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Exciting National Football League Teams with Cheerleaders
JUST BECAUSE THEY wear pads, it doesn't mean that the game isn't tough or exciting. Take a
dive into the world of American football, and discover a thrilling betting/gaming medium.
Each September, millions upon millions of Americans settle down for their five month
dose of Gridiron fans football.
But it's not only America where the game boasts many fans, it's also very popular now in
european unions as well. Many betting punters, however, don't realise what an excellent
betting medium it is, so here's a Sports Betting.com guide to betting on American football.
Figure It Out Game score
Probably the biggest advantage of it betting on American Football is that it is a game
surrounded by statistics. Figures are kept concerning almost every single aspect of the game.
Here are just a few diverse examples: passing yardage, running yardage, number of downs per goal,
number of sacks per Quarterback, and so it goes on.
What all this means for punters is that they have at their fingertips online plenty of
information upon which to make their selections.
Of course, the bookies (or bookmakers) also see the same information, but for shrewd
punters this normally doesn't matter.
The reason why illustrates the second biggest advantage of betting on American Football. The
majority of punters in this country bet upon the sport after making casual judgements.
They don't take the time and trouble to study the statistics and thus bet more upon
whims than anything else. This is good news for any punter prepared to put in a little
bit of study.
Despite having studied the statistics themselves, bookmakers generally have to set odds that reflect the
amount of money being bet with them. If a lot of that money is coming from punters who have not
studied the sport, it will be misplaced.
Hence, value may well exist for anyone who has taken the time to look through the statistics.
Fixed-Odds Betting
Betting on American Football is available through fixed odds or via spreads betting.
With fixed odds, punters need to beware that most games are subject to handicapping.
The bookies do this to even out the imbalances between the teams in many of the matches.
For example, let's assume that the New England Patriots are playing the Miami Dolphins.
One side, say the Dolphins, may be in much better form and look to be certain winners.
Rather than offer odds about an outright win odds that would be very short - the bookies will
handicap Miami by giving the Patriots so many points start.
They will then offer 10/11 about both sides, but a bet on Miami would only be successful if they
were to win by more than the points start New England had been given.
Incidentally, you'll notice that these handicaps are always given in half point margins,
although it is not possible to score half a point in American football. This is done to avoid
games ending up as draws on the handicap.
Overcome The Handicap
So, on the fixed odds what can punters look for to help them win? Well, the answer is obvious.
By following the game closely, punters should be able to judge when a handicap is too high or too low.
It's probably best not to bet on teams that have to overcome a handicap of more than
about 12 points.
When a team is handicapped in this way they are often far better than their opponents. Hence,
when teams in this position feel they have the game won they often ease up, saving themselves for the
battles ahead.
You may think sides like this will only feel they have a game won once they are more than 12 points clear,
but in practice this doesn't prove to be the case.
In American Football, a side losing by more than seven points will have to score twice to win -
as well as stop their opponents from amassing any more points.
This is easier said then done and so the team on top will often just do enough to preserve their lead,
thus making it hard for punters backing them to overcome a big handicap.
Unwritten Code
A further thing to note about fixed odds betting on American Football is how an unwritten code seems
to exist when one team is very much stronger than another.
Except for when ill-feeling exists between the teams - there are certain matches where the
sides concerned always seem to have long running scores to settle - it is an accepted practice for
any team much stronger than another not to humiliate their opponents.
This "code" can wreak havoc with large handicaps. Hence, this is another reason to steer
clear of teams who have to overcome handicaps of more than about twelve points.
In doing so, punters will be ensuring they don't get involved in matches where the favourite
deliberately sets out not to humiliate a much weaker side.
Avoid The Early Winners
In a similar vein, punters should avoid betting on sides who have already "finished"
their season.
Once a side has already won their division, or has no chance of progressing to the play-offs,
they tend to ease off and coast a little.
In such a hard game as American Football - and there is no doubt it is a very tough sport
- the players will always try to avoid subjecting themselves to possible injury when they are playing for
nothing but pride.
This is why the crunch games at the end of the regular season, as well as the play-offs
themselves, make such good betting propositions. In both cases, the teams involved go flat out to
win and you know the motivation is there.
Spread-Betting
Moving on to the spreads, what should punters look for and what should they avoid?
To start with, all of the advice given concerning the use of fixed odds applies to spread betting
as well. Apart from that, there are one or two other things to note.
First and foremost, with the really big games, keep a close eye on the "novelty" or
speciality spreads.
For example, not too long ago one of the biggest spread betting firms put up a quote
on the number of times a famous Quarterback would be "sacked" in the Superbowl final.
For those not familiar with the game, a sack is when a Quarterback is tackled behind the line
of scrimmage.
The line of scrimmage is where the ball is played from, so when a Quarterback is tackled behind it
the ball has, in effect, gone backwards.
With the Superbowl in question, the bookie made a major mistake. This particular Quarterback
was facing a side that boasted the best "sacking average" of all the teams playing that season.
Furthermore, it was well known how this side wanted to show the Quarterback a thing or two following
remarks he had made during the massive media build up that precedes every Superbowl.
When the Quarterback was sacked almost twice the amount of times the spread suggested he would be,
a number of shrewd punters cleaned up.
This was a great example of how studying the figures can be a very profitable move, as well
as how it is always worth keeping an eye open for the speciality markets.
Study. Study. Study
The second major tip for any punters wanting to use the spreads for American Football betting
is to study, study and then study some more. We've repeated this throughout this article and make no
apology for saying it again.
Spread betting is all about statistics, and so is American Football. Any punter clued up on the game's
huge volume of statistics has an excellent chance of spotting when any spreads are wrong.
The dealers will also have good knowledge of the statistics associated with each game, but they
probably won't have had the time to research them. However, any punter who has done their
research will be at an advantage.
Finding The Statistics
To keep up to date with the game's statistics, punters will need to use a reliable guide.
Our suggestion is to try the weekly American football magazine called "First Down".
This publication will have to be ordered from your newsagent, as it is not widely circulated -
to the best of our knowledge it is still available and will prove invaluable for anyone wanting to
study statistics.
On a lesser level, many of the more basic statistics are published in the weekly newspaper
"USA Today", freely available in this country.
Summary Of American Football
To end this brief look at betting on American Football, let's run through the four sets of statistics
we feel are the most crucial for punters - be they using fixed odds or spreads.
- Turnovers - A turnover occurs when the attacking side inadvertently gives the ball to their
opponents.
This will happen when the Quarterback has a pass intercepted, or when a receiver drops
or fails to collect the ball cleanly and the defending side picks it up.
The number of times a side has done this is an indication of how co-ordinated their attacking
play has been.
- Penalties - A team that has had a lot of penalties awarded against it will probably be playing
poorly.
- Sacks - A side that has had their Quarterback sacked a lot of times will be out of form. On the
other side of the coin, a side that has been achieving a lot of sacks will be' able to boast of a good
defensive unit and will as such be harder to score against.
- Average Gains - These figures show how far all the teams have progressed on every play in each
of their games. The whole idea of American football is to move the ball forward, so the more a side has
done this the more effective they must have been.
Quite simply, avoid the sides with low average gains; as the chances are they will not be playing well.
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