NFL Week 3 Betting Props: Michael Vick vs. Kevin Kolb
by Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager - 9/24/2010
Kevin Kolb was supposed to be the quarterback of the future in Philadelphia. But then Michael Vick proved he can still play. And now people are questioning whether or not Kolb will even be a member of the Eagles for much longer.
"I can't predict anything down that far," Eagles coach Andy Reid said this week when asked whether Kolb would still be wearing green after the Oct. 19 trade deadline. It was hardly a definitive answer and left lots of room for speculation.
Of course, whenever there’s a controversy, there’s an opportunity for prop bets, and Bodog’s got a bunch of them related to this subject.
So, we all know that Vick will be starting Sunday in Jacksonville, but how many games will Kolb start from Week 4 on in the 2010 NFL regular season? We’ve set the total at 2, with action coming in on both the over and under.
There’s justification for both sides of this particular coin. Kolb is ready for action, so if he’s traded or Vick goes down with an injury, it’s likely that he’ll start more than two games. But if there’s no trade, what are the chances there will be another switch in Philly’s starting quarterbacks? You have to think Vick would have to play pretty poorly for Reid, who’s getting absolutely killed by the Philly media, to flip-flop once again.
It’ll be interesting to see how Vick plays now that the starting role is his. Not that his numbers haven’t been impressive, but you could make the argument that he hasn’t really been challenged yet. In Week 1, he played the second half against Green Bay, but the Packers were up 20-3 at one point in the third quarter, so it’s possible they let their foot off the gas. The following week, Vick took on the Detroit Lions, who make a lot of quarterbacks look good.
Against the Jaguars this week, we’ve set Vick’s total passing yards at 237.5 and his total touchdowns at 1.5. Bettors have been fairly optimistic about his chances for success, with a good amount of action coming on the over in both props.
Changing gears, it’s only been two games, but we’ve already posted a prop on who will be the first coach fired. Cleveland’s Eric Mangini is the +150 favorite, followed by Carolina’s John Fox (+200), Dallas’s Wade Phillips (+300) and Minnesota’s Brad Childress (+500).
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that we’ve booked a number of bets on the Phillips option, but some of those might be more hoping than actually believing.
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