This Week in NFL Betting By the Numbers
by Darin Zank - 10/25/2011
Week 7 in the NFL saw Tim Tebow rally the Denver Broncos to a victory, the San Diego Chargers implode in defeat, the debut of a new quarterback in Minnesota, the New Orleans Saints hitting the 60-point mark, and probably the ugliest game of the year (so far) played up in Cleveland. After perusing the sports pages here are a few of the more interesting numbers we found from Week 7.
57 – Minutes it took Tebow and the Broncos to get on the board Sunday in Miami.
15 – Points scored by Denver in the last three minutes to tie the game against the Dolphins. The Broncos eventually won in overtime.
0- Number of Tebow critics (including this one) mollified by his performance Sunday.
253 – Yards rushing by Dallas rookie RB DeMarco Murray (91 on one play) in Sunday's 34-7 victory over St. Louis. Going into the game the Cowboys were averaging just 85 yards per game on the ground. Maybe Murray can jump-start that effort. For this week NFL odds from Bodog are listing Dallas as a 3.5-point underdog for its game at Philadelphia Sunday night.
0 – Number of first downs the Baltimore Ravens had at halftime on “Monday Night Football” at Jacksonville. Baltimore didn't get its first first down until five minutes remained in the third quarter, on its way to losing 12-7.
36 – Number of first downs the New Orleans Saints racked up in their 62-7 romp over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday night.
5/4 – Ratio of touchdown passes to incompletions by Saints QB Drew Brees on Sunday night.
6 – Number of interceptions Oakland QBs Kyle Boller and Carson Palmer combined to throw in Sunday's 28-0 loss to Kansas City, two of which were returned for scores.
2.9 – Tennessee RB Chris Johnson's yards-per-carry average since signing his new $53 million contract. Johnson ran for 18 yards on 10 carries in the Titans' 41-7 loss Sunday to Houston, and Tennessee now ranks last in the league in rushing at 64 yards per game.
42:56 – Amount of time the Cleveland Browns held the ball in their 6-3 win over Seattle on Sunday. The Seahawks now rank dead last in the league in average time-of-possession, yet they somehow are 3-2-1 ATS this season. League-wide, teams that win the ToP battles this year are 75-28 SU and 62-37 ATS.
4-7-1 – The ATS record of teams coming off bye weeks this season. This week the teams coming off their byes are Buffalo (-6 vs. Washington), Cincinnati (-3 at Seattle), New England (-3 at Pittsburgh), the Giants (-10 over Miami), the Eagles and San Francisco (-9.5 over Cleveland).
3 – Number of teams that remain winless – Miami, Indianapolis and St. Louis. And it could stay that way for a while. The Dolphins host Washington in a couple of weeks, and that might be their best chance at a win this season. The Colts host Jacksonville in a couple weeks, and that might be their best chance to avoid going 0-16. And the Rams are on the road the next two weeks before hosting Seattle. Each of these three teams has a better-than-slim chance to go 0-16 this year, and with Stanford QB Andrew Luck waiting at the end of this dreary rainbow they each have the motivation to do so.
2 – Number of officials, at minimum, who should be canned for making lousy calls over the weekend that may have decided games. That late pass-interference call against San Diego's Quentin Jammer vs. the Jets? Or the first-down call for the Jets with two minutes to go? Or that helmet-to-helmet hit call on the first drive of the second half of Monday night's Ravens-Jaguars game? Absolutely ridiculous. Makes one wonder whether any of these guys have ever played the game before.
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