Birds, Bengals play to league's first tie since 2002
Football Betting Lines
11/16/2008 -
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shayne Graham's 47-yard field goal attempt
with seven seconds left in overtime was wide right, and the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals played to a 13-13 final, the first tie in the
NFL since 2002.
Donovan McNabb was picked off three times, tying a career-high, and lost a
fumble while completing 28-of-57 passes for 339 yards with one touchdown for
the Eagles (5-4-1), who played to their first tie 11 years to the day after
their last stalemate, a 10-10 final in Baltimore against the Ravens.
T.J. Houshmandzadeh had 12 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown for
the Bengals (1-8-1), who squandered a 13-3 lead and earned their first tie
since November 9, 1969. That game, a 31-31 finish at Houston against the
Oilers, happened before the AFL and NFL merged, and before the NFL adopted the
sudden-death rule for overtime games.
There apparently is something in the November air that inspires deadlocks; the
last tie in the NFL was a 34-34 final between the Pittsburgh Steelers and
Atlanta Falcons on November 10, 2002.
<< Cutler leads Broncos back past Falcons
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Cutler's nine-yard touchdown pass to
Daniel Graham in the latter half of the fourth quarter lifted the Denver
Broncos to a 24-20 come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Cutler completed
<< Live and let Addai: Indy RB helps Colts edge Texans
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joseph Addai rushed for 105 yards and a
touchdown, adding 48 yards and a receiving score on four catches, as
Indianapolis snuck past Houston, 33-27, at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Peyton Manning comp
<< Jacobs, Bradshaw help Giants run over Ravens
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw
powered a Giants rushing attack that piled up 207 yards on the vaunted Ravens
run defense, as New York kept rolling with a 30-10 pounding of Baltimore.
Jacobs g
<< Kaka helps AC Milan keep pace with Inter
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kaka converted a penalty kick in the 15th
minute to give AC Milan a 1-0 win over Chievo at the San Siro on Sunday,
keeping the Rossoneri within one point of league-leaders Inter Milan.
The penalt
<< Bucs edge Vikings to keep pace in NFC South
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Bryant kicked four field goals and B.J.
Askew rushed for his first-career touchdown as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers edged
the Minnesota Vikings, 19-13, at Raymond James Stadium.
Jeff Garcia completed 23-
Bears' Orton starts vs. Packers >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton started
Sunday's 37-3 loss against Green Bay, despite an ankle injury that caused him
to miss last week's loss to Tennessee.
Orton, though, went a measly 13-for-26 with
Barca tops Recreativo to extend unbeaten run to 16 >>
Andalusia, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lionel Messi and Seydou Keita scored in the
second half as Barcelona topped Recreativo 2-0 on Sunday in Spain's La Liga to
open a three-point gap atop the standings and extend its unbeaten streak to 16.
B
Lyon edges Bordeaux to open seven-point lead >>
Lyon, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Karim Benzema and Kim Kallstrom scored in the
first half and Lyon held on for a 2-1 victory over Bordeaux on Sunday, a result
that may catapult the seven-time defending Ligue 1 champions to another title.
Ly
Gators sink Braves with three-point show >>
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Werner scored 17 points on 6-of-11
shooting to lead the Florida Gators to a convincing 81-58 victory over the
Bradley Braves in the 2008 O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.
Nick Calathes added 13
Landry leads No. 25 Wisconsin past Long Beach State >>
Madison, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marcus Landry scored 23 points on 7-of-10
shooting, and 25th-ranked Wisconsin held on for a 68-61 win over Long Beach
State in the Badgers' season-opener.
Jason Bohannon scored 12 points, but made
What Is the Point Spread?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
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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