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started to watch american football about week 10 this year, what a great game to watch once you understand what its all about, anyway we re heading into playoff time and it is looking good for edge of your seat games

wildcard weekend sees seeds 1 and 2 get a bye with 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5 in both conferences afc, nfc

ok so the games this weekend are all live on sky sports

saturday:

washington redskins @ seattle seahawks 9pm ish

jacksonville jaguars @ pittsburgh steelers 1am ish


sunday:

new york giants @ tampa bay buccaneers 6pm ish

Tennessee titans @ san diego chargers 9pm ish


i dont know much but i fancy seattle and san diego to be convincing wins as favourites, new york and pittsburgh to narrowly win from an underdog position
             


post your thoughts, who you support, betting predictions etc

oh and i think im a pittsburgh fan, mon the steelers. big ben rothesjfhvndjsdgsmkfhgsgjdkskberger reminds me of will ferrall and heinz "baked beans" ward is class in a glass

Its a superb game isnt it, a dream for gambing on as everything is so stats based. As for this weekends games Im gonna wait til the weekend when all the team news and weather forecast's are known for sure.

As for Big Ben Roifkjfjdfnfddfjdberger I bought a Pitts shirt with his name on in New York just after he had been taken in the draft and before he had played a game for Pittsburgh. As a Pittsburgh fan you can have it for £500 and I will throw in  the reciept too.  :D

begin this weekend with the wild cards

best odds can be found here

http://www.oddschecker.com/american-football

I have laid off my Dallas bet a fortnight ago as they are losing momentum and are to my mind opposable in the NFC, I have done so at a good price about Washington (defence and a fit Clinton Portis mean they will be a tough opponent)

In the AFC the Patriots are prohibitively short but I have a long each way running on Jacksonville, a team built for the play offs behind a running game and a stout defence

This weekend


NFC

Washington at Seattle, I'll take Washington here as the underdog. Stop Shaun Alexander and make Hasselbeck beat them through the air.

Giants at Tampa. I want to back the Giants but believe Eli Manning chokes on the big occasion and his offensive weapns are either injured or hurt


AFC

Tennessee at San Diego. Titans superbowl was beating the Colts to get to the Play offs. Not strong enough to win in California

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh. Taking Jags here. This flies in the face of history, an away team up North in the Play offs but with Willie Parker missing and Jags built for bad waether, I'll go with the Jags


The Cowboys and the Packers in the NFC and the Patriots and the Colts in the AFC await the winners of these four games

My picks would mean

Washington at Dallas

Tampa at Green Bay

Jacksonville at New England

San Diego at Indy


If the Patriots are to slip up, that Jacksonville game would be the one to my mind. I don't see the other teams beating them

merged topics hadn't seen Fergus' when I posted

same here, i try and stop myself from picking a bet till later in the week when all the news is available,unless ive read other team has problems and odds to good to miss on team i want to back,
 its hard game to folow at first as it looks like its 1 mad scramble but i got a good tip when you first start watching the game from a john madden video in early 80s , keep your eyes on offensive line not the quaterback when the ball is snapped, in a split second you will know what the play will be, if they move backwards its usualy a throw as they are dropping back to protect him, if they move forward its a run, simple, only a few plays when it dosent happen. you will find you are thinking pass and run a lot quicker and can then follow the play a lot better
i always support san fran 49s stopped backing them years ago though ,lol ,lucky enough to see montana and young play at wembley, only a few teams have ever got close to the 49rs team of late 80s and early 90s,awsome offence and defence,
dont think the patriots are as good as the 49rs in those days but brady and moss are the closest to montana and jerry rice ive seen . they will take some stopping and i will pob back them in every match to beat the handicapp as Bill Belichick is ruthless ,always looking to crush any team they play.

i really know next to nothing about transfers but the kick returner devon hester sp? for chicago bears must be worth buying for a big team, this guy is awesome. also why do they not use him as a normal runner , sorry dont know positions but the willie parker role, he seems perfect for this

as for dallas they look as if it all depends on TO returning to fitness

redskins, portis played awesome versus the vikings, but are the seahawks not amazing at home?

defo the more open conference

The Seahawks are nowhere near as good as they were a couple of years ago. They have lost their best Offensive Linemen and Fullback. As a result, their running game is now decidely average, and Sean Alexander has picked up another injury.  I take the Redskins to win this one.
In fact i agree with Tighty in all the Wildcard games.  The Jags beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh convincingly in the regular season. Since then the Jags have improved and the Steelers regressed.

