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Colts hoping 'dirty dozen' make defense betterFootball Betting Lines08/05/2010 - ANDERSON, Ind. (AP) -Look out, NFL. The defending AFC champion Colts finally have their dream defense - fast, experienced, deep and getting better. For only the second time in Peyton Manning's career, the Colts are returning all 11 defensive starters. Add a healthy Bob Sanders and a newly signed Deshea Townsend to the mix, and Indy could open the season with the rare luxury of having 13 Super Bowl starters on the roster. ``It's so big because when you get a tight-knit group like ours, and mix it all together, you come to work ready to do your best,'' linebacker Clint Session said. ``We play off one another and we want to get better.'' Indy already knows it has a winning combination. In Larry Coyer's first season as defensive coordinator, the defense ranked eighth in points allowed (19.2) and played a major part in helping the Colts reach their second Super Bowl in four years. There's also plenty of room for improvement after yielding 126.5 yards rushing, 24th in the NFL; finishing in the middle of the league in sacks (34); and 15th in interceptions (16). Indy also had 92 defensive penalties, the most since 2005, and couldn't stop the Saints in the second half of the Super Bowl. With one full season - and a second full offseason - to learn Coyer's aggressive system, the Colts have confidence and continuity. ``When you're on the field, just being comfortable with everyone goes a long way,'' defensive captain Gary Brackett said. ``It goes right to the success of your team. I think we should develop a little more in the system, and it's like Coach (Tony) Dungy always said, the second year is when you increase your football IQ.'' It's not just smoke and mirrors. Indy, long known as an offensive powerhouse, has made a huge investment in its defense recently. Five players - Brackett, Antoine Bethea, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis and Sanders - have signed contracts worth a combined $242.5 million since 2006. The deals for Sanders and Freeney also were the most lucrative at their position at the time. Now the Colts are hoping it will pay off, though the tough part will be finding a spot for everyone. Cornerbacks Jerraud Powers and Jacob Lacey combined to make 21 regular-season starts in 2009 and were impressive as rookies, but they'll vie for the starting job opposite Hayden. Whoever winds up as the backup may also have to contend with Townsend, a 12-year veteran, for playing time. Bethea is coming off his second Pro Bowl season and just signed a $27 million contract, and former undrafted free agent Melvin Bullitt has established himself as a legitimate play-maker in Indy's secondary. Coyer's job is devising ways to use Sanders and keep the big-hitting safety healthy. Sanders has started only eight regular-season games since being chosen as the 2007 NFL defensive player of the year, but has practiced all week. It's the first time Sanders hasn't opened training camp on the physically unable to perform list since 2007. ``He's our leader back there, and you could say he's the most battle-tested guy in the secondary,'' Hayden said. ``He doesn't do a lot of talking, but when he leads, he leads by example and we need that.'' The secondary isn't the only area making adjustments. Indy's bookend pass rushers, Freeney and Mathis, both went to the Pro Bowl the last two seasons, rank first and second in sacks in franchise history and are No. 1 and No. 2 among all NFL players in forced fumbles since 2002. If healthy, they won't lose any playing time. But after taking another speedy pass rusher, Jerry Hughes, in the first round of this year's draft, the Colts are working on some new options. Coach Jim Caldwell has said the Colts are experimenting with packages that would put all three on the field together. One possibility would make Hughes a standing rusher, a role the departed Raheem Brock played last season. Or Hughes could line up as a 3-4 linebacker, allowing the Colts to dial up more blitzes. Some teams actually projected Hughes as a linebacker. All three linebackers - Brackett, Session and Philip Wheeler - are back, too, and second-round pick Pat Angerer will likely get some action behind Brackett in the middle. What does it mean? Well, the Colts believe this could be the defense that could bring them another Super Bowl crown. ``We've got guys who know what they're doing,'' Session said. ``We're ready to make plays. We made a lot of plays last year, but we left a lot of plays, a lot of interceptions on the field, too. We definitely want to improve on all those areas this year, and we'll do whatever it takes to win games.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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Online Sportsbook Football BettingWhy Sports Betting is so much fun?Betting SportsThe most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made) Points (or Runs) ScoredAnother bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game. Future BetsSports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Proposition Bets (or Prop Bets)Proposition bets , also known as prop bets, focus upon the more exotic aspects of a game and are generally reserved for events that are widely televised. Prop bets are extremely popular when it comes to wagering on the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. The Imperial Palace Casino’s sportsbook is well-known for the enormous number of prop bets offered. For example, you can bet on:
Types of BetsStraight BetInvolves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total. Sports Betting ParlaysA parlay is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers and is dependent on all of those wagers winning together. The benefit of the parlay bet is much better odds than placing each individual bet separately since the difficulty of hitting it is much higher.Standard payoffs on a two-team parlay are 13/5; while a three-teamer pays 6/1; and a four-teamer 10/1. Parlay cards are also fairly common in sportsbooks and popular with bettors, as they are released early in the week with set odds that do not change in return for a slightly lower payoff. Round Robin BettingAdventurous bettors who enjoy betting parlays sometimes put together a series of parlays called a Round Robin . A three-team Round Robin consists of one three-team parlay and three two-team parlays. For example, Joe likes teams A,B,C – with a Round Robin he has a three-teamer with ABC, and two-teamers with AB, AC, and BC.Betting TeasersSimilar to a parlay, a teaser bet is a single bet that links together two or more individual wagers, but is different in that the point spread is adjusted to your advantage on each individual wager. In exchange for the points, you get less of a return on your bet compared to a parlay. For example, a 6-point teaser would move the line on a 7-point favorite from -7 to -1, meaning the team would have to cover 6 less points. Each of the individual wagers must win or the bet is a loss.These are the main types of sports bets available today. But as sports betting continues to grow, sportsbooks will continue to develop new and creative ways to bet. We’ll continue to track these changes to the sports gambling landscape, so check back often and we’ll tell you all about it! To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
FOOTBALL BETTING LINESNFL Football Sports BettingTwo playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers. New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count. New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend. His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates. HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game. The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup. RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day. First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08. The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition. These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years. New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5. You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff! Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines . |
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