NFL Handicapping Articles

NFL Predictions: Best-Case Scenarios for all 32 Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 8/31/2017

Success means different things for different teams in the NFL. What would be spectacular to the point of being miraculous this year for the Browns would be so bad that it would cause the Patriots to consider folding. As we head into the new season, here is a look at the best-case scenario for each of the 32 teams in the league. It should go without saying that the fans of some teams will be happier with these than other.

2017 Oakland Raiders Home Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 8/30/2017

Back in March, the NFL owners voted 31-1 - only Miami's Stephen Ross voted against - to allow the Raiders to move to Las Vegas even though that's a much smaller market. However, that new stadium in Sin City won't be ready for the Raiders until 2020. (Talk about the best NFL road trip for any fan base playing the Raiders!)

2017 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Home Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 8/25/2017

We know there's a Super Bowl Loser Curse and a Madden Cover Curse, but I don't believe I've heard of a Hard Knocks Curse. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are featured on this season's always-entertaining HBO show "Hard Knocks". Most coaches around the NFL tell their owners that they don't want the cameras around. That's why the league instituted rules where teams can be forced. Recent history has shown mixed results for Hard Knocks teams.

2017 Tennessee Titans Home Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 8/24/2017

The NFL is a copy-cat league, but sometimes if you go against the grain that can be successful because few teams do it. For example, the 2016 Tennessee Titans. I absolutely thought they made a mistake after a 3-13 season in 2015 by not hiring some offensive guru like a Chip Kelly to work with Marcus Mariota. Instead, the Titans gave the full-time job to Mike Mularkey, who took over midway through the '15 campaign for the fired Ken Whisenhunt.

2017 Detroit Lions Home Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 8/23/2017

It's going to be a long sports season in Detroit. The Tigers are rebuilding and will only avoid last place in the AL Central Division because of the "more" rebuilding Chicago White Sox. The Detroit Red Wings' amazing 25-year playoff streak ended last season as they finished with 79 points, and things aren't likely to be much better in 2017-18. The Pistons are meh. They missed the playoffs last year and might sneak in as a No. 7 or 8 seed this season in the weak East only to get bounced quickly.

New England Patriots First Loss of 2017: Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
by Chris Vasile - 8/23/2017

If you can't feel the excitement as you read those three simple words, I am afraid you are in the wrong place. Before we prepare ourselves for another five-month rollercoaster of emotions, we must reflect on how dramatically the 2016-17 NFL season came to an end. The New England Patriots erased the largest deficit in Super Bowl history by coming back from a 28-3-hole midway through the third quarter to force overtime. From there, history was made and the Patriots captured their fifth Super Bowl title. I can still vividly hear Joe Buck's game-winning touchdown call; "Toss to White, *silence*, heeeeeeee's in! Patriots win the Super Bowl! Brady has his fifth. What a comeback!"

Free NFL Betting Picks: Week 1 Lines and Odds Expert Analysis
by Trevor Whenham - 8/21/2017

We are at an interesting time for NFL lines. We have seen a bit of preseason action, so we have a better sense of where teams are at than we did a while ago, but the opening week of the season is still far enough away that the public has yet to start paying close attention to the lines for those games. Lines have been posted for a long time now, and the sharp money has had their way with them, but they still look different now than they will once the public floodgates open. That means that it is a good time to look for lines that are interesting. Here are six lines from Bovada which, for one reason or another, stand out as being interesting:

Expert NFL Betting Advice: Best and Worst Backup Quarterbacks
by Trevor Whenham - 8/21/2017

A team's backup is like a heart surgeon. You hope you never have to get to know who they are, but when you need one it usually happens suddenly and you really hope they are good at their job. The NFL has their choice of every college football quarterback there is, so it is consistently amazing to me that there aren't enough good backups to go around. Heck, there aren't enough good starters to go around, either, but that's a different story.

Expert NFL Handicapping: Teams that Could Be Worse ATS in 2017
by Trevor Whenham - 8/20/2017

There are 32 teams in the NFL, and only 14 of them were profitable against the spread over the course of the whole season last year. Needless to say, it is tough for teams to consistently grow the bankrolls of bettors. We can't know with any certainty which teams will be profitable - though we are certainly working hard to figure it out. What I do know without any hesitation at all, though, is that all 14 teams that were profitable last year won't be profitable this year. Some will but far from all.

