Bucs prove they'll fight to the bitter end
Football Betting Lines
12/20/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jon Gruden is not into moral victories. Neither are his players. However, the hard-nosed Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach and his troops had to feel at least some sense of satisfaction after nearly pulling off the biggest upset of the NFL season.
There wasn't a whole lot in the Bucs' favor heading into Sunday's visit to Chicago's Soldier Field. Tampa Bay hadn't won on the road all year long, and was facing a Bears squad that had been nearly invincible on its own turf in 2006. The Buccaneers came in as the lowest-scoring team in the league, while Chicago had yielded the fewest points at home this season. Even history wasn't on the Bucs' side, as the club historically hasn't fared well in cold-weather stadiums during the winter months.
Despite all those obstacles, Tampa Bay almost did the unthinkable. Fueled by a stellar performance off the bench from quarterback Tim Rattay, the Buccaneers roared back from a 21-point second-half deficit to send the game into overtime before finally succumbing to a Robbie Gould field goal late in the extra period that gave the Bears a thrilling 34-31 victory.
In the end, the game turned out to be another stinging defeat in what has been a season full of pain for Tampa Bay. But while the Bucs remain short on talent, Sunday's performance showed they clearly don't lack heart, especially considering the club has nothing to play for right now other than positioning for April's draft.
"We've got a lot of resolve," said Gruden. "(The players) showed tremendous grit today and (the comeback) is credited to them, it really is. I'm more proud of that then I can tell you."
You also can't question Gruden's intensity and desire and the way those attributes rub off on his charges. His handling of his team's quarterback quandary this season, however, is much more debatable, particularly after witnessing the results on Sunday.
Gruden's patience finally wore out with ineffective rookie Bruce Gradkowski, who was hopelessly ineffective once again, late in the second quarter with the Bucs trailing 14-3. Rattay showed his rust early on, but the one-time San Francisco 49ers hopeful was nearly unstoppable after the intermission, engineering four touchdown drives and providing the spark that the offense had been desperately seeking for months.
Rattay finished 20-of-35 for 268 yards and threw three touchdown passes, all of which came in the fourth quarter. One was a 64-yard strike to speedy wideout Joey Galloway - the longest play from scrimmage for the Bucs this season - that closed the gap to 31-24. After Tampa's defense forced a quick stop, Rattay hit Ike Hilliard in stride down the middle, and the veteran receiver outraced the Chicago secondary for a game-tying 44-yard score.
"He did a great job," said tight end Alex Smith of Rattay. "I think once he finally got his feet settled in, you can see that he was making plays left and right. He was moving around with his feet, and that was the big difference."
WALKING THE PLANK
Rattay's outing earned the journeyman signal-caller the start for this Sunday's contest at Cleveland, a move for which many fans and observers had been campaigning for weeks. The seventh-year pro started 16 games for the 49ers from 2003-05, including the first four games of last season, before being benched in favor of No. 1 overall pick Alex Smith. A few weeks later, Rattay was traded to Tampa Bay for a sixth-round draft choice to serve as Chris Simms' backup.
"It's just common sense right now, based on performance and who gives us a better chance to win a football game," explained Gruden on the switch. "We'd like to finish the season as strongly as we can."
Gradkowski had been under center for the last 11 games after Simms went down to season-ending internal injuries in Week 3. The 23-year-old was pretty effective early on, but has really hit the wall over the past month. Gradkowski's 65.9 quarterback rating is tied with fellow rookie Vince Young for the lowest among NFL regulars, and he hasn't thrown a touchdown pass in four straight games.
Against the Bears, Gradkowski completed just 5-of-11 throws for 37 yards and was sacked twice before getting the hook.
"He is a young guy and he does have promise, but I think right now he's out of rhythm a little bit," Gruden remarked. "Things are happening fast, he's clearly struggling and the best thing to do is try to go in another direction."
PILLAGED?
Gould's game-winning kick was set up by a controversial 28-yard pass from Bears quarterback Rex Grossman to wide receiver Rashied Davis. Although replays showed the ball appeared to come out of Davis' hands and touch the ground, the play was not reviewed upstairs.
It was later revealed that replay official Jim Blackwood attempted to contact the field crew to look at the catch, but was unable to do so because the pager system had malfunctioned. The NFL admitted to the technical error in a statement issued on Monday.
