The sports betting world has seen its fair share of professional sports teams that seem to be on the verge of greatness only to have it all crumble at their feet. It is frustrating for the players, the owners and the fans. There are only two teams involved in the Super Bowl betting each year, and the Super Bowl XLVI participants have one expected and one unexpected entry.

Not many people are surprised that the New England Patriots are in the Super Bowl again. Despite having the worst defense in football, the Patriots still have head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, which makes the Pats better than most teams. But the New York Giants are a surprise entry. This is the second year in a row where the NFC Super Bowl representative won its playoff spot in the last game of the regular season and went on to play in the big game. New York fans are interested to see if the Giants can repeat the success that the Packers had last year.

The price per head bookie experts are watching a few teams that seemed to be on the rise but have suddenly taken a fall this season. These teams need to show some improvement in 2012 or jobs will be lost and changes will be made.

San Diego Chargers
For some inexplicable reason, the San Diego Chargers have retained the services of head coach Norv Turner and expect Turner and quarterback Philip Rivers to turn San Diego around next season. It is difficult to believe that Turner would be able to survive another disappointing season in San Diego. The Chargers have to start winning in 2012 or Turner may not make it to Thanksgiving.

Green Bay Packers
A sportsbook review of the Packers’ divisional playoff game against the New York Giants shows a Packers team that made a lot of mistakes and played a poor game. The Packers went into that game with a great offense but a suspect defense. The loss in the 2011 playoffs was a bombshell for the Packers. The Packers had a lot of swagger going into that game that seemed to disappear when the game was over. If the Packers can take 2012 seriously, then it can rebound. If the Pack decides to take another season for granted, then head coach Mike McCarthy could be gone.

Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons have been riding on the arm of quarterback Matt Ryan for three years now. The NFL scores that the Falcons have posted have been despite a terrible defense. Ryan needed to be heroic in 2010 because the defense continually put him in tough situations late in games. In 2011, Ryan cracked under the pressure and the Falcons lost to the Giants in the wild card round of the playoffs. There will already be changes in Atlanta with Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez probably retiring before next season. But the Falcons need a defense or 2012 could be the last year for a lot of people in Atlanta.

The sports betting experts are putting their systems together and getting ready for Super Bowl XLVI and the different kinds of challenges it offers. As each bettor puts together their numbers and makes their picks, the players that will be involved in the game are obviously a prime concern. The quarterbacks, Tom Brady for the Patriots and Eli Manning for the Giants, are getting a lot of deserved attention. Manning has been one of the most accurate passers in playoff history and Brady is a three-time Super Bowl champion. But there are other players that the price per head sports experts are keeping an eye on to see how they will affect the outcome of Super Bowl XLVI.

Jason Pierre-Paul – DE– New York Giants

Jason Pierre-Paul is an extremely fast and powerful defensive end that no offensive line has really been able to handle in these playoffs so far. The Super Bowl odds would be much different if Pierre-Paul was not able to play this game because he makes the Giants’ defense effective. Pierre-Paul only has a half-sack in these playoffs, but the confusion he causes has allowed Justin Tuck to get one and a half sacks in the playoffs and has allowed players like outside linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka to get pressure on the quarterback as well. Pierre-Paul has been dominating and can change the tide of any game he plays in.

Aaron Hernandez – TE – New England Patriots

It is easy to heap all of the praise for the New England tight ends on Rob Gronkowski because he tends to make the big plays. But if it were not for the presence of Aaron Hernandez, then teams could double team Gronk and take him out of the picture. All of the sportsbook reviews of the Patriots’ offense include Hernandez as an important part of the equation because Hernandez is another big, strong tight end that can play deep routes just as good as he can play underneath.

