NFL Power Rankings Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 11/25/2014

The Thanksgiving week is the most difficult week for any professional handicapper. Between the truncated turnaround time between NFL weeks, the gravitational pull of familial obligations, and the convergence of multiple sports into one jam-packed seven-day session, this week can be a bear trap or a treasure trove for bettors. As such, this week’s Power Rankings are going to be a bit more free flowing and a little less meaty than normal.

NFL Power Rankings Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/18/2014

We are facing record-low temperatures across the country this November, and that will be a significant X-Factor down the stretch. There are still roughly 22 teams jostling for 12 playoff spots, and now is the time that momentum and execution mean everything on the gridiron. But adverse weather conditions – whether the cold is slowing down the breakneck offenses of the league’s top teams or whether a rain-soaked field results in a fluke turnover that costs a team a game – are looming as a critical handicapping factor over the final two months of the season.

NFL Power Rankings Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/11/2014

The Cover-2 is dead. Chicago, Carolina and Tampa Bay are the last three teams that still exclusively use the defensive system that was all the rage in the NFL throughout the 2000s. Those three combined to give up a humiliating 127 points on Sunday, with the Bears (55) and the Panthers (45) getting embarrassed on prime time.

NFL Power Rankings Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/4/2014

Last week’s action triggered a massive massive shakeup in the power rankings, and right now there’s no telling who the Super Bowl favorite is. In fact, as we trudge our way through November and there is one thing becoming more important than talent and coaching: momentum. The stakes continue to rise as we head toward the stretch run. And right now the overriding factor in determining where to go with your money is which teams are getting hotter as the weather is getting colder.

NFL Power Rankings Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 10/28/2014

The Lions-Falcons and Seahawks-Panthers games were as disgusting of displays of football as I can remember this season; the winner in each game was simply the least incompetent team. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for everyone in attendance for the Vikings-Bucs game (it was 3-0 at halftime) or the Raiders-Browns (9-6 after three quarters). Most of the rest of the games were blowouts. Pittsburgh, New England, Kansas City and Houston each won going away. And at the end of the weekend it could be said that only two games (Eagles-Cardinals and Ravens-Bengals) were actually somewhat enjoyable to watch.

NFL Power Rankings Week 8
by Robert Ferringo - 10/21/2014

Prior to the 2011 season, in an attempt make the public think it actually cared about the Concussion Crisis, the NFL decided to move the kickoff from the 30-yard-line up to the 35. The idea is that this would lead to less kickoff returns and thus less potential concussion-causing coverage hits. The ruse was a success, as the percentage of kickoffs resulting in a touchback increased from just 11 percent from 1994 to 2010 to a whopping 46 percent from 2011 to this year.

NFL Power Rankings Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/15/2014

I think that Week 6 of the NFL season was, without a doubt, the strangest week that we’ve seen thus far. There were surprising upsets (Dallas) and near-upsets (Oakland), thrilling last-second wins (Green Bay) and last-second losses (Houston), some blowouts (Philadelphia and Baltimore), and a tie for good measure.

NFL Power Rankings Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/7/2014

One of the things I enjoy about hitting the meat of the NFL season is that now we’re starting to have enough information to identify macro-trends in the sport while still having enough time left in the season to capitalize them. It’s one thing to project paths prior to the season and another to assess results at the end of the year. But the middle of the season provides the opportunity to cash in on our hard-earned analysis.

NFL Power Rankings Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 9/30/2014

Of 12 spreads on the board in Week 4, only three of them were posted at a touchdown or higher. Two others were posted at 5.5 and 4.5. But the remaining seven spreads were at a field goal or less, which is generally an indicator that even the sportsbooks are unsure of who is going to win.

NFL Power Rankings Week 4
by Robert Ferringo - 9/23/2014

A cluster of bye weeks sucks the life out of the NFL Week 4 card and offers an early-season challenge for bettors that are just starting to get into a groove. I also suspect that the teams that have been granted the week off aren’t all that happy about it as last week was the first time that, league-wide, it looked like things were clicking for most groups.

NFL Power Rankings Week 3
by Robert Ferringo - 9/16/2014

Since we last spoke the NFL has provided us all with a hellacious week of self-realization. You don’t need me to recap it for you. But I didn’t feel right starting off this week’s Power Rankings with some snappy intro or witty, humorous analysis.

NFL Power Rankings Week 2
by Robert Ferringo - 9/10/2014

The Ray Rice debacle has muted what is usually one of the most entertaining weeks on the football calendar: Overreaction Week. There is an almost comically large build up and anticipation for the open to the NFL season. And the results of the first games invariably lead to an irrational overreaction by fans and gamblers alike on the following Monday and Tuesday after Week 1. The sportsbooks know this, and they generally use the rush to judgment against desperate bettors in Week 2.

NFL Power Rankings Week 1
by Robert Ferringo - 9/3/2014

We are on the eve of destruction, waiting, anxiously, to unleash the fury of a thousand backdoor covers on unsuspecting sportsbooks in our attempt to dominate another NFL season. The six-month sojourn of professional football has come to close, and we are ready to begin another six-month-long football gambling odyssey as the 2014 NFL season commences this weekend.

NFL Power Rankings – Week 17
by Robert Ferringo - 12/23/2013

I almost had to do a double take on Sunday. For a minute there I thought I was watching real, live football. There was hitting and defense, and each game was not some free-for-all shootout. It was glorious. Not so glorious was getting caught with my hand in the totals cookie jar. The past two seasons the scoring faucet shut off much earlier than Week 16.

NFL Power Rankings – Week 16
by Robert Ferringo - 12/17/2013

Like I touched on last week, defense has essentially been outlawed in the NFL. And right now bettors are almost blindly betting on every game to beat the posted total. The books are scrambling to adjust. But they know that this week features a host of what are essentially playoff games, which are usually lower-scoring. The books are caught in the middle of the road. And the freight train that is NFL scoring just keeps bearing down on them.

NFL Power Rankings – Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/10/2013

Well, I was right and I was wrong last week in saying that weather would be a major factor in Sunday’s games. While the snow and the cold made for some incredible television – and the elements seemed to heighten the drama exponentially – the weather really didn’t slow down any of the offenses playing this past weekend.

NFL Power Rankings – Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/3/2013

Weather will be a major factor this week in the NFL as we have several dome teams heading out into the elements in some of the key games this weekend. Indianapolis heads to Cincinnati. Detroit will travel to Philadelphia. Baltimore hosts Minnesota. And Dallas will head up to Chicago on “Monday Night Football”. The temperature should be at or below freezing in all four of those games and wind, snow, and rain could all be major factors.

NFL Power Rankings - Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 11/26/2013

Every week we keep waiting for some teams to separate themselves from the pack in the NFL Playoff picture. But every week it seems like all things do is get more muddled. Over half of the teams in the NFL are still in the playoff hunt, and 22 of 32 teams are either at or within one game of .500. Parity rules. But this is also the time of the year when those overlooked teams on the bottom rungs of the NFL hierarchy can be moneymakers for bold bettors.

NFL Power Rankings – Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/19/2013

What did we learn this week in the NFL? Not that much, really — at least compared to most weeks. The Broncos are better than the Chiefs, but we already knew that. The Panthers are for real, but they were favored against New England on Monday night, so the public had already figured that out. New Orleans is better than San Francisco — as long as they are playing at home, at least. Knew that one, too.

NFL Power Rankings – Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/12/2013

Can anyone play this game? Four weeks ago it looked like Ron Rivera was going to lose his job, and now his Panthers are coming off a convincing win over preseason Super Bowl favorite San Francisco, and Carolina is favored over Tom Brady on “Monday Night Football”.