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12/24/2006 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reggie Bush rushed for a career-high 126 yards with a score, as New Orleans moved one step closer to a first-round bye after a 30-7 win over the fading New York Giants.
Bush recorded the first 100-yard rushing game of his career.
Deuce McAllister added another 108 yards on the ground and a touchdown for the Saints (10-5), who will claim a first-round bye if Philadelphia defeats Dallas on Christmas Day.
Drew Brees threw for 132 yards and a touchdown on 13-of-32 passing, while Marques Colston caught Brees' lone touchdown pass in what was the Saints' fourth win in their last five games.
In what was probably his last game ever at Giants Stadium, 10-year veteran Tiki Barber ran for 71 yards on 16 carries. Barber, who spent all 10 of his seasons with the Giants, has said he plans to retire after the season.
That may be as early as next week as New York's playoff chances took another hit as it fell to 7-8 on the year. Once front runners in the NFC East, the Giants lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Luckily for the Giants, the Atlanta Falcons also lost on Sunday and dropped to 7-8 as well. New York, though, defeated the Falcons back on Week 6. The Giants wrap up their season in Washington while Atlanta travels to Philadelphia.
Atlanta and New York are the front-runners in a pack of teams still alive for the second wild card spot.
Eli Manning completed just nine of his 25 pass attempts for 74 yards. 55 of those yards came on one play, a lone touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in what turned out to be his lone catch of the game.
Burress' touchdown reception was his 10th of the season, the most by a Giants receiver since Earnest Gray hauled in 10 TD passes in 1980.
In fact, New York never ran a play inside New Orleans territory.
The Giants failed to receive a spark from Michael Strahan, who returned to the lineup after missing the last six games with a sprained foot ligament. Strahan had five tackles in the loss.
<< Young leads streaking Titans past Bills
Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Vince Young threw for 183 yards and
two touchdowns, and also ran for 61 yards and a score, as Tennessee edged
Buffalo, 30-29, to keep its slim playoff hopes alive.
Young, who completed 13-of-20
<< New England clinches AFC East with win over Jacksonville
Jacksonville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Brady threw for 249 yards and a
touchdown as New England edged Jacksonville, 24-21, to win its fourth
consecutive AFC East title at Alltel Stadium.
Brady completed 28-of-39 passes for t
<< Vick sets running record, but Falcons fall to Panthers
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Vick became the first quarterback in
NFL history to top 1,000 yards rushing, but did little else as the Atlanta
Falcons continued to fade out of the uninspiring NFC wild-card picture, losing
10-3 to
<< Bucs beat Cleveland for only road win of season
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Pittman ran for 86 yards and a
touchdown, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers battered Cleveland, 22-7.
Derrick Brooks returned an interception for a touchdown for the Buccaneers
(4-11), who snap
Action Jackson: Rams top Redskins in OT >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Jackson ran 21 yards to the end zone
with 8:27 left in overtime, as the St. Louis Rams kept their slim playoff
hopes alive with a 37-31 victory over the Washington Redskins.
After both teams h
Vikings to cut Marcus Robinson >>
Eden Prairie, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Vikings informed veteran
wide receiver Marcus Robinson that he will be released.
According to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Robinson received a
call from Vikings VP of p
Leinart sprains shoulder >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt
Leinart sprained his left shoulder in the first half against the San Francisco
49ers on Sunday.
Leinart got sacked by Roderick Green just under the two-minute mark of th
Bengals botch PAT as Broncos slip away victorious >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Broncos improved their playoff chances with
a lot of luck Sunday, as the Bengals botched an extra point attempt with 41
seconds remaining, giving Denver a 24-23 win at a snowy Invesco Field.
Carson Palm
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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