NFL Handicapping Articles

NFL Betting Trends for Help with Pro Football Wagering
by Victor Ryan - 9/14/2016

Home teams and favorites took the worst of it against the spread in the opening week of the NFL season. Out of 16 games, just six favorites managed to cover in Week 1. Home teams fared even worse with a 5-11 ATS record. How vulnerable were favorites in Week 1? Consider this: They went just 8-8 straight up, obviously a win rate of 50 percent. That's way below normal. To give you an idea, though not exactly apples to apples, college football favorites this season are winning straight up at an 83.5 percent clip.

Free NFL Picks: New York Jets at Buffalo Bills Odds and Expert Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 9/13/2016

My choice to be the first coach fired this season was Buffalo's Rex Ryan at +1000 when that prop was out at BetOnline, and he might be gone after this game if the Bills are stomped at home by the rival New York Jets on Thursday night to fall to 0-2.

NFL Betting Predictions: Week 2 Opening Line Report and Picks
by Alan Matthews - 9/12/2016

We still have two games to go on Monday night, but what a fantastic opening weekend of the NFL season. The week started with reigning Super Bowl champion Denver winning at home against Carolina on a missed Panthers field goal at the end, and Sunday concluded with New England winning at Arizona (in a potential Super Bowl preview) without Tom Brady on a missed Cardinals field goal at the end. There were four games that were decided by one point, the first time in NFL history that four games have been decided by exactly one point on kickoff weekend.

Straight from the Bookmaker's Mouth: Betting Impact of RG3 Injury in Cleveland
by Victor Ryan - 9/12/2016

So what's the betting impact of Josh McCown replacing the injured Robert Griffin III at quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, you ask? Depends on who's answering. It appears bookmakers and the betting public have opposing opinions when it comes to the signal-caller shakeup in Cleveland.

NFL Odds: Week 1 Line Movements & Last-Minute News
by Alan Matthews - 9/9/2016

If the Thursday night season opener is any indication, this will be a fantastic NFL season. I will admit I had zero confidence in Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian, but he played fairly well as Denver pulled off a 21-20 upset over Carolina as a 3-point home dog in the Super Bowl 50 rematch. That last-second 50-yard field-goal attempt by Graham Gano had everyone who bet the total on pins and needles. The total was set at 42 to start the week and when I previewed the game, and obviously if Gano makes that it goes over and yet the Panthers still don't cover -- I had recommended under.

NFL Betting and Wagering Advice: Biggest Mismatches Week 1
by Victor Ryan - 9/9/2016

Any NFL head coach will tell you a critical component to success in pro football is exploiting matchups. A perfect example of this came last year in a Week 8 matchup between the Giants and Saints. The Giants had a historically-bad pass defense last season, which wound up allowing just a shade under 300 YPG through the air (298.9). Meanwhile, Drew Brees and the Saints once again had the league's top aerial attack (310.6 YPG). The result? Brees went 39-of-50 for 505 yards and seven touchdowns in a 52-49 Saints win.

2016 Pittsburgh Steelers Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

Allegedly the Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the most talented teams in football and are a Super Bowl contender in the wide-open AFC. However, injuries, suspensions and all manner of impediments continue to keep us from seeing what this team can do at full strength. So is the potential for a championship a myth or not?

2016 Kansas City Chiefs Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

With a season win total of 9.5, I can't exactly say that the Chiefs are underrated heading into the season. And even the most optimistic of Kansas City fan would acknowledge that this team doesn't quite have the look of a Super Bowl contender. Yet despite that I still feel like Kansas City's brain trust of Andy Reid and Alex Smith still don't get the credit they deserve.

2016 Indianapolis Colts Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

If you watched the Colts at all this preseason, it's as if you could feel the anxiety and the tension surrounding this team. From owner Jim Irsay's reaction to the cancelled Hall of Fame Game to the hostility any time someone is asked about the friction between coach Chuck Pagano and embattled general manager Ryan Grigson, there are just not good vibes surrounding this Colts team. And I think the reason is that a lot of people know that they are going to lose their jobs in six months.

