Online Betting Overview
The Seattle Seahawks are in a strange situation as the roll into their week 17 game with the Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks are the reigning NFC West champions but, as the price per head sports experts will point out, the 49ers are about to unseat the Seahawks when week 17 is over. Mathematically the 49ers have already unseated the Seahawks, but we will wait for the end of the season to make it official. If the Seahawks beat the Cardinals in week 17, then Seattle will finish with a better record than it had last year when it won the NFC West. But this year, 8-8 isn’t even good enough to make the playoffs in the NFC. No matter what the Seahawks do in week 17, it will not have a worse season than last year but it will miss the playoffs.

The Cardinals also have the chance to go 8-8 after a disastrous start to the season. Questions are starting to pop up as to whether or not Kevin Kolb really is the answer at quarterback for the Cardinals. Could backup quarterback John Skelton be the answer to the Cardinals problems? The bookie software shows that, once again, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald made whomever was playing quarterback look good. Fitzgerald has 1,262 receiving yards and eight touchdowns on a team that could barely get out of its own way half the time. Whatever the answer may be at quarterback for Arizona, there is a good chance that the answer won’t have Larry Fitzgerald to throw to much longer. Fitzgerald knows that if he wants a championship, he is going to have to leave Arizona.

Seattle Seahawks
Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch has basically taken the team on his back and single-handedly put the team in a position to be 8-8. The quarterback position in Seattle is weak as a 5 dimes review of the quarterback stats for the Seahawks shows that Tavaris Jackson’s 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 14 games played is not going to get the job done for Seattle. So the Seahawks will do in this game what the team has been doing for weeks now. Seattle will give the ball to Marshawn Lynch. The general consensus among NFL fans in Seattle is that if the Seahawks had a capable quarterback, then it could be a playoff contender.

Arizona Cardinals
The NFL scores for the Arizona Cardinals show that the team just cannot score touchdowns. More specifically, the Arizona quarterbacks cannot throw for touchdowns. As was mentioned previously, Larry Fitzgerald has eight touchdown receptions. Arizona quarterbacks have thrown a combined 19 touchdown passes this season. That is not a winning ratio. John Skelton has proved to be a more effective started than Kevin Kolb. But Skelton’s 10 touchdowns versus 13 interceptions is not something that will win him the job over Kolb. The Arizona offense remains afloat in mediocrity.

The Bottom Line
For all of its faults, the Arizona offense is still more multi-dimensional that the Seattle offense. Once the Arizona defense shuts down Marshawn Lynch, this game will be over.

Pick: Arizona Cardinals

NFL Betting Lines Overview
So how did the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Green Bay Packers in week 15? The formula sounds so simple but yet no one had been able to do it all season long. The Chiefs protected the ball, spread it around on offense and shut down the Packers’ already weak running game. Then the Kansas City defense kept Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the pocket for the entire game and did not allow Rodgers to improvise as he went along. The Chiefs protected quarterback Kyle Orton and prevented him from getting sacked while the Kansas City defense sacked Aaron Rodgers four times. The price per head sports experts consider the Chiefs game to be the definitive blueprint for beating the Packers. Now Kansas City focuses that kind of game plan on the Oakland Raiders.

The Oakland Raiders cannot get out of their own way. There was one glaring factor in the Raiders’ week 15 loss to the Detroit Lions. The Raiders took 10 penalties that cost it 86 yards in field position. Michael Bush only rushed for 77 yards in the game. If the Raiders lose this divisional game, then the bookie software does not give Oakland a lot of chance of making the playoffs. If the Raiders lose and the Broncos win, then the Broncos win the AFC West and the Raiders are in danger of missing the playoffs. The Raiders are almost completely out of the AFC wild card race and at 7-8 would definitely kill its chances at a wild card. The Raiders need this game.

Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs still have the slightest playoff hopes alive. But Kansas City has to win the AFC West to make the playoffs because the team is way out of a wild card berth. At 6-8, the Chiefs would need the Broncos to lose out in order for Kansas City to make the playoffs. The Broncos are in Buffalo for week 16 and are likely to beat the Bills. But the Chiefs would love to finish the season at 8-8 after the horrible start the team had. A 5 dimes review of the Chiefs’ season shows the team sliding off the playoff charts after a respectable 4-3 start. A four-game losing streak earlier in the season cost Kansas City the playoffs and head coach Todd Haley his job. But the Chiefs have something new going on under interim coach Romeo Crennel that could help the team to finish strong.

Oakland Raiders
NFL fans in Oakland have seen this before. The Raiders start strong and then become its own worst enemy as the season wears on. The Raiders are among the top penalized teams in the league and that is not going to help against a disciplined team like Kansas City. The Raiders have a shot at this game, but it will have to behave itself and not take stupid penalties to be able to win this incredibly important game.

The Bottom Line
The AFC West is wide open until the Broncos win another game. But until that happens, all of the teams in the AFC West have to play like they could win the division. The Raiders looked to be in control of the AFC West until Tim Tebow took over in Denver. Now the Raiders need to get back into high gear if it wants to stay in contention for the division title.

Pick: Kansas City Chiefs

Sports Betting Overview
Neither of these teams is making the playoffs, but that does not mean that there isn’t plenty to play for in this week 15 AFC matchup. The games between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins used to be knock down, drag out affairs. The citizens of Buffalo would talk all week about how much they wanted to “squish the fish” and the Miami people would muse about “buffaloing the bills.” For years, the rivalry was controlled by the Dolphins. When Jim Kelly and crew arrived in Buffalo, all of that changed and the Bills became the dominating factor in the series. But with both teams plummeting to the bottom of the AFC standings for the last few years, the rivalry has gone soft and lost its punch.

Seven weeks ago, the price per head sports experts were a little shocked when the Buffalo Bills signed quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to a six-year, $59 million contract. The Bills have not had the best luck scouting quarterbacks in the past decade, but most people thought that Buffalo had their man in Fitzpatrick. But no one expected that rich of a contract. Ever since the contract was signed, Fitzpatrick’s game has steadily declined. His passer rating has dropped, his completion percentage has plummeted and the Bills have lost six games in a row. That six-game losing streak coincidentally started the week that Fitzpatrick signed his new deal. Buffalo Bills fans are not happy.

Miami Dolphins
The price per head bookmaking experts were surprised that former Miami head coach Tony Sporano made it as long as he did. Sporano was fired two weeks ago and his departure leaves the Dolphins searching for answers. One of the more nagging questions that the Dolphins have to answer is whether or not they have found the team’s quarterback in journeyman Matt Moore. Moore’s play has fallen off the last couple of weeks, but he was the quarterback of record for all four of Miami’s wins this season. The Dolphins will look long and hard at quarterback options before deciding to hand the keys to the kingdom to a guy that have never proven himself to be a starter in the past.

Buffalo Bills
A betonline.com review of the Bills’ week 14 loss in San Diego shows that the Bills have slipped into its old habits again. After a 5-2 start that included wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots, the Bills’ defense has stopped taking the ball away and the offense has stopped scoring points. Where the NFL scores used to be lopsided in the Bills’ favor, now the Bills are getting blown out on a regular basis. Positive momentum is hard to capture, and the Bills do not look anywhere near ready to get back into the win column.

The Bottom Line
The Bills need to figure out why it can play so great in the first half of the season and then completely fall apart in the second half. Part of the problem this season, and every season for the past few years, has been injuries. The Bills have a lot of key players out with injuries and that is something that the Dolphins will take advantage of in this game.

Pick: Miami Dolphins

Sports Betting Overview
The Cleveland Browns have the misfortune of being in a division where defense is king and points are at a premium. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the top ranked defense in the league, the Baltimore defense is ranked third and the Cincinnati defense is ranked sixth. To keep pace, the Cleveland Browns have developed the eighth ranked defense in all of football. Unfortunately, the Browns’ offense is ranked 30th and not able to keep pace with the rest of the division. The Browns’ inability to score points is probably the only thing really keeping the team from being more competitive. When you have the 30th ranked offense and you have to play top NFL defenses six times a year, you tend to not score a lot of points.

