NFL Teams to Bet Against
By David A. Lane of Predictem.com
In the NFL, there are some good teams that many of us love to follow and usually always place our bets on; teams that possibly have deserved and earned our affection for a number of reasons, most of them being monetary ones. Many bettors are infatuated with the Pittsburgh Steelers, some the Minnesota Vikings, while others may prefer the Indianapolis Colts; the point is we all have our favorite teams to put our Benjamin Franklin’s on. Perhaps it’s an offensive unit on a particular team that catches your eye or possibly even the way another plays defense that makes you feel comfortable enough to put your money on them.
For me, the following teams bring enough peace of mind due to their collective ineptitude, to dust off my vault and bet against them:
The Cleveland Browns (0-3, 0-3 ATS) must head this list as they are not only bad; they are possibly the most pathetic team in the league. Leading the whole NFL in margin of loss at minus 22 a game says something about the team as a whole- that they’re a terrific one to bet against if nothing else, and that is that they struggle equally on both offense and defense. When there are 32 teams in the league and yours has allowed more points per game than all 31 of the other ones (31.7 a game) yet your offense has scored more points than only one of them (9.7 a game), your team is having one awful season. Very possibly this year’s version of last year’s Detroit Lions (0-16), a bettor would be hard pressed to find a better team to enjoy betting against.
In recent years, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-3, 0-3 ATS) have been a much better team than this and don’t usually find themselves on such a list like this, but for now, they stink. Their margin of victory for their rookie coach has been horrible at -16.7 a game, not good enough to tie them with the Carolina Panthers (0-3, 0-3 ATS) whose play has also been awful enough to earn their mention in this column as well.
While Tampa’s defense has been second worst at points allowed (30.3 a game) the Panthers are right behind them allowing (29 a game) just a point less a game. Like the Browns, neither of these two teams has much of an offense to speak of either with TB averaging 13.7 points per game and Carolina posting a lowly 12.3 themselves. Although the Panthers did make the playoffs last year, their lack of effort so far this season causes most to think their struggles will continue and I agree. These two will offer one thing in ’09 and that is a good opportunity to win money wagering against them until the bookies start adjusting properly, which they haven’t thus far.
The Kansas City Chiefs (0-3, 0-3 ATS) continue to make this list annually as they still don’t know that “You play to win the game”, as their ex-coach Herm Edwards was famous for saying ,and in my opinion, they might never figure out how to do. Their margin of victory is lower than usual at minus 12.3 a game or they would have been mentioned a bit sooner so I guess that must be a casual improvement. Still, losing by an average score of 16-28.3 wins you the right to be “one of favorite teams to bet against every time”, how could it not?
When your offense only scores eight points a game in the NFL, unless you have the 1985 Chicago Bears defense, you’re not going to win many games. The 2009 St. Louis Rams (0-3, 1-2 ATS) don’t have anything close to resembling a good defense, which if they did, it might make them more fun to watch than the squad that’s losing by an average of 16.3 points a game.
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Counting “win money” at the betting window is what’s important and is by the way considered fun in my book- both Missouri teams again make the list this season. Oh well, at least you guys have the baseball Cardinals to give them “something” to root for!
True, the Detroit Lions (1-2, 1-2 ATS) won a game this season, now
the question is when will they win another? After closely scrutinizing this
last entry, I couldn’t yet take them out. They played a team that failed
to show up for the game and who actually scored less points than the Lions
last year. Not to mention, the Skins had injury problems. They still deserve
to be here because the losses will keep piling up.
Speaking of losses, the Miami Dolphins (0-3, 0-3 ATS)
now also again belong here, only one year removed from winning their division.
Quite obviously, the surprise team on the list. Losing QB Chad Pennington
for the entrie season certainly won’t help their cause to win, but surely
will help our cause finding a good team to bet against and win because Chad
Henne isn’t going to cash any tickets.
The team that you decide to put your hard earned money on is always obviously very important, but keep in mind that the opponent being played is the other half of the equation and is equally just as important.
The early numbers say these teams are the ones you should feel safest betting against and they usually don’t lie. Since it’s still very early on in the season, taking advantage of these trends now before oddsmakers adjust to them is one of the biggest determining factors in whether you’re going to have a winning or losing season.
See you at the windows cashing in your betting tickets!
