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Quick NFL Injury Notes

2006-11-13T09:36:00.000-05:00

NFL / Pro Football Injuries at Novemeber 9: (Apologies - late on this - many will still be out next week though!)

Important injuries for NFL Week Ten. Key injuries this week:

Seattle where running back Shaun Alexander is expected to miss his sixth straight game with a broken foot.

QB Matt Hasselbeck also likely out of this game, the 3.5 spread that Seattle is giving to the Rams is is looking more and more generous.

A player who will definitely not play this week is New England's Rodney Harrison. Harrison is out indefinitely with a broken scapula. Safety, Eugene Wilson also questionable this week against the Jets, the Patriots banged up secondary could be vulnerable against quarterback, Chad Pennington.

The Pats are still 10.5 point home favorites over the NY Jets.

Another player who is out this week is running back, Willis McGahee. Anthony Thomas is a north-south runner and a capable backup, but Buffalo will miss the running threat of McGahee as a 12 point road dog at Indy.

The NY Giants meet Chicago as 1 point favorites on Sunday night, but they are really banged up on the defensive side of the ball. Strahan is out, and defensive end Osi Umenyiora is doubtful.

Giants' Justin Tuck is questionable and linebackers Carlos Emmons and Brandon Short are questionable. If things weren’t bad enough for the Giants, wide receiver Amani Toomer is out for the year.

Chicago Bears' Brian Urlacher is better at questionable with a toe injury. There is a good chance he plays in this game after it looked like he may be sidelined for some time.

Santana Moss is improved, but he is still questionable this week in Philadelphia. The Redskins are seven point underdogs.

Baltimore defensive stalwarts, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, are both questionable this week at Tennessee. Baltimore Sun expects both of them to play on Sunday. The Ravens are favored by seven points.

AFC The Place To Be

2006-10-18T08:24:00.000-05:00

The AFC North is buzzing. Baltimore and Cincinnati each lost their second straight game last weekend and Pittsburgh capitalised by earning rare victory.

The Steelers are therefore a game closer to first place in this competitive division.

It wasn't that the Steelers so much won - it was more the way they dismantled the Kansas City Chiefs by 45-7. However - the defending champions will need to do more as they only sit at 2-3 for the season.

'The Roeth' looked better, succeeding with 16-of-19 attempts for 238 yards. He passed for two touchdown strikes and no intercepts. Parker mirrored his quarterback with another impressive display, running for 110 yards on 21 carries and scored twice.

Cincy lost 14-13 to the Buccs on the road, holding the opposition in the first half but finally gave up two touchdowns, one in each of the final two quarters to take the loss. The win was Tampa's first of the season. Cincinnati stand at 3-2, after beginning the year with three straight victories.

Baltimore lost their second straight game on Sunday after starting 4-0. Worse still they have lost McNair (QB) but they also lost their starting quarterback. Luckily for the Ravens and McNair, the Raven's bye week is upon them giving them the chance to regroup and assess McNair's injury.

Heading into Week 7 the Ravens sit on top spot in the AFC North - 4-2, with the Bengals at 3-2, and the Steelers now at 2-3. The Browns prop up the bottom. Betting on the teams in the AFC North division this season has been a bit up and down. With the main contenders being very even in win/loss against the spread.

Cincinatti and Pittsburgh will get a chance to catch up some ground on the division leader having their bye week. Cincinnati will get a visit from the Panthers - while Pittsburgh will matchup with Atlanta.

The Ravens return to action on October 29, and are up against a New Orleans Saints team on a mission. Cincy will get a home game in W8 against Atlanta, while Pittsburgh will be playing whipping boys Oakland. The AFC North could look a little different after the dust has settled.

NFL Draft 2006

2006-05-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Taking a look at the losers and winners in this year's NFL Draft:

Losers

Buffalo Bills

The Bills got Safety Donte Whitner with the 8th pick overall - bur they could have down-traded and still had their man. Defensive tackle, John McCargo was a surprise selection after trading up into the first round. But Buffalo did well in rounds three, four and five, when they got Youboty, Simpson, and Williams.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags took tight end Marcedes Lewis with the 28th pick in the first round. While the position needed to be filled, Lewis probably would still have been there when they picked in the second round - so perhaps not the best strategy. Running back Maurice Drew was taken in the second round, a high position and selection for a player who has niche skills.