I havent watched any this year but Id guess Hester is faster in the open field than their normal running back while their running back is faster over a shorter distance and stronger being more able to take a tackle and grab a few extra yards.

transfers in the NFL are usually only at the end of contracts

the hugely fascinating draft system is the primary route to acquire college talent, and with the worst teams picking first it ensures that there is an element of every team always having a chance to improve

hence, Patriots and Colts aside who have bucked this trend, from one year to the next any team can go from worst to the play offs

draft aside free agents do move across but for someone like Hester, the best in his position in the league and under LT contract the price to acquire him would be exorbitant, and usually measured in future draft picks...as these are the route to restocking with young talent teams don't usually pay these prices

Remeber also that each team operates with  a salary cap..so a real skill in running a franchise is to stock a squad within that

so if you acquire Hester you might have to pay, lets say your top draft picks in 2008 and 2009 and then pay him..lets say $10m upfront... when the overall salary cap is $120m and you have a roster of 53 players

...the Patriots have always drafted fantastically but the real difference maker has been acquiring cheap street players etc and allowing themselves to pay all their stars by filling the roster with bargains, which then perfrom way above the price paid

contrast that with the Colts, who have 1/5th of their cap invested in Manning and who won the Superbowl, but then lost a number of their team to others because they could not compete in the wage $$$$ stakes to keep them  as Manning was taking up all the space


I love the NFL!! can you tell?!?!

This  season they have played him at wide receiver too and he has shown some potential but needs to learn how to run the right routes. The guy at Cleveland Josh Cribbs is getting the same reputation as Hester as a kick retuner too.

to me, I love watching the big guys that are amazingly athletic..I've watched DeMarcus Ware, 6-5 and 320, run down running backs from ebhind this year

Guy is a beast

Way back the all time great Larry Allen, who is enormous..6-6 and 350+ was playing for Dallas. An offensive lineman. The pass was intercepted and he ran down a corner, half his weight and notionally 4.4 in the 40 against his 5.2, from behing giving the guy a 10 yard start

Absolutely amazing stuff


All the glamour guys at positions like reciever, qb and running back get the publicity but the game is won in the trenches..can your OL open up lanes to run through and protect? can your defense sack and pressure the QB...

very very few teams win without good OL and DL

and here the Patriots with  the likes of Matt Light on OL and Semour and Wilfork on the DL are the best too
...

at first i thought tampa would win a high scoring game, but if you look at tampas schedule,it was far easier than the giants,it is a concern that manning will choke again and he may well do later in playoffs  ,but maybe not in this game as tampa are nothing special, nyg look a great bet
 
pittsburgh would win if fully fit, lots of key injuries though and they were beat by jacksonville a few weeks back but the weather played a big part that day so forget the result, i am still  taking pittsburgh defence to play great and the teams playoff experience to get them through,
 
Tennessee game against san diego is going to be a tough heated game, the key to the game is ladamion tomlinson, if has a good game san diego should win ,but Tennessee are very good against the run, no strong opinion but wont be betting on san diego and wouldn't be surprised to see Tennessee win so worth a little interest bet on tennessee 13 -18 points
 
washington against seattle ive no idea, may be a good idea to back in running,seattle to win if hasselbeck hits his receivers, if washington stops the thow early i may see what the odds are for washington
 
 
 giants to win  13/10
 winning margins pittsburgh 13-18  9/1
 tennessee  13-18  20/1
 

I think the key to that San D game will be Albert Haynesworth for the Titans, If he is fit I think they have a good chance to stop the San D run enough to make Rivers have to beat them, for me Haynesworth is one of the top 3 Defensive players in the league and when he missed earlier in the season they didnt defend the run very well.

yeah very true,as they say offence wins games  defence wins championships, a few bad offence teams with brilliant defence have gone to superbowl,i may be wrong but i cant think of any brilliant offence with a bad defence who have done the same

what is the dream final?

like say man u v barcelona euro cup final

im guessing thats a patriots vs cowboys

brady vs romo
moss vs TO
maroney vs barber
gisele vs jessica

true..America's team the Cowboys...hated much like Man U but a massive box office draw

Patriots..mistrusted after Spygate earlier this season, disliked but hugely impressive


I expect the neutrals would reluctantly go for the Cowboys.

