2012 NFL Power Rankings – Week 2
by Robert Ferringo - 9/11/2012

I have a long-standing theory that rookies and freshmen suck. I understand this theory is at odds with the national obsession with potential, but in my experience no players are more overrated and no one’s impact is more overstated than a rookie or a freshman.

2012 NFL Power Rankings – Week 1
by Robert Ferringo - 9/4/2012

I’ve been staring at these NFL Week 1 odds for over two months. I’ve been analyzing every matchup, every permutation, and every angle of these games as I desperately waited for the 2012 NFL season to begin. And now it is here. Week 1 in the NFL is finally here after another excruciating offseason, and we are about to begin another six-month battle march towards Super Bowl XLVII.

2012 NFL Power Rankings – Preseason Edition
by Robert Ferringo - 7/25/2012

Thanks to the 2011 NFL Lockout, last year my initial NFL power rankings weren’t posted until after the first exhibition game. Those rankings were still somewhat of a half-blind stab, considering that the truncated offseason really didn’t give us any indication on how each NFL team would be constituted. But as it turned out, my first impressions and initial feelings about the teams were pretty prescient and were a useful guide for another successful football season.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 17
by Robert Ferringo - 12/27/2011

Betting on Week 17 of the regular season in the NFL is a bit like betting on Week 4 of the NFL Preseason. In both instances it is nearly impossible to gauge motivation in a majority of the games featuring teams that are only playing for pride. And in the other games, the ones that actually do have playoff implications, the NFL lines are usually jacked up well beyond what the spreads should be in order to ambush the square public action.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 15
by Robert Ferringo - 12/14/2011

With college basketball, college football bowl games, NBA preseason prep work, NHL betting, and an assortment of other holiday season rites of passage, right now is the one of the most frantic, stressful, emotionally draining, and important time on the sports betting calendar.

2011 NFL Power Rankings - Week 14
by Robert Ferringo - 12/6/2011

Over the final few weeks of the NFL you are going to hear people talk about “must-win games”. Just remember: must-win games are games for teams that weren’t good enough to take care of their business when they should have and are now looking to pull some 11th hour rabbit out of their hat and find their way into the NFL playoffs.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 13
by Robert Ferringo - 11/29/2011

I actually liked last week’s straightforward, abbreviated version of our NFL Power Rankings. At this point we have 12 weeks in the books and it should be pretty apparent who’s who and what’s what in the NFL. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it is any easier to beat the NFL odds over the last month of the season.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 12
by Robert Ferringo - 11/23/2011

Family and feelings are the enemy of good gambling and good writing about gambling. So I apologize for the soggy lead in this week, but I am trapped in Northern New York with my kin and only have a quick moment here in between dodging passive-aggressive barbs from my in-laws and skirting out to refill my cocktail from my depleting liquor supply to pass on this week’s NFL Power Rankings.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 11
by Robert Ferringo - 11/15/2011

The weather is getting colder, the hits are getting harder, and the games are getting more critical as teams ride the elevator of expectations and expanded standings. In my opinion, November is the most crucial of months on the NFL schedule because it really sets the tone for the stretch run: some teams gain momentum and find the will for a strong finish, while other have dirt thrown on their graves and decide to mail it in.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 10
by Robert Ferringo - 11/8/2011

The weather is getting colder, the hits are getting harder, and the games are getting more critical as teams ride the elevator of expectations and expanded standings. In my opinion, November is the most crucial of months on the NFL schedule because it really sets the tone for the stretch run: some teams gain momentum and find the will for a strong finish, while others have dirt thrown on their graves and decide to mail it in.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 9
by Robert Ferringo - 11/1/2011

The season is halfway in the bag and things are starting to get intense. However, one of the best suggestions that I can give to anyone looking to make money betting on the NFL in the second half is that you need to ignore a team’s record when breaking down games in November and December.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 8
by Robert Ferringo - 10/25/2011

We are reaching “The Turn” in the season, and at this point it should be pretty clear what role each team in the NFL is playing. However, that doesn’t mean that someone off to a hot start (Detroit, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Buffalo) isn’t headed for a precipitous fall, and it doesn’t mean that someone left for dead (Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Kansas City) isn’t capable of putting together a savage second-half rush.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 7
by Robert Ferringo - 10/18/2011

One of the most overrated angles in NFL betting is to bet on a team that is off a bye week. Most people assume that a week of rest and preparation is just what the doctor ordered for pro football players and that they will return extra focused and fresh the next week when they finally get back on the field.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 6
by Robert Ferringo - 10/11/2011

For NFL clubs off to a slow start – teams like Philadelphia and Atlanta – this week’s games represent potential turning points for seasons that have gone astray. These clubs are desperate and find themselves in must-win situations to satiate rabid fan bases and front office folks, as well as regain some confidence after entering the year with lofty expectations. Time is running out. And a loss by any of those teams could lead to an avalanche of defeats that buries their respective seasons.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 5
by Robert Ferringo - 10/5/2011

Just six weeks ago the Eagles and Falcons were set for a collision course in an epic NFC Championship Game. The Jets and the Steelers were the apparent heavyweights in the AFC and up-and-coming teams like Kansas City and St. Louis were poised to build on last year’s success.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 3
by Robert Ferringo - 9/21/2011

Scoring is through the roof in the National Football League and through two weeks of the year seasoned quarterback play and horrendous defense have been front-and-center. With the lack of a traditional offseason and with a truncated training camp the thought was that teams would be a little sluggish out of the gate and that we may see some ugly, low-scoring games through the first month until everyone got into a rhythm.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 2
by Robert Ferringo - 9/13/2011

Besides the individual results there were some obvious trends that NFL bettors should have noted in the opening week. The ‘over’ was an incredible 12-3-1 this week, and it will be interesting to see if the books and gamblers overreact while betting on NFL totals this week. Also, the underdogs were the play in the openers, with the puppies going 8-6-2 ATS and notching six outright victories. The Week 2 NFL odds don’t appear to be shy about handing out points, however, with six of 16 opening lines featuring spreads of a touchdown or more.

2011 NFL Power Rankings – Week 1
by Robert Ferringo - 9/6/2011

The war drums are beating and the mutant warriors are on the march. This week begins a five-month gauntlet of games that will end with one champion and a lot of busted bankrolls. Summer is dying a slow, beautiful death. And in its passing it is making way for the most glorious time on the sports and football calendar: NFL betting season.

NFL Power Rankings Week 17
by Robert Ferringo - 12/30/2010

Up is left and down is right in Week 17. Teams you think have nothing to play for decide to let it all hang out. Teams that you think will be sharp in must-win situations come out and lay an egg. There is no certainty – as if there was any other week – and there is no rational way to explain a week that is one part exhibition, one part pre-bar and one part Super Bowl.

NFL Power Rankings Week 16
by Robert Ferringo - 12/22/2010

Ho-ho-home field advantage is what I’m really honing in on this week, especially in the games featuring teams that are already eliminated from the playoffs. It’s Christmas weekend and think about which would be a more advantageous situation: waking up in your own bed, in your own house, with your family on Christmas Day to enjoy the holiday, or waking up in some random hotel and putting together a makeshift Christmas with your significant others because your 5-9 team is on the road this week?