Playoff sports betting

[anti-pop]

Anybody here dabble in online sports betting? My friend has a bunch of money this week on the Steelers to cover a 9.5-Colts favored point spread. So if Steelers win or the Colts win by 9 pts or less, then he cashes.

Seattle is also favored by 9pts over Skins, and I say bet on the Skins because Seattle's defense is nothing like the Bucs defense. Santana Moss, plus Portis, plus a defense thats, at the very least, better than Seattle's. Also Gibbs has better playoff record than Holgren's record at seattle. I say bet on the Redskins. Seahawks will probably still win, but not by more than a touchdown.

What does everybody else think? with multiple input and opinions, maybe we could increase odds

 

[penguinsfan]

The Steelers bet is iffy, as most any sports bet is. Sometimes you get a slamdunk, but these two are a little tough.

If I had to take something on the Steeler game, I would probably take the Steelers. They have a small chance to win the game outright and they are expected to play the Colts tougher than they did in November, whereas we have no real reason to think the Colts could run the score up even higher this time. The Colts will be playing with some emotion, as Tony Dungy guaranteed his deceased son James a Super Bowl appearance in one of their final conversations, but that doesn't guarantee anything. If the Colts would lose, it wouldn't be the first time strong emotion failed to carry a team all the way to victory. In fact, while Roethlisberger has been the subject of criticism for his extremely poor postseason play last year, we can at least chalk that up to rookie gitters. Manning his been choking in the postseason for years now. If he feels pressured to bring a victory and the Steelers are hanging with them he might crack under pressure and deliver a pass to Troy Polamolu. I don't think I would touch this game with my money, but if I had to I would go Pittsburgh.

As for Washington @ Seattle, that's another tough one. No Seattle doesn't have the Bucs defense, but Washington could hardly do jackshit against the Bucs. Their offense will have to show considerable improvement against a Seattle team coming off a first-round bye. I expect Seattle to win and I would take them with the spread if I absolutely had to make a choice. I think Washington is just about due for a letdown.

 

[anti-pop]

I agree with most of what u said, but I think u give Seattle a little too much credit and Washington not enough. Seattle is somewhat a product of an easy schedule, but they are still have a great offense and good o-line and CB Marcus Trufant will be back and healthy. But Skins Defense is pretty tough with Sean Taylor, Shawn Springs, Cornelius Griffin. But the game is on in a few hours so we'll see.

Denver is favored by 3 over NewEngland. I would personally take NE. Not gonna get into details, I just think they'll win for a number of reasons, but it is a hard call as Denver is a great team. Not that good against the Pass but great against the run. Even though the Corey Dillon hasnt been doing much anyways this season.

Bears favored by 3 over Panthers. This is another tough one, but I say Panthers win because the 2 Defenses are both great, but Panthers offense will have an easier time than Bears offense will. This is Grossman's first playoff start and might choke a little, or even get injured. This one is the biggest tossup in my mind.

Opinions?
Any opinions on who will be up at the half?

 

[penguinsfan]

Yeah, there is something to be said about the Seahawks benefitting from their schedule. There were several games they could have easily lost against teams I would not call powerhouse opponents. For that matter, the whole NFC is far more weak than the AFC and I think it's safe to say that if the NFC wins the Super Bowl, it will be a signficant upset.

Carolina has a real chance to pull it off in Chicago, but man they sure got bitch slapped when they played there a few weeks ago. Of course, I have always maintained that comparing postseason to regular season is almost as irrelevant as comparing the regular season to the preseason. In the postseason, the best work comes to light from genuis coaches such as Bellichek for one. And the teams that have hungry, experienced veterans that know how to win in the postseason and keep all emotions in check have a real advantage. This all came full-force last year when I listened to fans in this Pittsburgh area speak of having no fear of playing New England, because Pittsburgh had ass-whooped the Patriots back in October. I tried to let them know that the October game was almost meaningless when one analyzed it all, and look what happened. That is the only thing New England has going for it when it heads to Denver tonight. On paper, the Broncos should win, but we can all see New England peaking at the right time.