NFL preseason betting aficionados who took a flier on the Rams were rewarded by their outright victory in the pickem game. Kansas City also finished 0-4 against the spread, while St. Louis finished 3-1 to the number. The combined 26 points put on the board went well UNDER the posted total of 36.

Despite his teams continued offensive struggles, Haley tried to put a positive spin on his playcalling debut:

“I made a few mistakes out there but overall it felt good. Obviously, there were a couple of plays I would like to have back. After I got the feel a little bit, I didn’t feel too out of sync with the game and what was going on. I thought our defense gave us a chance to win. Running the football is something we can feel good about.”

The Chiefs moved the ball well, generating 406 yards of total offense but had trouble converting in the red zone. They also turned the ball over three times, the most costly a third quarter interception thrown by reserve QB Tyler Thigpen and returned for a touchdown. Afterwards, the Rams Quincy Butler suggested that his team has a new mindset:

“Every time the ball’s in the air, we all think ‘It’s my ball. We all go and get it.”

Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo was generally pleased with his teams effort in the victory:

“It was good to get those guys back in the swing. Now we’ve just got to get Marc (Bulger) cranked up.”

Bulger has missed most of the preseason but is expected to start in the Rams regular season opener. Spagnuolo wasnt particularly concerned about all of the yardage his team gave up:

“The silver lining is the defense held them and got them to kick a field goal. So there’s some good and bad always.”

St. Louis will head to the Pacific Northwest next Sunday as they open their regular season against the Seattle Seahawks. The Chiefs will also open the NFL 2009 campaign on the road, heading to Baltimore to take on the Ravens. The Rams will remain on the road for week #2, playing at Washington while the Chiefs will host the Oakland Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on football betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

The Bengals also made short work of the NFL pointspread, easily covering as +1′ home underdogs. Cincinnati improved to 4-3 against the number while Chicago evened their ATS mark at 3-3. The 55 combined points sailed OVER the posted total of 42′. The Bengals have gone OVER in four of seven games this year while the Bears evened their NFL totals mark at 3-3.

A happy Benson described his feelings after the win:

“Everybody knew it was going to be an emotional day. Everybody knew. What a wonderful day and a wonderful thing, to go out there and strut your stuff.”

Despite the evidence to the contrary, Benson downplayed the motive of revenge:

“I continue to be as graceful as I can be. I’m not shoving anything in anybody’s face. Like I say, it wasn’t a revenge day for me. I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunities.”

He said his biggest problem was trying to keep his emotions in check and play under control:

“There were a few times where I may have gotten a little too hyped up, a little too antsy. A couple of drives, I found myself having to calm myself down and gather my emotions to stay poised. Once I got past that, we were good to go. Keep it rolling.”

Bengals’ receiver Chad Ochocinco had 10 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns. He shared his thoughts postgame:

“I don’t understand why it went this way today and why it didn’t go that way last week or the week before that. The offensive line played unbelievable. For Ced to run the way he did today and for us to be able to throw, we could have done what we wanted to do.”

Chicago gave up more points than in any game all season, a fact that left defensive end Alex Brown looking for answers:

“That was pretty embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to come out and play like that. I tip my hat to their whole team. Cedric ran the ball like crazy. They did whatever they wanted to do.”

The Bengals will enjoy a bye week before hosting the Baltimore Ravens on November 8. They’ll then play two games on the road at Pittsburgh and Oakland. Chicago will try to get back on track this Sunday as they host the Cleveland Browns. They’ll host the Arizona Cardinals the following Sunday before heading west for a Thursday night game against the San Francisco 49ers on November 12.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Fresno State

Their first game is played against the Fresno State U Bulldogs on September 4. Last season, the match between the two schools was a close fight with the Bulldogs putting up a very good fight that had Cincinnati maximizing its resources. However, at the last moment, the Bulldogs dropped back to a 28-20 loss. The game was played at Nippert stadium.

During last seasons non-conference and conference games the Bulldogs had scored 85 and 6-2 respectively. But Ryan Matthews was still playing with them. Since Matthews has gone over to the NFL, a big gap has been left in the team and their performance this year is not expected to come close to last year’s. The score predicted for this match is 41-20 favoring the Bearcats.

