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08/14/2010 - Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phil Dawson made a pair of field goals with less than two minutes left in the game, as the Cleveland Browns rallied past the Green Bay Packers, 27-24, in the preseason lid-lifter for each club.
Dawson made a 58-yard field goal with about 1 1/2 minutes remaining and a 46- yarder as time expired to give Cleveland the victory.
The Browns, who are trying to rebound from a 5-11 record in 2009, upgraded at quarterback in the offseason by signing Jake Delhomme, who made both Pro Bowl and Super Bowl appearances during a seven-year run as starting quarterback of the Carolina Panthers. Delhomme impressed in his Browns debut, completing 6- of-7 passes for 66 yards.
Seneca Wallace was brought in as a serviceable backup after spending seven years in Seattle. He connected on 4-of-8 passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns. Colt McCoy, who was selected in the third round of the draft, threw two interceptions before leaving with a right hand injury.
Jerome Harrison rushed for a TD, while Brian Robiskie and Benjamin Watson each caught a touchdown pass.
Aaron Rodgers completed his first 10 passes of the game en route to connecting on 12-of-13 for 159 yards and a touchdown. Matt Flynn completed 9-of-15 passes for 69 yards and an interception for the Packers, who are coming off an 11-5 season.
Green Bay's backfield suffered a bit of a blow as Ryan Grant left the game in the first quarter with a head injury. Grant, who fumbled on his first touch of the contest, rushed for just six yards on three carries. Kregg Lumpkin and John Kuhn each had a rushing TD.
Greg Jennings led the receiving corps with three catches for 68 yards and a score.
<< McGehee singles home winning run in 10th as Brewers edge Rockies
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Casey McGehee singled home the go-ahead run in
the top of the 10th inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers edged the Colorado
Rockies, 5-4, in the second test of a three-game series from Coors Field.
Ryan Brau
<< Cardinals' fourth-quarter rally seals win over Texans
Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Wright caught a 15-yard touchdown pass
from John Skelton with 1:53 remaining, completing Arizona's 19-point fourth
quarter rally in a 19-16 preseason win over the Houston Texans.
Beanie Wells caug
<< Bradford makes debut, but Rosenfels steals spotlight
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sage Rosenfels threw for 310 yards and three
touchdowns, leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 28-7 victory over the St. Louis
Rams in each team's first preseason game.
Rosenfels relieved starter Tarvaris Jac
<< Lester leads Red Sox over Texas
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Lester turned in eight scoreless innings
and Bill Hall finished 2-for-4 with an RBI as Boston downed Texas, 3-1, in the
second of three between the teams.
J.D. Drew and Marco Scutaro also drove in a run
Wondolowski goal propels S.J. over K.C. >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Jose Earthquakes snapped a three-
game winless run with 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Wizards in Major League
Soccer action on Saturday night.
San Jose striker Chris Wondolowski scored the g
New England Patriots 2010 Season Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Whether you liked Bill Belichick's fourth-down call in a
key November contest against the Indianapolis Colts or you didn't, there's
little sense in disputing the pall that its failure cast on the remainder of
the New England
Chargers strike down Bears >>
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philip Rivers threw for 62 yards and a
touchdown on 4-of-6 passing in his preseason debut, as San Diego downed
Chicago, 25-10, in the exhibition opener for both clubs.
Legedu Naanee hauled in
Seahawks turn page with preseason win over Titans >>
Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charlie Whitehurst threw two touchdowns to help
the Seattle Seahawks take a 20-18 win over the Tennessee Titans in the
preseason opener for both squads.
Whitehurst went 14-for-22 with 214 yards and
Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.
As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.
The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.
Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).
But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.
Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.
Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1
Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2
New York Giants - 9 - 2
Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).
Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.
So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.
And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.
They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.
Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.
But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.
Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.
Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.
Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.
Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?
Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.
In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.
Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.
Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.
The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.
The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.
Visit MySportsbook.com for free sportsbook odds RSS feeds go to MySportsbook.com for all your betting football needs.
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
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