Expert NFL Betting Advice: Teams That Could Improve Against the Spread
by Trevor Whenham - 8/18/2017

There were a lot of teams in the NFL that were not much fun to bet on last year. Eighteen of the 32 teams in the league were not profitable if you bet on them in every game they played. Not surprisingly, many of those teams weren't very good at football. Not many bettors are going to bet on every game a team plays - not many good bettors, anyway. Still, it can be very useful for bettors to identify teams that are likely to improve significantly against the spread from where they were last year. That can be one of the easiest ways to identify opportunities for profit - especially if the teams are likely to be more improved than the public expects them to be.

2017 Baltimore Ravens Home Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 8/18/2017

While I'm not Peter King or Jay Glazer, I consider myself very well-informed when it comes to the NFL each season. Hey, I read Peter King and Jay Glazer (and many others)! But I'll just be honest here in saying I have absolutely no idea what to expect from the 2017 Baltimore Ravens largely because no team has been more gutted by injuries thus far (Miami is in the conversation too).

2017 New York Giants Home Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 8/17/2017

The New York Giants focused almost entirely on their defense last offseason, and it worked wonders on that unit, which largely carried Big Blue to an 11-5 record and its first playoff berth since upsetting New England in Super Bowl XLVI - the last real highlight of the Tom Coughlin Era.

2017 Miami Dolphins Home Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 8/16/2017

I was frankly skeptical that the Miami Dolphins were going to reach the playoffs again after going 10-6 last year and getting to the postseason for the first time since 2008 - which also happens to be the year Tom Brady blew out his knee in Week 1 and the last time the Patriots didn't win the AFC East. I'm certainly more skeptical in the wake of Miami quarterback Ryan Tannehill's knee injury that has ended his season.

2017 Green Bay Packers Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/16/2017

Aaron Rodgers put on one of the all-time great quarterback displays for about three months last season and carried Green Bay to the cusp of the Super Bowl. As long as Rodgers is still under center, the Packers have to be considered one of the favorites to win the NFC and a legit Super Bowl threat. But will (or more importantly can) absolutely anyone on the Packers roster raise their level of play to match Rodgers? If not, it's been proven over the past two "underachieving" seasons that Rodgers can only carry this team so far.

2017 Seattle Seahawks Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/16/2017

By making the playoffs five straight seasons, winning and losing a Super Bowl along the way, and taking part in the postseason in 11 of the past 14 years, Seattle has solidified itself among the best and most consistent franchises in the NFL so far this century. And with the foundation of this current Seahawks group still intact, there is nothing to suggest that they won't continue to be a force in the NFC.

2017 Minnesota Vikings Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/16/2017

Things went sideways awfully quick for the Vikings last year. Hopes were high coming off their 2015 playoff appearance. But then Teddy Bridgewater's leg exploded in the preseason and sent this squad scrambling. They managed to find a capable replacement on the fly with Sam Bradford and actually started the season 5-0. But then Mike Zimmer's eye issues flared up, offensive coordinator Norv Turner quit, injuries started to mount, and Minnesota was forced to drag its carcass through a 3-8 close and a .500 record.

2017 Chicago Bears Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/16/2017

For the last eight years the Chicago Bears experienced relative "stability" at the quarterback position by employing one of the worst in the game. But finally, mercifully, Jay Cutler ended his injury-prone stay in the Windy City, fleeing for retirement (and then Miami; but not in that order) and taking his nonexistent leadership skills and turnover-happy style with him. Yet now the Bears find themselves in unfamiliar - yet completely familiar - territory: smack-dab in the middle of a quarterback controversy.

2017 San Francisco 49ers Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/16/2017

San Francisco has been floundering since the 49ers' ridiculous schism from John Harbaugh following the 2014 season. After one season of comically inept Jim Tomsula, the 49ers tried to get crafty, bringing in Chip Kelly. That went about as well as expected, with Kelly's utterly ill-fitting scheme leading to a 2-14 campaign. The 49ers wisely decided to move on from Kelly after just one year.

2017 Detroit Lions Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/16/2017

How the Lions perform this season will likely come down to two things: how the much-maligned offensive line holds up and how their linebackers perform. But how you feel about the Lions heading into this season really comes down to one thing: how you think of quarterback Matt Stafford. Where is Stafford on the spectrum of NFL quarterbacks? This guy has thrown for 27,000 yards over the last six seasons.

2017 Arizona Cardinals Season Win Total Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 8/16/2017

Last year at this time I felt the Cardinals had one of the best rosters in football and that they were a true Super Bowl threat. Things didn't work out that way. Instead Arizona suffered through an incredibly frustrating, underachieving season that left them below .500 but also below the radar coming into 2017.