Indiana State

On September 11 the Bearcats come face to face with Indiana State again. Early on the team has come to anticipate this game as they will be getting some of their easiest points in it. It is evidently a mismatched game.

The Sycamores scored last season a whining 1-10. What little resistance they showed Louisville fizzled out as they lost at the end with 10 against Louisiana’s 30. Their encounter with the Bearcats will likely end in a similar point-massacre. It is a good thing that the game is also expected to end very early.

North Carolina State

Cincinnati battles North Carolina on September 16. The score of NC in last seasons non-conference was 57. However, at home, their record stood at 5-3. The team has power offensive tactics and an equally powerful unit. They should have worked hard on their defenses for this season. Otherwise they are bound to cave in before the onrush of the Bearcats.

Victory is foreseen for Cincinnati 45-24

Oklahoma

The game against Oklahoma is slated for September 25. The team has a blinding rushing attack that Cincinnati will have to keep in control with their defense of which they have plenty. The two teams are usually polled among the top 20 teams and their re-match this season will be more or less even.

Oklahoma has built plenty of muscle into its present team in spite of the fact that they are missing quarterback Sam Bradford. They are definitely going to try for a comeback after doing so badly in the previous season.

Cincinnati will have a slight edge at home.

Predictions favor Cincinnati to win 31-27 but with those statistics, the tables may be easily turned.

Miami

On the last day of the non-conference games Cincinnati plays Miami. This is on October 9. A 120-year old rivalry exists between the two schools who have annually fought the Battle for the Victory Bell. Undoubtedly that is one of the oldest grudge games in the US.

Cincinnati has humbled Miami for four years in succession. Miami hasn’t shown much drive in recent years and if this tendency is continued this year, they are looking at their fifth defeat in a row.

The Bearcats normally make a quick business of their matches with Miami. Game play reaches about halftime in home games.

If the forecasts are proven accurate, the Bearcats stand to better their score in these seasons non-conference games. However, they still have to perform consistently in the conference games to up their overall score.

Doc #azfqds234g

Freddie Brister begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting is a big fan of Sports check out his: Cincinnati Grill Cover and his: Seattle Seahawks Watch today.

NFL betting enthusiasts who took New Orleans as -3 home favorites were confident that they’d be cashing a ticket by halftime as the Saints shot out to a 34-17 lead at the break. The Saints also remained perfect against the NFL pointspread at 5-0, while the Giants failed to cover for the first time this season and stand at 5-1 ATS.

After the game, Brees explained his team’s strategy:

“We wanted to really dictate the tempo of the game the whole way through. Seven different guys scored touchdowns. That’s big. That’s the type of rhythm that, when you get in, you feel like you can call anything and it’s going to work.”

The Saints are off to their best start since’93 and have yet to trail in a game this season. Still, head coach Sean Payton wasn’t entertaining talk that his team had established themselves as the presumptive Superbowl favorite:

“I don’t think you can talk about big pictures after game 5.”

Giants’ QB Eli Manning was looking forward to a homecoming of sorts-his father, Archie, played the same position for New Orleans during his NFL career. Suffice to say it didn’t go as he had planned:

“It’s not the way I imagined it during the week, but you’re going to encounter all sorts of games and all sorts of situations. I look at it as a loss. We need to go back to work this week, fix some things and try to improve.”

New York head coach Tom Coughlin marveled at the play of the Saints’ offensive line who gave Brees great protection all day long:

“I don’t know that we ever hit him. At this level, if you’re going to stop the pass, you’ve got to get pressure. You’ve got to force the quarterback not to throw it on his tempo.”

The Saints will now face the Miami Dolphins on the road, with New Orleans a -6 favorite and the total set at 47. After the trip to south Florida they’ll return home for a game against longtime rival Atlanta on Monday night football. They’ll then host the Carolina Panthers on November 8. The Giants return home to play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night, with New York a -7 home favorite and the total set at 46. They’ll head to Philadelphia to play the Eagles next week before returning home for a date against the San Diego Chargers on November 8.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on soccer betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

NFL sports bettors were faced with a choice between two teams with dismal ATS records in this game, and those who had the guts to take a 1-3 team as a -3 road favorite were rewarded with the cover. It was Carolina’s first NFL pointspread cover of the season and left them with a 1-4 record against the number. Tampa Bay has covered one of their six games this year. The 49 points scored went OVER the total of 40′. Tampa Bay has gone OVER in 4 of 6, while Carolina has exceeded the total in three of their five games.