yeah,like to see patriots v dallas myself, i cant see indianapolis beating the patriots getting to superbowl. not sure about dallas ,if owens is fully fit i think they will beat green bay in conference final.a lot of young quaterbacks have choked when they have played a great defence in the playoffs,it will be interersting to see how romo reacts,

the best analyser out there talks the wildcards

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/dr_z/01/04/wild.card.picks/index.html

well worth the read ,i will read a lot more of his advice in the future, i love it when you work out how a game will be won and lost and everything goes to plan, even better when you have a nice little bet on the game.lol. i like nyg this weekend myself .i wouldnt back them to win nfc though . they will miss shokey later in the playoffs if they get through this weekends game,

A great read that Tighty , thanks

The weather in Seattl eseems to be getting worse and the points quote is falling too, could be raining and windy come kick off.

if its like this during the game both teams will have to run a bit more than they expected it must be worth a bet on clinton portis at 7/1 to score first touchdown,

good shout Steve, would be a worry that Seattle have turned to the pass more and more. Thye need Alexander to be on tiop form if it does turn into a ground battle.

A player that is deffo over priced for the first td in the Sand Diego game is Tennessee tight end Ben Troupe, the usual TE Bo Scaife is out for the season so Troupe gets his chance. Obviously there are far more likely first TD scorers but at 66/1 ive had a speculative tenner.

in the Seattle game Deion Branch is out so DJ Hackett could be a decent price for the first TD too, ive nicked a bit if 25/1 with the Aussie firm Centerbet but the 16/1 is still a nice price.

seahawks 10 nil up at half time, redskins pretty poor so far

Good comeback from the Redskins.

They now lead 14-13 with 12.38 to play in the 4th

they should be 21-13 up, or at least 17-13,
i fancy seahawks to win

td seahawks
now winning 21-14,massive 8 pts there

redskins blew it big time here

next round

DING! DING!

jacksonville jaguars @ pittsburgh steelers

MON THE STEELERS!!!!!

big ben rothsgfjdkgskjhhrdbfedfhgberger on quarterback to throw 5 td!!!, heinz "baked beanz" ward to score 3 td!!!

big play already
guess who to who
thats right big ben to heinz ward

love it steelers

TOUCHDOWN STEELERS

7-7

wow what a game jags 31-29 steelers


cant wait for jags v pats, gonna be the game of the postseason

weather not so bad at kick of so i left portis bet, seattle did it in the end ,if alexander got any of his old form back seattle would have a chance this year,i think there playing green bay next week, not a bad game,seattle will have to run the ball a lot more, not sure they can.
the jags stealers, was a great game i thought the stealers where going to steal it in the last quarter, jags deserved to win in the end i think. to many injuries for pittsburgh in the end, and jags defence played brilliant. fantastic 4 th quater.my bets where down but i was still on the edge of my seat,lol
whoever the jags play next week is going to be a good game.

the jags have the sort of game that can worry the patriots


excelelent tough defense, good running game


Patriots will be favourites whoever they play but it should be an absolute corker!


Seattle now go to Green Bay

Dallas vs Tampa/Giants

Indy vs Chargers/Titans


I think the Giants are over-favoured tonight, a "fashionable" pick...but their quarterback does not have a big game temperament..I'm on the Bucs!

sorry not really sure what you mean fashionable pick,maybe in new york.lol, i thought most people would be picking the buccs myself as they are the odds on favs after all.  i just noticed earlier in the week that the buccs have not really had a hard season and there stats may be missleading , i wish shokey was playing tonight as manning will find it harder to make the short quick pass and be forced to hold on to the ball a bit longer than he would like.so if tampa blitz well, yes manning could be in for a bad night. so many things to think about, no wonder there is so many different opinions of a game .lol

"fashionable"

a lot of the US Sports media has lumped on a NYG bandwagon this week since they ran the Patriots close.

thats my point

i see , yeah, they did get a lot of respect for playing there starters. not many teams would do that

Im under the points in the Giants game, I can see it being a run fest with the occcasional pount to Galloway or Buress. On the cap I would be taking the Giants with the start.

I left the Jags game last night at half with the Jags 21-7 thinking my money was safe...
Didnt think the Steelers showed anything in the first half to suggest a come back.

I like the Jags, and think they are capable of giving the Patriots (assuming the Chargers win tonight) a good game.
If they can run the ball, then then can keep the potent Patriot offense off the field.  Should be a corker.

money comming for the buccs last hour, i think 3 of nyg players have missed practice this week so may be something to do with that. found a interesting bet for tonights game,its no cert  but a good value bet and its amazing how many times teams do this in the nfl. just taken 7/1. tampa half time/giants full time

In their last four road victories, the Giants rallied for wins after trailing at half-time

hi Steve,


these players are out.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have declared WR Brian Clark, QB Bruce Gradkowski, LB Cato June, WR Chad Lucas, OG Dan Buenning, SS Donte' Nicholson, RB Kenneth Darby, CB Sammy Davis inactive for Week 18.


