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San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philip Rivers threw for 270 yards and a touchdown, and Ryan Mathews rushed for 90 yards and two scores as the San Diego Chargers took a 34-14 decision over the Baltimore Ravens. Rivers completed 17-of-23 passes, including a 28-yard touchdown to Malcom Floyd, in the Chargers' (7-7) third straight victory. The Chargers are now tied with Oakland for second place in the AFC West and sit a game back of Denver for the top spot in the division.
Ray Rice carried the ball 10 times for 57 yards while also hauling in nine passes for 55 yards in a losing effort.
Baltimore received the ball first and quickly moved down the field on a 22- yard run by Rice and a 33-yard reception by Anquan Boldin, but the drive stalled at the San Diego 18 and Billy Cundiff's 36-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right.
But San Diego scored on its next two possessions to take a 17-7 lead into halftime.
The Chargers continued to roll in the second half, as they scored 17 straight points while intercepting Flacco twice.
The Ravens then drove into San Diego territory to try and answer, but Flacco failed to see Chargers linebacker Takeo Spikes on a pass over the middle and Spikes picked the ball off, returning it across midfield.
Three plays later, San Diego's Shaun Phillips grabbed a short pass intended for Rice at the Baltimore 27, but Novak's 37-yard field goal try bounced off the right upright to keep the score the same.
Novak's 28-yard kick was true on the Chargers' next touch to put San Diego up by 27 before a 36-yard catch-and-run by the Ravens' Torrey Smith late in the game accounted for the final margin.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two of the most successful teams of this 2011 NFL season will go head-to-head under the Monday night lights when the defending AFC champion Pittsburgh Steelers pay a visit to Candlestick Park to take on the playoff-bound San Francisco 49ers, though some of the luster of this otherwise marquee matchup may be removed due to the potential absence of a pair of star players. The Steelers will enter this high-profile showdown with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger a question mark due to an ankle sprain he suffered in the team's most recent win, while All-Pro outside linebacker James Harrison is guaranteed to sit out the contest after being handed a one-game suspension by the league office for an illegal hit on Cleveland quarterback Colt McCoy during Pittsburgh's 14-3 triumph over the Browns on Dec. 8.
Roethlisberger was sidelined for part of the second quarter after hurting his ankle against the Browns, though the notoriously-resilient signal-caller did return after halftime and sealed the victory with a 79-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Antonio Brown with under three minutes to go. The two-time Super Bowl winner has remained hobbled with the injury during this week's practice sessions, however, and his status will likely be touch-and-go up until game time.
Roethlisberger has missed just one game because of injury over the past four seasons and has a well-established reputation of playing through pain. If he's held out for Monday's clash, 14-year veteran Charlie Batch will direct the offense.
San Diego Joins Steelers For San >>
Division Season Crush Disable Into Oilers >>
Kings Games Highlight Salvage Down Sutter >>
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.
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:
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.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
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.
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