NFL Handicapping Articles

NFL Handicapping: New York Giants Face Long Odds for Playoffs
by Trevor Whenham - 9/26/2013

I am not privy to the strategy sessions of the New York Giants’ inner circle. I am confident, however, that this is not how the first three games of the season were supposed to turn out. Not only are they 0-3, but they have been progressively less competitive with each outing. They narrowly lost in Dallas in the opener, were not particularly competitive at home against the Broncos, and seemingly missed their flight to Carolina. So, can this team turn things around and perform better from this point forward?

NFC East Weekly NFL Betting Picks: Week 4
by Dave Schwab - 9/25/2013

The NFC East is quickly turning into the NFC least with a straight up record of 1-7 in the last two weeks. Both Washington and New York are still looking for their first win of the year, and Philadelphia has lost its last two after beating the Redskins on opening weekend. I suffered my first loss of the season in my pick of the week when the Giants failed to show up for last week’s game against Carolina.

NFL Totals Betting: Week 4 Over and Under Predictions
by Dave Schwab - 9/25/2013

The total line results were a dead even 16-16 heading into Week 3 of the NFL season, but points were a little harder to come by for a number of teams last week, with nine of the 16 games staying “under” the closing total line. My hot start got doused with an icy 1-2 record in last week’s picks, but I still have twice as many wins as losses through the first three weeks of the season.

NFL Handicapping: Biggest ATS Surprises
by Trevor Whenham - 9/25/2013

The NFL never turns out like you expect it to. That’s both the best and worst part of the league. We are only three weeks into the long season, yet for bettors there have been all sorts of surprises already. Some have been pleasant, while other have probably made you want to punch yourself in the face.

NFL Handicapping: What Ails the 49ers?
by Trevor Whenham - 9/25/2013

The San Francisco 49ers were my preseason choice to win the Super Bowl. After their opening win against the Packers, I felt like a genius. Their offense was all but flawless, and they looked like the dominant team they were expected to be. But then they played at Seattle. Then hosted Indianapolis. In both games they were incompetent on both sides of the ball. It was ugly. Really, really ugly. Now we are left to pick up the pieces.

NFL Basic Strategy Teasers: Best Options for Week 4
by George Monroy - 9/24/2013

Basic strategy teasers have done very well over the first three weeks of the season and are winning at a 70 percent rate. For those that are unfamiliar, a basic strategy teaser is a two-team combination wager, similar to a standard parlay, in which the bettor is given six points to move the spread for each game. The teaser is a very specific bet in that it only deals with favorites of 7.5, 8.0, or 8.5 points and underdogs of 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 points.

NFL Handicapping: Tough Teams to Bet On
by Trevor Whenham - 9/24/2013

Heading into an NFL season, most handicappers have a sense of what they expect from most teams. They have an idea of which teams will struggle, which ones should be strong, and which ones could provide some intriguing value. The teams I like are the teams that more or less meet those expectations through the first three weeks of the season.

NFL Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 9/24/2013

Could we see a 16-0 and 0-16 team in the same season for the first time in NFL history? Obviously there is a long ways to go, but the Denver Broncos look pretty unbeatable right now, and the Jacksonville Jaguars pretty unwatchable.

10 Reasons Why the Bookies are Cleaning Up this NFL Season
by Doc's Sports - 9/23/2013

Well, it’s certainly been a slow start to the NFL season. But fear not! There are still 14 regular season weeks left and a full playoffs remaining, with everything leading up to what should be a snowy, blizzardy mess of a Super Bowl in Giants Stadium this February. There are a lot more twists and turns and ups and downs to this season, and we’re looking forward to all of them.

NFL Betting: Jacksonville-Seattle Spread one of Largest in History
by Darin Zank - 9/20/2013

It's not too often we see one NFL team favored by three touchdowns over another NFL team, but that's about what we've got for Sunday's game in Seattle, matching the host Seahawks against the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars. And why not? Seattle is a Super Bowl contender, while Jacksonville seems a contender for franchise relocation.

