NFL Handicapping Articles

2017 Tennessee Titans Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 6/15/2017

So I was 50 percent correct on two teams that I thought would have breakout seasons in 2016: right on the Oakland Raiders and sadly wrong on the Jacksonville Jaguars. I haven't yet decided on a second team for 2017, but I'm pretty big on the Tennessee Titans' bandwagon. I'm not saying they are going to win a playoff game, much less the Super Bowl, but the Titans have a reasonable shot of getting to the postseason for the first time since 2008. I see no reason why they can't win the weak AFC South as it may take only nine victories again.

NFL Win Total Props and Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 6/15/2017

As we await the start of the NFL season - and are taunted by OTAs, which means that real football is getting closer - it's a good time to dream of what could happen next year. And if we are going to dream about what could happen, we might as well figure out if we can bet on it, too. BetOnline has a range of NFL season win total props available, and though only one is really playable they are all interesting to consider:

2017 Detroit Lions Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 6/14/2017

Four franchises have never played in a Super Bowl. Jacksonville and Houston you can sort of understand considering they are fairly new teams (the Texans version of Houston). But Cleveland and Detroit? The Lions are one of the flagship franchises of the NFL. Alas, I don't see that drought (nor certainly for the Jags, Texans or Browns) ending in 2017 for Detroit.

NFL Betting Advice and Futures Odds: Adrian Peterson and Marshawn Lynch Props
by Trevor Whenham - 6/14/2017

The running back position has increasingly become one for young men and one which teams aren't willing to pay premium dollars for. Against that background, though, we have a very interesting story developing as two elder statesmen of the position are joining new teams and making a lot of headlines as a result. Adrian Peterson is a New Orleans Saint, and Marshawn Lynch has returned from retirement to join the Oakland Raiders.

2017 Baltimore Ravens Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 6/9/2017

If you want to appreciate the success the New England Patriots have had since Tom Brady came into the league, simply look at the Baltimore Ravens for how hard it is to keep an annual Super Bowl contender going in the salary-cap era.

2017 New York Giants Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 6/8/2017

I expected the Giants to be a playoff contender last year because I thought the offense would be leaps and bounds better. Not so much because of McAdoo but the talent around Eli Manning, including rookie receiver Sterling Shepard, the No. 40 overall pick out of Oklahoma, and the return to health of Victor Cruz. He had been one of the league's best receivers in 2011-12 before injuries hit. Cruz didn't play at all in 2015. Add those two to the incomparable Odell Beckham Jr., and I thought Manning would play like an MVP candidate.

2017 Miami Dolphins Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 6/7/2017

Sometimes NFL executives have to make uncomfortable decisions. It's very rare for a general manager to fire a head coach and then name his offensive coordinator as the full-time replacement if said head coach also hired the OC. So what does this have to do with the Miami Dolphins?

2017 Seattle Seahawks Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 6/2/2017

Has the championship window closed on the Seattle Seahawks? I believe it's still open for 2017 but then that might be it for a little while. It's no secret that success is expensive in the NFL. Winners get paid, either by their own team or by another on the free-agent market. The Seahawks have made the playoffs and finished with at least 10 wins every season since they selected a quarterback out of Wisconsin in the third round of the 2012 draft named Russell Wilson.

2017 Kansas City Chiefs Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 6/1/2017

If you told me I absolutely had to win some random regular-season game in the 2017 NFL campaign and I can choose my head coach, I'd go with New England's Bill Belichick. Everyone probably takes Belichick because he might already be the greatest coach in NFL history.

2017 Atlanta Falcons Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 5/31/2017

While I didn't think the Atlanta Falcons would beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI, I sure as heck was rooting for them to win the first title in franchise history - and obviously they should have won before the biggest collapse in the game's history. Perhaps we should have seen the loss coming because all NFL MVPs since to reach the Super Bowl all lost in it.

