Articles by Cappers Picks related to Sports handicapping, and betting on live sporting events. Tips and advice from the best vegas expert handicappers.
With the Thanksgiving Holiday comes the traditional Thursday games, but more importantly it marks the official start of the push towards the playoffs. Teams such as New Orleans, Minnesota, and Indianapolis have basically secured a spot and are now jockeying for the #1 seed. Teams such as New England, Cincinnati, and Arizona are currently in control of their division and fighting to stay on top.
The landscape in NCAAF looks the same as it did a week ago, as the table’s are getting set for the big Thursday feast across the country, so is the NCAAF Bowl Championship table set.
All 6 unbeaten teams remain unbeaten, but the 1 loss teams have melted down 2 just 2, as Pitt and Georgia Tech are now alone with a single loss.
Points were a little harder to come by last week as ten games stayed under the total, five games went over, and one game; N.Y. Jets at New England was a push at 45. The biggest shocker by far was the thrilling 38-37 win by Detroit over Cleveland. The Lions scored 40 points combined in their last four games and the Browns have only scored 29 points combined in their last five games.
Black Friday super special discount – Les Miles’ coaching clinics. Get ‘em while they last.
Miles and his staff fell completely apart in Saturday’s 25-23 to Ole Miss.
The push towards the post season is in full swing and while teams like New Orleans and Minnesota in the NFC and Indianapolis and Cincinnati in the AFC are battling for the number one seed in their conference, there are several teams battling for their playoff life. Big games with major playoff implications for both teams this week include; San Francisco@ Green Bay, Atlanta@ N.Y. Giants, Philadelphia@ Chicago, and Miami@ Carolina on Thursday night.
After two straight weeks of the under bet out pacing the over, the points were once again adding up fast this past week. Nine games went over the total, while six games stayed under. In no big surprise the Patriots- Colts game led the way with 69 total points, while Tennessee took their game over on their own putting 41 points on board against the Bills. Two of the more shocking under games were Green Bay holding the Cowboys to seven points and Cincinnati holding the Steelers to just 12 points.
The season is winding down, and with it the teams that remain unbeaten, count 6, but the 1 loss teams have suffered a lot of causalties, and have now dwindled to just 2, with Pittsburgh, and Georgia Tech the lone survivors at 1 loss.
The National Championship picture is beginning to become more and more evident, so let’s take a look at what lies ahead.
In a potential preview of this year’s AFC Championship game, the New England Patriots travel to Indianapolis to play the Colts on Sunday night. This game over the past several years has become one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL. After completely dominating the Colts over the first half of the decade, New England has now lost four of last five meetings between these two teams. Some other big games include Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, Seattle at Arizona, and Philadelphia at San Diego.
The concept of the pointspread began over a half century ago and really raised the interest in sports betting. It leveled the playing field; the pointspread became the equalizer. In the 1970s, Bob Martin of the Union Plaza Race and Sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas was the most respected oddsmaker in the gaming industry. A lot of oddsmaking tools used today are credited to Martin.
This Thursday night, two of the most exciting teams in the NBA will square off when the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Miami Heat. Anytime you combine as many big NBA stars as you will have in this game, it will be very exciting. The Cavs are hoping to get things going, while the Heat have been on a roll and hope to continue that in the early part of the season.
Defense was the name of the game this week as several high scoring teams were held in check allowing the under bet to have a slight advantage. Seven games stayed under the total, while six managed to go over. The Saints were held to 30 points keeping their game against Carolina under by two points, the Ravens only scored 7 points against Cincinnati in a game that stayed way under, and Dallas came up big against the Eagles holding them to 16 points in their 20-16 win on Sunday night.
The old oddmakers’ joke goes like this: ‘You can’t make a game a Pick because the squares won’t know who to bet.’
It’s referring to the public’s love of favorites. But oddmakers aren’t kidding around about Pick ‘em games anymore. There aren’t any.
The big game on tap for this week has the 5-2 Dallas Cowboys visiting the 5-2 Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night in a NFC East showdown with 1st place in the division on the line. This one should come down which QB, Tony Romo or Donovan McNabb has the biggest night. Some other key match ups include Baltimore at Cincinnati, Houston at Indianapolis, and a great Monday night tilt between the Steelers and the Broncos at Mile High.
Here is a brief look at all the match ups with some keys to the game.
Once again the over bet had the slight advantage as seven games went over the total and six games stayed under. There were a few surprises with the under such as Indianapolis being held to only 18 points by the 49ers and Denver only managing 7 points in their loss to the Ravens. The two hottest teams in the league did not disappoint as the Vikings put up 38 points on the Packers and New Orleans scored 35 against the Falcons helping to take both those games way over the total.
There are a couple of great divisional match-ups this week that should not only be highly entertaining, but also have major implications for the division race. Minnesota will travel to Green Bay for round two of Favre vs. the Packers, the New York Giants head down 95 to play the Eagles, Miami heads north to the Meadowlands to play the Jets, and the Falcons will be in the Big Easy to play the undefeated Saints on Monday night.
Bob will not be offering NBA selections until the second week of the season (Monday, November 9), because the teams will be starting to show some form by then.
In Pro Basketball, winning and losing are often not the final criteria in judging a team. When one team plays better in defeat, than another does in winning, you can gain real value by seeing through the misleading results. When handicapping Pro Basketball, some fundamentals and considerations are not just the venue.
