Tampa Bay’s Jameis Winston and Tennessee’s Marcus Mariota were the two high-profile rookie quarterbacks that made their professional debut last week, but they weren’t the only high-profile rookies to debut for their new teams.
The jury is still out on both of those quarterbacks. Winston had some decent throws and down field and showed some promise at times, but he also had other plays where he looked lost and was nowhere near his receivers. Tampa Bay was a 2.5-point underdog at Minnesota and lost by ten points, but the sports betting software lists them as a two-point home favorite Monday night at home vs. Cincinnati.
Marcus Mariota had a decent showing if you look at his box score, but his first two drives ended in turnovers (one interception and one fumble). Compared to Winston, Mariota seemed more comfortable and he did regain his composure after the early missteps. Like Tampa Bay, Tennessee is a small home favorite this week.
Right around Week 5 in the NFL Regular Season, NFL Football bettors can begin using game statistics as a pretty good indication on how teams really are. Using game stats prior to this week results in smaller sample that can be heavily influenced by strength of schedule and untypical performances.
There are, however, some notable exceptions. Key injuries, suspensions, and bad lines making teams look better or worse than they appear.
There have been a number of key injuries this season – especially at the quarterback position. Ben Roethlisberger and Tony Romo will be out several more weeks, while Andrew Luck and Drew Breese have missed games as well.
We’ll discuss Pittsburgh briefly, because they present a perfect example of a team to avoid when using game statistics in NFL handicapping. To start the year, Pittsburgh was missing RB Le’Veon Bell – one of their top offensive threats and really the one player the offense was based around. With Bell, Pittsburgh relied on the QB-to-WR combo of Big Ben to Antonio Brown with moderate success. When Bell returned from his suspension, Big Ben suffered a bad leg injury, so backup QB Mike Vick took over. Since that time, the Steelers have become heavily dependent on the run while their passing numbers have gone way down.
We’re past the Group Stage in the Women’s World Cup, and there hasn’t been too many surprises with the big favorites all looking good after the first three games. The top four teams in FIFA’s Women’s Rankings all won their tables, led by top-ranked Germany who finished the Group Stage with a +14 scoring margin.
In fact, each of the top ten ranked teams have advanced through to the Knockout Stage, and it’s no surprise that many of those teams are heavy favorites this upcoming weekend. For those that have never wagered on a soccer game before, it can be confusing because of the possibility of a draw. Even in this Knockout Stage, for betting purposes the graded result is the score at the end of injury time of the second half (any scoring in overtime periods are not counted).
Remember that this is the time of the year where you should search for the best sportsbook bonus possible when opening a new account. With basketball season over and football season still a few months away, online sportsbooks tend to offer extra signup bonuses in this slower betting season.
Subcategories
Page 4 of 4
- You are here:
-
Home
- Sports Betting News