The New York Giants have declared RB Danny Ware, CB Geoff Pope, QB Jared Lorenzen, TE Jerome Collins, DL Manuel Wright, CB Sam Madison, C Shaun O'Hara, WR Sinorice Moss inactive for Week 18.

thanks bobby. maddison will be missed. other game bit later than normal, 9 30 pm tonight i think,off in front of twlly for next few hours now

Anyone know who the Bears will get next week after the play-off games this weekend?

:D Unfortunately the Bears will be sunning themselves somewhere else as a combination of Grossman and Griese combinded with a run D that was almost nonexistent saw them eliminated last week.

Tennessee plus 11 for me here, Im s ucka for those big starts.

I need SD to win to break even for the weekend

Marvellous, complete mediocrity!!

i know you only got your money back bobby but you did well to get 11 m8, think nearly everyone lost there money on tenesse, close but they blew coverage twice and that cost them the game.

yes, i always fancied the line would move in San D favour, i was holding out for 11 1/2 at the end, is a pity it never got there. Still at 6-0 to Tennessee at HT I had to like my chnaces but so be it, at the end the first down saved them fromm taking the fg so its swings and roundabouts i suppose.

lol.
nice 1 ,hope you got 10.5 made all the difference in the end. i see the jacksonville patriots game is on at 1 am saturday night, cant see me having a early night on saturday.

that san d  touchdown was frustrating ,i thought they had stopped them and the git just reached out and the ball crossed the line, i think 1 of teneesses players could see he was just about to reach with the ball and was trying to move someones leg out the way and dive to stop him, he just didnt have the time, anyway all the big games next week , some great matches,

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/01/06/wild.card/index.html

excellent journalism on the Jags win


almost like you are there!

well i hope ive got saturdays games sussed,
looking at jacksonville new england game , will taylor be able to run that well against new england defence and the jags be forced to throw more than they would like, i am not certain, but he will have to if jags have any chance of beating patriots. will be interesting to see if new england try to run Malloney against jags brilliant defence early on or go straight to the throw, new england can do both well though so i expect new england to have more success in the air with walker and the odd long pass to moss, i am sure bill belichick has noticed  Jacksonville's 2 biggest defeats this season have come against the colts and the saints, both teams who are excellent using the throw., expect maloney to start to run when jacksonville try stop the thow, jacksonville may make a few big plays downfield, cant see it happening enough to stop the patriots though, garrard is very mobile which is a big bonus for jacksonville in this game, but if he cant handle the pressure it will be a long hard night for the jags .
moss and walker to have a big day, think i will have a bet on moss to score first touchdown as well.
 
seattle against green bay, could be the first upset, if alexandra got any form back i would back them to win nfc, seattle would rather play green bay than dallas i think, its a good match up for them, green bay are brilliant at stopping the run. till alexandra hits form seattle are not using the run to beat teams anyway,  the packers are not so good at stopping the pass which is all about Seattle's game at the moment, its the other way round with green bay, seattle are very good at defending the pass, they will need to be against green bay, the packers arnt that good at the run so dont know how they will win if Seattle's defence stops favre,, i think seattle could win this 1 if green bay dont stop hasstlebeck who was brilliant in the wild card games hitting his receivers. just hope the weather not to bad that could throw everything out the window.

after tipping 3 outta 4 winners in the wildcards, only just being pipped at the post as jags beat steelers ,my tips of the quarter finals are......


 
home team                  away team

green bay packers vs seatlle seahawks                seahawks @ 4.4

dallas cowboys  vs  new york giants,                   i am waiting to see if TO will play, crucial imo.   
         
new england patriots vs jacksonville jaguars         patriots, but absolutley no value @ 1.15

indianapolis colts vs san diego chargers               san diego @ 4.4

1:17 PM Mon, Jan 07, 2008 | Permalink
Albert Breer E-mail News tips

Turns out that WR Terrell Owens did participate in this morning’s walkthrough after all.

Several players in the Cowboys locker room indicated as much, saying that Owens was pretty much a full participant in the short session on the outdoor fields at Valley Ranch. Owens was spotted in the training room afterwards, wearing his practice jersey, but declined to speak on the matter.

