Seahswks Football Betting News

<< Baylor still tops women's hoops poll
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baylor is once again a unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll. The undefeated Lady Bears received all 40 first-place votes and a total of 1,000 points f

<< Milan's Merkel out two months
Milan, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - AC Milan midfielder Alexander Merkel will be out of action for the next two months, it was confirmed by the club on Monday. Merkel only returned to Milan earlier this month in joint ownership from Genoa with

<< Tigers' Martinez has initial knee surgery
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers announced Monday that Victor Martinez underwent left knee surgery last Friday. Martinez suffered a torn ACL during his offseason conditioning and last week had a number of initial procedu

<< Hurricanes reward D Gleason with four-year extension
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Carolina Hurricanes signed defenseman Tim Gleason to a four-year contract extension on Monday. "We thank Tim for choosing to stay with the Hurricanes long term," said general manager Jim Rutherfo

Mayer, Davydenko advance in France >>
Montpellier, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Florian Mayer and former top-five star Nikolay Davydenko were among Monday's first-round winners at the Open Sud de France tennis event. The German Mayer got past Luxembourg's Gilles Mull

Isles put Reasoner on IR >>
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Islanders placed veteran center Marty Reasoner on injured reserve Monday with a broken hand. The move is retroactive to January 6. Reasoner, 34, has five assists and a minus-16 rating in 35 gam

Caldwell lands in Baltimore >>
Owings Mills, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Ravens have named Jim Caldwell as their quarterbacks coach. Caldwell was fired as head coach of the Indianapolis Colts two weeks ago in the wake of a 2-14 season and front office

WPS suspends 2012 season >>
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Women's Professional Soccer announced on Monday that the league will suspend the 2012 season as a result of its ongoing dispute with a former owner. The WPS Board of Governors voted on Monday to suspen

Betting Football

Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

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