Tennessee Titans

Tennessee chose QB Vince Young over Matt Leinart apparently a choice made by the General Manager as opposed to the coaching staff. Leinart knows how the Titans play offensively and could have slotted in from day one. Steve McNair may be released and Young is not ready to step in. Running back LenDale White provides some value in the second round, but his character is questionable. What is it with these running backs....

Winners

Philadelphia Eagles

Philly had defensive lineman, Brodrick Bunkley fall into their laps at number 14. In the second round they snapped up offensive tackle Winston Justice, a player they were thinking about in the first round. The Eagles also made some nice plays on Sunday and picked up a couple of value picks in offensive guard, Max Jean Gilles and receiver, Jason Avant.

Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals swooped down on quarterback Matt Leinart after he fell to the tenth pick. He could end up playing soon if Kurt Warner suffers more injuries - which is very possible. D. Lutui is a solid offensive guard. Tight end Leonard Pope and defensive tackle Gabe Watson were good picks in the 3rd and 4th rounds.

Green Bay Packers

Green Bay's first took linebacker A.J. Hawk over Vernon Davis in the first round. Hawk is a leader and could be great long term value. Green Bay needed some players heading into this draft and they got thirteen picks overall by trading down and sending Javon Walker to Denver. Daryn Colledge, wide receiver Greg Jennings and linebacker Abdul Hodge are all good quality picks.

The World Baseball Classic

2006-02-27T14:29:00.000-05:00

The World Baseball Classic begins on Friday in Toyko, (Thursday night in US because of the time difference). There are four main favorites for this event: USA, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

World Baseball Classic Win Odds 9/2

Starting Pitching: Johan Santana is one of the best pitchers in the MLB along with Carlos Zambrano. They have a great squad including Gustavo Chacin, Freddy Garcia, Victor Zambrano, Kelvim Escobar, Tony Armas.

The Venezuelans do not have a lot of big name relief pitchers, Jorge Julio and Rafael Betancourt being the exceptions. So some of the excess starters will pitch in relief. Don't Francisco Rodriguez who is one of the best closers out there.

Weaknesses:

Venezuela has a lot of slick fielding infielders such as Alex Gonzalez, Carlos Guillen and Omar Vizquel, but there are not a lot of power hitters in the group except for Miguel Cabrera. Mora will not play in the tournament, making where he would play a non-issue.

With Mora out - either Juan Rivera or Endy Chavez will be forced to play center. Rivera is more suited defensively for a corner outfield position, while Chavez is not much of a hitter.

The Lowdown:

The odds for Venezuela were originally 9/1.

Most of the reason was that people looked at the Venezuelan pitching staff and realized that they are capable of shutting down the high powered offenses of the US and Dominican Republic.

Venezuela have also just won the Caribbean World Series and while that event energized the entire country, it will be even bigger for them to win the WBC. They share the same opening group as the Dominican Republic.

Venezuela has already shown that it can beat the Dominican Republic - so with luck they will not be intmidated.

College Basketball: Michigan State at Iowa

2006-02-14T17:20:00.000-05:00

Big ten teams clash tonight, as Michigan State attempt to overcome their road opponents in the form of Iowa. The Hawkeyes are hot and playing some of their best basketball of the season. They will look to gain revenge for an earlier thirty point road loss to the Spartans. The game can be seen on ESPN at 9:00pm EST.

Michigan State is an impressive 18-6, but only 6-4 in the Big 10. On paper one looks at the Spartans and wonders how they are having such a hard time - In Paul Davis, Maurice Ager, Shannon Brown, the Spartans have players each averaging over eighteen points per game - yet they are just 2-4 in the conference. The '10' is notoriously merciless on road teams but nevertheless one expects better from them.

Iowa is 19-6 and has been the upstart of the Big 10 with an 8-3 record. They have a small lead over Ohio State in the conference. Although the Hawkeyes lost 51-48 at Northwestern last week, it was a game that they should have won. However, they did come back with an 70-67 win at Indiana on over the weekend. Iowa are unbeaten at home and are 5-0 in the Big 10.

Iowa's scorers are G. Brunner, A. Haluska, J. Horner. Combined, these guys are dangerous, averaging fourteen points per game - however they are perhaps not as well equipped as their opponents.