He was receiving treatment on the high left ankle sprain he suffered against Carolina from associate athletic trainer Britt Brown. Owens was not present for the 15 minutes of this morning's workout that was open to the media.

But Owens’ presence in any capacity has to be considered a positive. Coach Wade Phillips said last week he wasn’t expecting Owens to participate in practice until “Wednesday or Thursday” of this week


In the Dallas press today.


In italics..keeping the Giants guessing

He'll play, and he's ahead of schedule

dallas for me then

is tonights ohio vs lsu the college footballs superbowl?

In a way yes, the college teams get their bowl games based on the rankings they earn thru the season and they are the teams ranked 1 and 2.

there are a number of bowls, and the judges vote teams into these at the end of the college season (where teams play in one of a number of regional conferences and get Win/Loss records Aug-Dec), looking for good match ups

the 1 and 2 ranked teams typically compete in the NCS game, as tonight


before that, there is a huge recruitment system from high schools to colleges...

and nfl coaches go to the college ranks to coach and vice versa

games are nationally televised, the rewards for coaches are huge and the players aren't paid. cough.

Fergus, if you are thinking of having a bet here is some stuff that might help.

For the second year in a row, and the third time in six seasons, head coach Jim Tressel has his Ohio State team playing for the national
championship. This year’s opponent is LSU, who leapfrogged a host of teams in the final BCS standings to earn a shot at the title…The Buckeyes were a quiet
story for most of the year, playing in the shadows of preseason favorites Wisconsin and Michigan in the Big Ten. They won their first 10 games of the season
before falling at home to Illinois. The season finale win over Michigan eventually gave them the Big Ten title. In all, OSU was 7-4 ATS, while leading the nation in
scoring defense, allowing just 10.7 PPG! That figure beat #2 Virginia Tech by 4.5 PPG. Tresell has turned around the bowl fortunes of the Buckeyes, winning four
of the L5, both SU & ATS. Of course, the only loss in that span was a year ago in the BCS title game to Florida. However, in that game they were favored. In their
L3 bowl games as underdogs, they have won outright…LSU was a disappointing underachiever for most of the season, going just 4-7 ATS. In fact, the Tigers only
covered the spread in one of their L10 games! They are trying to become the first team with two losses to ever win a BCS Championship. HC Les Miles’ teams
are 11-1 ATS in non-conference play, including 2-0 SU & ATS in bowl games. This is the second BCS championship game appearance for LSU, with the first
resulting in a 21-14 win over Oklahoma in the 2004 Sugar Bowl. The Tigers’ best asset is balance, on both sides of the ball. They averaged 221 yards rushing per
game and 229 through the air on offense, while yielding just 4.3 yards per play defensively…Ohio State is just 3-9-1 all time vs. the SEC, while LSU boasts a 5-3-
1 mark against the Big Ten.

Forecaster: OHIO ST 29, LSU 20

i usually trade throughout, betting against the market, in the wildcard games at the end i had.....

steelers +600 jags +300    max loss at any point was 75, should have traded for 500 and 500

chargers +360  titan +360  max loss at any point 200,  backed titans prematch at 6, layed off at ht for 1000 @ 1.5x, backed titans @ 25-1 near end as a cover

giants 0  bucanerrs 130   max loss at any point 50 , fancied the giants but never got the chance to re-back them, in the end a free bet

seahawks -20  redskins +5000  max loss at any point 20   20 quid for miracles, lol

american football is excellent for betting, one main reason is that it dosnt have 0-0 which is a killer in normal football (soccer) betting

nice work there m8

initially on ohio

1 minute in a td for them

The Pack and The Pats through...gotta admit, I can't see anybody stopping NE now.

Dallas/NY should be fun, might have a punt on that tonight.

jacksonville manager should be shot, brady was having tea and scones before throwing a pass, did they not realise the lesson ravens and eagles taught, BLITZ HIM!!!!!!!


pats v cowboys, cant see past it now

anyone see sundays games?

chargers at the colts was awesome, what a great game, back and forth all day long!

and what about no LT, stand in quarterback in 4th quarter makes game winning drive, h-o-l-l-y-w-o-o-d stuff.

all round excellent viewing.


as for dallas vs giants

how bad were dallas?????????????? rotten to the core, t.o. was simply awful, romo was so bad i think dallas need a new QB.


prediction rating only 2 out of 4, due to rubbish dallas, and a snow storm in wisconsin ;surrender;

Dallas were opposable then, laid it off earlier in the thread

Sadly didn't lay them

they are my team, but they choked


Has to be Patriots vs Packers in the SB now, surely