Delhomme attempted only seven passes in the second half, but the way Williams and Stewart were running there was no reason to put the ball in the air. Williams said that even though Tampa Bay knew what was coming they couldn’t stop the Panthers’ running game:

“I’m sure everybody in the stadium knew what we were going to do. There were times they had nine in the box and we were still getting 7 or 8 yards.”

There’s been little impatience locally with Bucs’ rookie head coach Raheem Morris, but his weekly habit of explaining the obvious to rationalize yet another loss is starting to wear thin:

“We got overpowered at the end, and really throughout the game.”

Carolina safety Dante Wesley was ejected after clobbering Bucs’ return man Clifton Smith after a fair catch call. After the game, Wesley gave this defense for his actions:

“I was just trying to make a play. You can check my record. I’ve never really tried to hurt anybody. I’ve never tried to take a cheap shot on anybody.”

Wesley could face a possible fine or suspension from the NFL but, in all fairness, it did appear to be a momentary mental lapse as he was trying to make a big play.

Tampa’s schedule has the look of them going from ‘the frying pan into the fire’ as they host the New England Patriots next Sunday-fresh off of their 57 point drubbing of Tennessee. Carolina has an easier draw, hosting the Buffalo Bills next Sunday. The game is currently off the board pending the status of Bills’ QB Trent Edwards who suffered a concussion in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets. The Panthers will then play on the road the following two Sundays, traveling to Arizona and New Orleans.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Lewis has only been out of retirement and with the team for two weeks, and has spent this week trying to ingest a crash course on the Redskins\’ offensive schemes. While he was learning on the job, head coach Zorn was trying to put the best spin possible on what can only be seen as a de facto demotion:

\”I need to have composure. I need to understand what the reality of the situation is, and I think our players expect me to rise up. We expect them to play under adverse conditions. We expect them to risk it all. … I\’m conscious of what\’s going on. I\’m not naive about what\’s going on, and yet I have to just hold back on any feelings and make the decisions.\”

Quarterback Campbell is more concerned about the convoluted system of getting plays from Lewis to him:

\”There\’ll probably be a couple of plays I have in my head just in case if some reason it doesn\’t get in on time.\”

Here\’s how things are supposed to work-Lewis will sit in the coaches\’ box above the field and read the plays off a sheet. While Lewis has years of experience working in the so called \’West Coast Offense\’, Zorn left doubt that he really knows what he\’s doing at this point stressing that Lewis \”doesn\’t know the protections\” and \”doesn\’t know the blitz schemes.\” Nevertheless, he\’ll be running the offense when the Redskins take on Philadelphia this Monday night.

Once Lewis figures out what to call, that\’s when it really gets tricky. He\’ll relay the plays via headset not to Zorn but to offensive coordinator Sherman Smith. Smith will then inform the quarterback what to run. Zorn is left in the role of a passive bystander on offense, though he will listen in to the playcalling on his headset.

Backup quarterback Todd Collins also shared his concern with the new arrangement:

\”It is unsettling. I\’ve never gone through this before. I\’ve never had a play caller get changed in the middle of the season.\”

Lewis didn\’t exactly evoke a lot of confidence upon his hiring, where he revealed that he\’d been calling bingo games at a seniors\’ center to kill time since his retirement in 2004. Still, Collins gave him a guarded vote of confidence;

\”I know he\’s been studying last year\’s game against the Eagles and seems to have a pretty good idea how he wants to call the game this week. It\’s the same plays. He might coach them a little differently or highlight some different areas, but the offense hasn\’t gone under an overhaul or anything like that.\”

The Redskins haven\’t scored more than 17 points in a game this season, so maybe the thinking is that things can\’t get any worse.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.