Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers named Mike Sullivan as their new offensive coordinator on Friday. Sullivan has spent the last eight seasons as a member of the New York Giants coaching staff and the past two years as the quarterbacks coach.
Prior to coaching the quarterbacks, Sullivan spent six seasons as the Giants wide receivers coach. His other NFL coaching experience includes being a defensive quality control coach and an offensive assistant with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy announced a few changes to the club's offensive staff on Monday. Jerry Fontenot will move from running backs coach to tight ends coach for 2012, while Ben McAdoo will switch from tight ends coach to quarterbacks coach. Alex Van Pelt will join the club as the new running backs coach.
The Packers also named Joel Hilgenberg assistant offensive line coach and John Rushing offensive assistant/special teams.
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Randy Moss is apparently planning a comeback. Moss decided to retire last August after 13 NFL seasons and told an audience on UStream.tv Monday about trying to return for 2012. He just turned 35 years old on Monday.
Moss had a troubled 2010 season. It began with the New England Patriots, but bitterness over his contract situation -- he was in the final year of his deal -- led to an October 6 trade to the Minnesota Vikings, the team for which he started his career. Less than a month later, Moss was claimed off waivers by the Tennessee Titans.
Moss spent the first seven years of his career with the Vikings, who selected the Marshall product with the 21st overall pick in the 1998 draft. He made an immediate impact on the league, catching 17 touchdown passes in his first season.
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Jacksonville Jaguars have named Mark Lamping team president, new owner Shahid Khan announced Monday. Lamping, who has served as president and CEO of MetLife Stadium since 2008, will oversee all non-football operations.
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting