Colts take early lead in Super Bowl
Football Betting Lines
02/07/2010 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Peyton Manning capped a 96-yard drive with a 19- yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon, giving the Indianapolis Colts a 10-0 lead over New Orleans after one quarter of Super Bowl XLIV.
The Colts are off to a great start in their bid for a second championship in four years. Manning, a four-time league MVP, led the Colts to the Super Bowl title over Chicago following the 2006 season in this same stadium.
He engineered Indy on a scoring drive on the team's first possession with Matt Stover kicking a 38-yard field goal. Garcon's TD grab came with 36 seconds left in the quarter.
The Saints, in the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, got the ball first, but went three-and-out. It was the 13th straight year the NFC team has won the coin toss to start the game.
Manning then engineered the Colts on an 11-play, 53-yard march, picking apart the Saints' defense with short passes, and converting a pair of third downs. One of those came on a pass to Dallas Clark and another on a 14-yard connection to Austin Collie, moving the ball to the New Orleans 25.
Another third down pass to Garcon fell incomplete and Stover converted his 16th consecutive field goal in the postseason at the midway point of the period.
Drew Brees, responsible for leading the Saints to the league's top-ranked offense during the season, drove his team to midfield, but a 3rd-and-7 pass to Marques Colston fell incomplete.
Indianapolis was pinned at its four following a punt, but methodically moved down the field with Joseph Addai responsible for 53 yards rushing. He ripped off a 26-yard run on 3rd-and-1, advancing the ball to the 23. Three plays later, Manning, in shotgun formation, found Garcon, who got behind defenders on the right side of the end zone.
The 96-yard march, which took 11 plays, tied the longest drive in Super Bowl history.
The quarter ended with the Saints pinned deep in their territory.
Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney started the game despite not practicing for two weeks due to an ankle injury.
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Betting the NFL preseason
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.