"(The ball) hit the ground," said Gruden of the costly play. "The disappointing thing is that the play's not ruled properly on the field."
HELLO CLEVELAND
Tampa Bay will get one final chance at earning that elusive first road victory of the season this Sunday, when the club travels to Cleveland to battle the 4-10 Browns.
Points could be at a premium in this upcoming matchup that clearly won't be a highlight of the Week 16 docket. Cleveland is tied for 29th overall with an average of 16.1 points per game, while the Buccaneers' 13.0 per game average is next-to-last in the league.
Tampa Bay is just 1-5 lifetime against the Browns, and hasn't won in two previous visits to Cleveland. The Bucs' only win in the series was a 17-3 verdict in 2002.
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MySportsbook.com Favors Fighting Irish to win College Football betting odds
According to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, on January 8, the Fighting Irish faithful may be toasting their 14th national title in Arizona – Notre Dame’s first national championship in close to 20 years.
Although MySportsbook.com has listed Notre Dame as the 5-1 favorite to win thecollege football College Football betting, fans in Columbus do not need to cancel their tickets to Glendale just yet. The Ohio State Buckeyes, listed right behind the Irish at 7-1, are also heavy favorites to win college football’s most coveted prize, while West Virginia, USC and the 2007 National Champion Texas Longhorns - all listed at 8-1 – are strong contenders as well.
MySportsbook.com has also posted gambling odds on the conference championships for the ACC, Big 12 and SEC. In the ACC – it could be anyone’s title, particularly for the two schools from the Sunshine State. Florida State and Miami, both listed at 2-1, are favored to win the ACC Championship Game odds, with the ‘Noles hoping to finish in the nation’s top 10 for the first time in five years, and the ‘Canes looking to avenge their 10-7 loss against FSU in last year’s ACC Championship betting.
Moving west to the Big 12, MySportsbook.com has betting lines listing Texas as 7-5 favorites to repeat as conference champions, even though the Longhorns lost their national championship-winning quarterback Vince Young to the NFL. In the south, the Auburn Tigers – led by Heisman-hopeful senior running back Kenny Irons – have been given the best odds to win the SEC Championship odds at 5-2.
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ODDS TO WIN THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
| Notre Dame Ohio State West Virginia Texas USC Florida California Auburn Oklahoma Iowa Louisville Florida State Michigan Miami (FL) LSU Penn State Virginia Tech Nebraska Tennessee Georgia Arizona State Oregon Clemson Texas A&M Texas Tech Alabama Arkansas Boston College Michigan State Maryland South Carolina Colorado Purdue Georgia Tech TCU UCLA Arizona Pittsburgh Iowa State Wisconsin North Carolina State Virginia North Carolina Fresno State Hawaii Northwestern BYU Oregon State UNLV Field (Any Other Team) |
5-1 7-1 8-1 8-1 8-1 12-1 15-1 15-1 18-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 20-1 25-1 40-1 40-1 50-1 60-1 60-1 60-1 70-1 70-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 100-1 150-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 200-1 250-1 250-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 300-1 400-1 500-1 500-1 500-1 500-1 1000-1 1000-1 40-1 |
ODDS TO WIN ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
| Miami (FL) Florida State Virginia Tech Clemson Georgia Tech Boston College Maryland Virginia North Carolina State North Carolina Wake Forest Duke |
2-1 2-1 3-1 7-1 15-1 15-1 15-1 30-1 30-1 30-1 50-1 500-1 |
ODDS TO WIN BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
| Texas Oklahoma Nebraska Texas Tech Colorado Iowa State Texas A&M Kansas State Missouri Kansas Baylor Oklahoma State |
7-5 9-5 9-2 12-1 14-1 15-1 15-1 30-1 30-1 35-1 100-1 100-1 |
ODDS TO WIN SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
| Auburn Florida LSU Georgia Tennessee Arkansas Alabama Mississippi South Carolina Mississippi State Kentucky Vanderbilt |
5-2 11-4 4-1 6-1 7-1 7-1 9-1 20-1 28-1 75-1 100-1 300-1 |
For complete NCAA football odds please visit Mysportsbook.com.
Sportsbooks to bet on football
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.