Brady, Taylor each sharp as Pats down Falcons

Football Betting Lines

08/19/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Brady completed 10-of-12 passes for 85 yards with a touchdown and the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 28-10, in an exhibition game at Georgia Dome.

Fred Taylor rushed 11 times for 54 yards with a touchdown and Sammy Morris gained 52 yards on six carries with a TD for New England, which has won both its preseason games. Randy Moss had two catches for 24 yards, while Aaron Hernandez caught a TD pass in the victory.

Matt Ryan finished 8-for-13 for 76 yards through the air for the Falcons, who won their preseason opener last week but watched their offense struggle in this one. Michael Turner gained 32 yards on eight carries in the loss.

John Parker Wilson also saw action under center for the Falcons and completed 14-of-25 passing attempts for 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Matt Bryant's 46-yard field goal 5 1/2 minutes into the game gave the Falcons the lead, but the Pats answered on the ensuing possession. Brady and Taylor combined to engineer an 11-play scoring drive capped by Taylor's 28-yard TD run.

In the second quarter, with Brady still the signal-caller, New England found the end zone again. The 10-play drive started with a 14-yard connection to Moss but eventually stalled after a fumble. Stephen Gostkowski's 41-yard field goal attempt was no good, but a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Pats a first down at the 11-yard line. Brady found Hernandez for a 4-yard TD on third down.

In the third quarter, Sammy Morris's 20-yard touchdown run made it 21-3. Morris started up the middle, but cut outside and raced down along the left sideline and into the corner of the end zone.

The Pats scored again in the fourth quarter via a 24-yard TD pass from Brian Hoyer to rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski. Hoyer finished 8-for-15 with 94 yards passing.

The scoring was capped by Wilson's 19-yard touchdown pass to Troy Bergeron.

Football356 Football Betting News

<< Montreal pulls away from Winnipeg; Calvillo leaves early
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - S.J. Green scored touchdowns on two of his three receptions to lead the Montreal Alouettes to a 39-17 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at McGill Stadium. Running back Brandon Whitaker, filling

<< ChiSox unleash a 21-hit barrage, clobber Twins
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Buehrle hurled seven scoreless innings and the White Sox knocked around Carl Pavano and Twins to cruise to an 11-0 victory in the finale of their three-game series against the American League

<< Lee's home run lifts Astros over Mets
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Lee's titantic three-run home run proved to be the difference, as Houston edged New York, 3-2, to split a four- game set at Minute Maid Park. Lee's round-tripper made a loser of Pat Misch (0-2),

<< Spiller, Evans score Bills outlast Colts
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie first-round running back C.J. Spiller rushed for 54 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, as the Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts, 34-21, in a preseason game from the Rogers Centre in Toronto

<< Angels finally solve Red Sox
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hideki Matsui slugged a three-run homer and drove in four as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim snapped a nine-game losing streak to Boston with a 7-2 victory in the finale of a three-game set at Fenway P

Spiller, Evans help Bills outlast Colts >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie first-round running back C.J. Spiller rushed for 54 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, as the Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts, 34-21, in a preseason game from the Rogers Centre in Toronto

Raiders QB Frye headed to IR >>
Napa Valley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders are expected to place quarterback Charlie Frye on injured reserve, forcing him to miss the entire 2010 season. Frye underwent surgery on his right wrist on Wednesday and is expected

Indians overcome five errors to defeat Royals in KC >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Hafner's infield single drove home the final run in a five-run eighth inning, as the Cleveland Indians overcame shoddy defense to rally past Kansas City, 7-3, in the finale of a three-game series

Clijsters, Wozniacki into QFs; Dementieva upended in Montreal >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters was an easy third-round victor, while defending Rogers Cup champ Elena Dementieva was an upset victim Thursday at this $2 million Canadian event, a U.S. Open tune-up. The

Cahill stars as Athletics edge Rays >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Pennington's two-run double in the bottom of the sixth was the difference, as the Oakland Athletics edged Tampa Bay, 4-3, in the opener of a four-game series at the Coliseum. Kurt Suzuki and Rajai D

Football Betting

NFL Football Betting Online

The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.

Thursday, August 21

NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37

NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road

In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):

* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games

Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.

Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.

Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.

That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.

Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.

CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.