Michigan State is scoring about ten points more per game than Iowa, but also gives up ten more per game than Iowa. This is a big game for both teams. Iowa wants to keep the conference lead, while Michigan State is right back in the race if they can snatch a victory.

Michigan State has perhaps been getting too much respect based on their level of talent, but they have been poor on the road. We'll have to wait and see if that changes tonight at Iowa.

Go to our college basketball point spreads page for the latest odds on this game.

Super Bowl XL

2006-02-02T09:50:00.000-05:00

The Pittsburgh line is shortening, on the spread they were at -3.5 and are now generally -4. In one way it isn't surprising since most of the country will be on Pittsburgh, but it is very rare that a team that is favorite for the Super Bowl owns a worse regular season record than their opponents. Since 1970, when the leagues came together, it has happened only a handful of times.

Here they are:

Super Bowl V, 1971: Baltimore (+1) v Dallas

The Ravens were 11-2-1 in the regular season, while Dallas were 10-4. But Baltimore was a small dog against a Cowboys team in its first Super Bowl appearance. Baltimore won 16-13 in a poor game.

Super Bowl VII, 1973: Miami (+2) v Washington

This famous Dolphins team went 14-0 in the regular season. The Redskins were 11-3. In the AFC championship game Miami struggled to defeat Pittsburgh, 21-17, while Washington cruised to a 26-3 victory over Dallas in the NFC championship game. Yet it was amazing that Miami still went into the Super Bowl an underdog. This may have been partly because of the championship game against the Steelers but also because they had not faced a particulary tough schedule that season, with some easy opponents. The Dolphins triumphed 14-7 and have become legends in their time as the only team to have a perfect season.

Super Bowl XII, 1988: Washington (+3) v Denver

The Redskins were 11-4 during the regular season, with Denver 10-4-1, virtually identical records. The Broncos were in their second straight Super Bowl, but had been hammered by the Giants 39-20 in the previous Bowl. Yet Denver were favored by 3 probably because oddsmakers thought that John Elway was a better coach than Washington’s Doug Williams. The Redskins murdered the Broncos 42 to 10.

Super Bowl XIII, 1989: Cincinnati (+7) v San Francisco

The Bengals stood at 12-4 for the regular season, while the 49ers struggled at 10-6. The 49ers made the playoffs despite a three way tie in the NFC West division. SF won 20-16 on a fantastic last minute drive led by Joe Montana.

Super Bowl XXXVII, 2003: Tampa Bay (+3.5) v Oakland

Tampa was 12-4 in the regular season with Oakland at 11-5. Oakland was favored in this game as they had the leagues most effective offense. The Bucs team was defensive minded and destroyed Oakland 48-21. Gruden had coached Oakland the year before.

So where is the common thread? Yep, five times the team with the better regular season record was the underdog in the Super Bowl, and five times out of five that team has covered the spread. Four out five won straight up.

A few touts will jump at this one - of course it means nothing. Had the number of times that this had occurred been 55 instead of 5 - well then you certainly would sit up and take note. The sample is still too small from a betting perspective.

It's a fun angle though!

Playoff Picks - Final Four...

2006-01-21T16:37:00.000-05:00

There is no arguing that Denver is a great side, but there is something always niggling at you like an irritating child - saying Steelers, Steelers, Steelers - It's probably because they have been great on the road this season and because they seem to have this ability to do enough - to pound and batter when needed. Against the Colts they were in command - bad calls and all.

The important finishing touch is Coach Bill Cowher, who can mastermind any team's downfall.

Denver weren't great against the Patriots - especially when you consider that the Patriots handed them around 24 points on a platter.

The Broncos head up a lot of power rankings, but there are subjective and pyschological issues to consider - this is an emotional time for any team and often that is a great leveller.

Pick: Pittsburgh

Seattle were not that impressive against the Redskins - they almost seemed naive - perhaps a result of not participating in any recent post season action.

Carolina on the other hand are a battle hardened side and had a tough schedule this year, including two road games in the playoffs already. By comparison the Seahawks have had it relatively easy.

The value is definately with Carolina - they are the kind of pick in this type of game that turns profit in the long term. Yet, you look at Seattle and say - "these guys expect so much - can they throw it away now?" The answer is of course they can,
but that does not mean that they necessarily will.

Pick: Seattle (moneyline) but look at Carolina on the spread.