NFL Season Win Totals Picks: Best and Worst Value on the Betting Board
by Trevor Whenham - 5/26/2017

NFL season win totals have been out for a short while now, so you might have had a chance to look at them already. As is always the case, there were some that jumped out as being really quite attractive and some that were just awful - and a whole bunch that weren't particularly interesting one way or another. Here's a look at the best and worst NFL season win totals on the board currently at BetOnline:

NFL Season Win Total Predictions: Toughest Teams to Judge
by Trevor Whenham - 5/26/2017

I love NFL season win totals. I don't bet them often - it's tough to justify locking up money that long unless the value is really strong. I love to handicap them, though. It is a good chance to see how your opinion of teams and where they sit matches with the opinions of oddsmakers. If your opinion is wildly different then you have time to figure out why and whether you need to shift your thinking. And, most importantly, I love the totals because they break up the long desert of sadness between football seasons and let us think about the greatest of sports in a meaningful way again.

2017 Houston Texans Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 5/25/2017

How did Houston's Bill O'Brien not win last season's NFL Coach of the Year Award? O'Brien had to make chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what at quarterback yet again in 2016 (like he has every season there) as the free-agent signing of former Broncos backup Brock Osweiler was a mega-bust. Osweiler was so bad that he was benched midway through the second quarter of Houston's Week 15 game vs. Jacksonville.

2017 Green Bay Packers Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 5/24/2017

Dear Packers fans, the next time quarterback Aaron Rodgers tells you to R-E-L-A-X or something similar, listen to the future Hall of Famer. Or simply calm down in the first place and trust in your guy. In 2014, Packers Nation was panicking after three games and a 1-2 start. That's when Rodgers said that famous "relax" quote. Green Bay was just fine that season, winning the NFC North for a fourth straight season and going to the NFC title game, which the Packers should have won in Seattle.

2017 Pittsburgh Steelers Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 5/18/2017

With arguably the best trio of skill-position triplets in the NFL in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le'Veon Bell and receiver Antonio Brown, the Pittsburgh Steelers should have finished higher than tied for 10th in the NFL last season in scoring (24.9 ppg). I thought Big Ben would win his first NFL MVP entering last season. He was good, not great.

2017 Dallas Cowboys Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 5/17/2017

The 1974 NFL Draft class of the Pittsburgh Steelers is widely considered the best ever as the club landed four future Pro Football Hall of Famers in USC wide receiver Lynn Swann at No. 21 overall, Kent State linebacker Jack Lambert at No. 46, Alabama A&M receiver John Stallworth at No. 82 and Wisconsin center Mike Webster at No. 125. All four players earned four Super Bowl rings with the dynastic Steelers.

2017 New England Patriots Road Schedule Odds with Expert Picks and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 5/11/2017

We are at the point on the calendar where the NBA Playoffs are winding down, so that means it's time to start thinking about the NFL season even though it's largely in a dead period for that sport until after June 1 when teams could release players for salary-cap purposes. For the most part, teams pretty much know what their rosters will look like come training camp in July barring injury or suspension.

NFL Player Props Odds for 2017 Season with Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 5/8/2017

The NFL season is still several months away, but there is never really a true offseason in this game. The draft just ended, and now we are into minicamps and the final filling out of rosters. There is still a whole lot we don't know, but it is never too early to guess as what could happen. Bovada has a solid range of interesting player props to look at. Here are the most interesting:

NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
by Trevor Whenham - 5/8/2017

Now that the NFL Draft is over, we finally know where the top offensive talents will be playing and who they will be playing with. That in turn means that it is a very good time to look ahead to the Offensive Rookie of the Year race to see if there are is any value to be had in the futures. We have to recognize, though, that this is a tough game to play - at this time last year no one was thinking that Dak Prescott was going to be relevant, never mind that he would win the award easily. With that in mind here's a look at where we stand right now (odds are from Bovada):

NFL Schedule Release: Most Interesting Games in First Month with Odds
by Trevor Whenham - 4/21/2017

The NFL unveiled their regular-season schedule on Thursday as part of their ongoing quest to be in the news cycle at all times. There will be lots of time to comb over the schedule and look for the best games, the worst, and the ones we are most looking forward to. What I want to do now, though, is focus on first impressions. There are, at first glance, seven games in the first two weeks that are particularly interesting - as both a bettor and a fan.