The price per head sports experts have the line for this game set at double digits. As much as the people in Cleveland want to believe that the game will be closer than that, the truth is that Pittsburgh is in playoff mode right now and playing very well. Pittsburgh has fought through some major injuries this season, mostly on defense, to become one of the top teams in the division. But two loses to the Baltimore Ravens this season have worked to prevent the Steelers from taking first place in the AFC North. The Steelers will have to settle for being the wild card team this year, which is a flip flop of how the Ravens and Steelers finished last season.

Cleveland Browns
The price per head bookmaking experts want to get a good look at the Browns in these last few games of the season to see if Cleveland has any chance at competing next year. Second year quarterback Colt McCoy is having a decent season, but he is averaging less than 225 passing yards per game and he only has 14 touchdown passes in 12 games played. Some people are starting to think that the Browns may want to look at revamping its receiving corps. But the truth is that there is a long list of problems on offense in Cleveland that cannot be addressed in one off-season.

Pittsburgh Steelers
A bodog review of the passing stats for the Steelers shows that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his young receivers are starting to gel together as a unit. With running back Rashard Mendenhall adding eight touchdowns this season, the Steelers’ offense looks to be a well-balanced unit. The Steelers’ defense is a group of unhappy men that take their aggressions out on the opposing offense. The Cleveland offensive line may not be capable of holding back the Steelers’ defense, and that could mean a very long day for Colt McCoy.

The Bottom Line
The NFL schedule is never going to get any easier for the Browns. Cleveland will always have to face Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Cincinnati twice each every season. Until the Browns show that it can win in those six games, it will be difficult for Cleveland to become a playoff contender.

Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers

Sports Betting Overview
What makes the anticipation for this game fun is the fact that the Dolphins have been playing some pretty decent football lately. Blowout wins in weeks 10 and 11 over the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills respectively were followed by an exciting 20-19 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. According to the pay per head sportsbook experts, the Dolphins have been impressive enough to be three-point favorites over the AFC West leading Oakland Raiders. It helps that this game is in Miami, but the Dolphins have been extremely competitive lately, which always helps tip the odds in a team’s favor.

After getting rolled over by Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos in his first start as the Raiders’ quarterback, Carson Palmer has settled into a nice three-game winning streak. The streak includes wins over the San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings and an impressive win over the Chicago Bears. Even though the Bears were without starting quarterback Jay Cutler in that game, Palmer and the Oakland offense still handled the powerful Chicago defense very well. With the Broncos climbing the standings and looking like it will win its week 13 game over the Minnesota Vikings, the pressure is on the Raiders to keep winning.

Miami Dolphins
The success of quarterback Matt Moore has the price per head bookmaking experts kind of confused. When you look at the box scores for Moore’s wins, you start to realize that he has not contributed much to the offense. The Dolphins are winning with a dominant defense and a potent running game. Moore is doing his job as an on-field administrator. He is not winning games, but he is also not losing games for the Dolphins either. As a matter of fact, his best game of the season was the Thanksgiving loss to the Cowboys when he threw for 288 yards and a touchdown. Moore is allowing the pieces around him to do their job and making sure that he never puts the team in a situation where it cannot be successful.

Oakland Raiders
Running back Michael Bush has been more than adequate in the Oakland backfield, but Raiders’ fans want to see what the NFL scores look like when starting running back Darren McFadden finally makes it back into the Oakland lineup. Carson Palmer has been effective during the three-game winning streak, but he has not had the chance to really air the ball out. Bush is doing a good job, but McFadden can spread out a defense. McFadden has started to practice without a boot on his ankle. If he can go in this game, that would change the entire complexion of the game.

The Bottom Line
The Dolphins are a nice story, but the Raiders are a good football team. The Oakland defense should be able to stifle the Miami running game and force Matt Moore to win the game. That is just not something that Matt Moore is capable of doing.

Sportsbook Review Pick: Oakland Raiders