where it counts most ? on the scoreboard. Turnovers and penalties torpedoed Tennessee?s day as they couldn?t score points despite decent success moving the ball.
The Under prevailed again when these two meet, as it has now in 12 of their last 16 meetings (Total of 34). The betting public liked the Under, cashing in there, but a straight up dog win resulted in bettors taking another hit overall.
- Only one of the favored home teams stepped up and won a game last weekend. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat a Charger team without LaDainian Tomlinson in the lineup.
Underdogs of 6.5-points, the San Diego Chargers looked like they might cover and pull the upset early on, scoring a TD within the first three minutes of the game but the Steelers clamped down and ensured that Pittsburgh bettors would profit from an eventual 35-24 playoff victory.
The online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com reported that Pittsburgh was a nice win for the betting public, as they had 75% of the volume on the Steelers in the last matchup of the weekend.
Now Pittsburgh hosts the Ravens with an early line of the Steelers -5.
The NFL?s final four is set. Conference Championship weekend is teed up and ready to go. You can check out all the lines, prop wagers, future odds and more here
NCAA Hoops ? I love college basketball, but it gets so little of my attention on the NFL playoff weekends. However, I did see that the former No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (now No. 3) dropped another game SU and ATS, as the No. 4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons pulled of the upset on Sunday.
The Tar Heels were 7-point favorites at tip-off but lost outright, 92-89.
Sunday also saw the new No. 1 Pittsburgh Panthers justifying top spot, covering as a 20-point favorite in a 90-67 win over the St. John?s Red Storm.
With the football season in the waning weeks, I?m definitely going to be spending more time watching college b-ball.
Have a great week.
By Mike Harrison / SPORTSBETTING.COM
Wow! We haven?t seen dogs with this much bite since, Cujo.
As opposed to the Wild-Card round, where we saw all the road teams as favorites, last weekend?s Divisional playoff round set up with all four home teams laying the points.
But, as bettors who played the favorites found out, sometimes it?s best to take the path less traveled, or at least it was this past Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend?s biggest underdog, the Arizona Cardinals, played those 9.5-point favorite Panthers in Carolina on Saturday night (they were -10 at many places as well).
The Cards were champions of arguably the NFL?s weakest division, the NFC West, with a 9-7 record straight up, while the Panthers won the NFC South with a 12-4 mark SU.
Fortunately for Arizona bettors, and unfortunately for Carolina?s, Panthers? birthday boy Jake Delhomme threw five picks in an awful performance. The resulting 33-13 loss dealt a blow to the betting public, as the Panthers were heavily backed to cover the spread, but as well the straight up loss killed a lot of teaser and moneyline parlay tickets on Saturday.
Arizona is now 6-1 ATS when underdogs of 8-points or more and advances to its first ever NFC championship. Who knows, that trend might come in handy if the Cards meet Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl (although the line probably wouldn?t get that high).
- Remember that semi-quarterback controversy in Philadelphia earlier in the season, where Donovan McNabb was benched in favor of Kevin Kolb?
Remember how the New York Giants won the Super Bowl last year?
Both are distant memories now as the Philadelphia Eagles ensured that the Giants won?t defend their Super Bowl title, covering as +4 road favorite in a 23-11 win on Sunday.
The Under had cashed in 10 of Philadelphia?s last 12 visits to play the New York Giants and now you can make it 11 of the last 13, as the Total fell below the 39.5 line.
The Eagles are now a 3-point road favorite heading out to Arizona.
- There have been rumblings about how this season?s Baltimore Ravens resemble the championship team that won Super Bowl XXXV and those rumblings have become even louder after this Saturday?s game against the Tennessee Titans.
Listed as field goal underdogs going into Tennessee, the Ravens defeated the Titans by a final of 13-10, earning a spot in the AFC championship game. How they won is a different story as the Titans outplayed them in almost every area, but not where it counts most ? on the scoreboard. Turnovers and penalties torpedoed Tennessee?s day as they couldn?t score points despite decent success moving the ball.
The Under prevailed again when these two meet, as it has now in 12 of their last 16 meetings (Total of 34). The betting public liked the Under, cashing in there, but a straight up dog win resulted in bettors taking another hit overall.
- Only one of the favored home teams stepped up and won a game last weekend. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat a Charger team without LaDainian Tomlinson in the lineup.
Underdogs of 6.5-points, the San Diego Chargers looked like they might cover and pull the upset early on, scoring a TD within the first three minutes of the game but the Steelers clamped down and ensured that Pittsburgh bettors would profit from an eventual 35-24 playoff victory.
The online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com reported that Pittsburgh was a nice win for the betting public, as they had 75% of the volume on the Steelers in the last matchup of the weekend.
Now Pittsburgh hosts the Ravens with an early line of the Steelers -5.
The NFL?s final four is set. Conference Championship weekend is teed up and ready to go. You can check out all the lines, prop wagers, future odds and more here
NCAA Hoops ? I love college basketball, but it gets so little of my attention on the NFL playoff weekends. However, I did see that the former No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (now No. 3) dropped another game SU and ATS, as the No. 4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons pulled of the upset on Sunday.
The Tar Heels were 7-point favorites at tip-off but lost outright, 92-89.
Sunday also saw the new No. 1 Pittsburgh Panthers justifying top spot, covering as a 20-point favorite in a 90-67 win over the St. John?s Red Storm.
With the football season in the waning weeks, I?m definitely going to be spending more time watching college b-ball.
Have a great week.