2016 New Orleans Saints Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

The Saints have had back-to-back losing seasons and have finished 7-9 three times in four years. They appear to be a franchise flailing rather than the dominant NFC South power we saw between 2009-2011. With Drew Brees and Sean Payton they still have a chance. But this team has a lot more questions than answers heading into the 2016 campaign.

2016 San Diego Chargers Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

San Diego is one of the sunniest places in the country. So it is ironic that a dark cloud hangs over this Chargers franchise. The specter of a move from the city that has hosted this team for over 50 years has cast a pall on this entire organization. Add in public relations disasters, poor front office management, and then some run-of-the-mill bad luck (injuries, etc.), and the Chargers are a team that really doesn't know what direction it is going.

2016 Oakland Raiders Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

After nearly two decades of being one of the biggest jokes in the NFL, the Raiders enter the 2016 season as Everybody's Sleeper Team. Every bobblehead media member has been gushing over Oakland for the past three months, and for the first time that I can remember this team enters the season with legitimate expectations.

2016 Atlanta Falcons Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

I feel like at this time last year if you had offered Atlanta and new head coach Dan Quinn an 8-8 season with some breakout performances by some young players they would've snatched it up in a heartbeat. However, the way things worked out the Falcons did go 8-8 but ended last season with a bittersweet feeling after becoming just the seventh team in NFL history to start the year 5-0 and fail to make the playoffs.

2016 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

When I look at Tampa Bay, I see a lot of style but not a lot of substance. The Bucs haven't finished above .500 since 2010, and with a new coach and some new systems it appears their decade-long rebuild may still be ongoing. Add in the fact that the Bucs are in a division featuring more experienced coaches and quarterbacks and more established systems, and I think it is a tall task to ask Tampa to move up in the standings.

2016 Tennessee Titans Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

The Titans have been one of my sleeper teams each of the past two seasons. And each of the past two seasons I have been wrong. They have gone a combined 5-27 the past two seasons. The combined total of those two years wouldn't even have been good enough to beat their season win total (5.5) for either of those seasons.

2016 Cleveland Browns Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/9/2016

Hue Jackson is taking the reigns on a top-to-bottom rebuild within one of the worst franchises in sports. The Browns have posted just two winning seasons since their return to Cleveland in 1999, and they have won four or fewer games three times in five years. Jackson took a hatchet to the Browns roster this preseason, and the result is a team that, in the short-term, is significantly worse than the one that won just three games last year.

2016 Carolina Panthers Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/8/2016

The Panthers are the last of the pure Cover-2 Teams in the NFL. Now, when you hear someone say "Cover-2" you probably think that it is just a defensive scheme. And it is. But a Cover-2 Team buys in, wholly and completely, to the philosophy that has made this one of the indelible systems of the last quarter century.

2016 Denver Broncos Expert Predictions and Season Win Totals Picks
by Robert Ferringo - 9/8/2016

The defending Super Bowl champions are lords of the NFL landscape. And on one hand you have to give Denver a load of credit for hocking a major loogie in the face of generally accepted NFL dogma. The Broncos won last year's championship in spite of, rather than because of, its quarterback play. And after several years of deluded NFL thinking that passing, points and high-powered offense wins games, the Broncos proved - yet again - that the more violent, physical team wins on the football field more often than not.

Basic Strategy Teasers: Best Week 1 NFL Betting Options
by Chris Vasile - 9/8/2016

With the NFL set to return on Thursday, bettors will be able to place their wagers on a plethora of betting options. Seasoned bettors tend to stick to sides and totals, while newbies or "square" bettors tend to play more parlays, props and teasers, options that are geared to the house's advantage.

NFL Handicapping: Best-Case Scenarios for all 32 Teams
by Trevor Whenham - 9/8/2016

Success is a tough thing to define in the NFL. For some teams this season will be deemed a failure unless they win the Super Bowl. Other teams would have to be seen as successful if they won more than five games. As we head into the new season, here is a look at the best-case scenario for each of the 32 teams in the league. Needless to say, fans of some teams will be happier with these than other.