NFC East Weekly NFL Betting Picks: Week 3
by Dave Schwab - 9/18/2013

The NFC East went a collective 0-4 straight up in Week 2 with both Washington and New York digging themselves into an early 0-2 hole. Going against the Giants has proved to be profitable play in my NFC East pick of the week with their 0-2 start against the spread as well.

NFL Totals Betting: Week 3 Over and Under Predictions
by Dave Schwab - 9/18/2013

The oddsmakers remain all over the total line this season in the NFL with 16 games going “over” and 16 games staying “under” in the first two weeks. I am off to a blazing start with a 5-1 record in my first six picks, including a clean sweep in last week’s games.

NFL Basic Strategy Teasers: Best Options for Week 3
by George Monroy - 9/17/2013

Week 2 of the NFL season featured a marquee NFC West matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks that ended with Colin Kaepernick shaving his eyebrow to pay off a bet he made with opposing quarterback Russell Wilson. In the other big matchup of the week the Manning brothers did not have any interesting bets, which was good for Eli Manning as the Denver Broncos blew out his New York Giants by nearly 20 points.

NFL Handicapping: Teams Winless through Week 2
by Trevor Whenham - 9/17/2013

Basic math suggests that after two weeks a quarter of the teams in the NFL should be winless. That’s exactly the situation we have. While there is a whole lot of season left and it seems far too early to panic, it has historically been a very bad thing to limp out of the gate. Since 1990 there have been 190 teams that have started out 0-2. Just 22 of those — 11.6 percent — have gone on to make the playoffs.

Handicapping Chip Kelly’s Performance in Philadelphia
by Trevor Whenham - 9/17/2013

When Chip Kelly took the job with the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason after previously flirting with the NFL, we knew that we were going to see fireworks. We haven’t been disappointed. It has been far from perfect, but the team is averaging 31.5 points per game and has played two of the more interesting and exciting games of the season.

NFL Handicapping: Just how bad are the Jaguars?
by Trevor Whenham - 9/17/2013

I don’t think that there is anyone coming into this season that thought that the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to be anything other than pretty bad. Through their first two games, though, they have fallen below even the lowest of expectations. They have been just terrible. They scored two points at home in their opener. In their second game — at a lousy Oakland team, no less — they scored a meaningless touchdown once their loss was all but certain and then missed the conversion for good measure.

NFL Betting and Handicapping: Scouting the Week Ahead
by Alan Matthews - 9/16/2013

If the road to the NFC Championship goes through Seattle, the rest of that conference is in big trouble. What other reaction could you have to the Seahawks' 29-3 destruction of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night? Marshawn Lynch was in full beast mode with three total touchdowns, and the NFL's best defense held San Francisco to just 207 yards.

NFC East Weekly NFL Betting Picks: Week 2
by Dave Schwab - 9/11/2013

The Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles carved out the early edge in the NFC East title race with key divisional victories on opening day, so heading into this week it is up to Washington and New York to try an avoid a dreaded 0-2 start as underdogs against two tough opponents.

NFL Totals Betting: Week 2 Over and Under Predictions
by Dave Schwab - 9/11/2013

We are only one week into the new NFL season and the oddsmakers are already in top form setting the “over/under” line with a perfect 8-8 record in Week 1. I survived with a 2-1 record on last week’s picks thanks to Chip Kelly’s new offense in Philly.

NFL Basic Strategy Teasers: Best Options for Week 2
by George Monroy - 9/11/2013

Week 1 of the NFL season opened with a bang. Peyton Manning performed like the best version of Peyton Manning we have ever seen, the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers traded blows like heavyweight boxers, and Robert Griffin III looked rusty and the Philadelphia Eagles’ offense looked great. And on top of all that, basic strategy teasers went 2-1, with the one teaser that was most likely to lose actually losing. Remember that basic strategy teasers are a specific type of wager that moves the spread past the strongest NFL key numbers of three and seven.