Victor Cruz – WR – New York Giants

It would not be a betonline scam to suggest that the Patriots’ defense is going to be in trouble when it comes to covering Victor Cruz. The Patriots have a defensive secondary that has been under siege all season long. The combination of Eli Manning to Victor Cruz has been going deep all season and there is no reason to expect that the duo will let up in the Super Bowl. With the ability of Cruz to catch the deep ball and the poor coverage habits of the Patriots’ secondary, it could be Cruz that burns the Patriots all day long.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis – RB – New England Patriots

In his four-year career to this point, BenJarvus Green-Ellis has never fumbled the football. He was limited this season by injuries, but based on his performance in playoffs so far, he looks to be completely healthy. Green-Ellis is the kind of running back that could chew up clock time and keep the Giants’ offense on the sidelines where it can do no damage.

The online betting websites are taking action for the upcoming AFC and NFC championship games that will be taking place Sunday. Before you place your bets, you should spend some time analyzing the keys to each of the games and determine which team enters into your Super Bowl betting picture and which teams just do not have what it takes.

AFC Championship: Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots (-7)
The Baltimore Ravens picked an odd time to start questioning the team’s quarterback. First, Joe Flacco himself made statements to the media that questioned people’s perception of him and how he plays. Then pro bowl safety Ed Reed questioned Flacco’s abilities and called out the entire offense in a radio interview earlier in the week. That is bad timing because the Ravens need its offense to be clicking on all cylinders if it wants to win in Foxboro. The Baltimore defense may think that it can win the championship on its own, but without offensive points on the board the Ravens are going nowhere.

When you talk about the New England Patriots, it is inevitable that you talk about quarterback Tom Brady. But it would be a betonline scam to look past the Patriots’ 31st ranked defense entering this AFC Championship game. The Baltimore Ravens’ defense is not the Denver Broncos. Brady and the Pats’ offense will not have carte-blanche over the Ravens like they did over the Broncos. The only question is whether the Ravens’ offense has enough to bowl over the 31st ranked defense in the league. If the Ravens play this one right, then it could be in its second Super Bowl.
Pick: Baltimore Ravens

NFC Championship: New York Giants @ San Francisco 49ers (-2)
The New York Giants are a difficult team to predict. The key to winning this game for New York is to protect the football and cause turnovers. The bookie software has the 49ers as slight favorites, but that is only because no one really knows what to expect from New York. The Giants appear to be as healthy as it can be going into the NFC Championship game and the Giants’ defense definitely has the players that can make plays on defense. The Giants need to make sure that quarterback Eli Manning does not give the ball away and that the New York defense does not give the 49ers’ offense any room to move.

For the 49ers, it is all about consistency. The 49ers post winning NFL scores because its offense and its defense are excellent at staying with the game plan. The 49ers offense is good on the line of scrimmage, at the linebacker level and in the defensive secondary. On offense, quarterback Alex Smith showed that he can make plays when he needs to, but it is unlikely that the 49ers will call on Smith to carry the game in the NFC Championship. More than likely, the 49ers will do what it has been doing all year which is run the ball and then ask Smith to get the ball downfield without turning it over. It is something Smith has done all season and something that he is very good at.

Pick: San Francisco 49ers

The online betting experts know that the NFC is filled with quality quarterbacks and many of them have made the cut into the divisional round of the playoffs. The top NFC teams seem to have taken the approach of bypassing good defense and relying on a high-scoring offense to win games. It flies in the face of the old saying that defense wins championships, but it has also been extremely effective. Lets see what we can find out about the four quarterbacks competing in the NFC divisional playoffs.

Eli Manning – New York Giants
The previous two seasons have been frustrating for the New York Giants because they had not made the playoffs primarily due to the poor play of quarterback Eli Manning. Down the stretch, Manning gave up more turnovers than any other NFC quarterback. But this season was different. According to the price per head sports experts, Manning had thrown 15 fourth quarter touchdowns in the regular season to set a new NFL record. Eli Manning threw for 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2011, but he also threw 16 interceptions. However, Eli was a clutch player at the times when his team really needed him. When Eli is effective, the Giants are a very dangerous football team.

Drew Brees – New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees is now the most prolific single-season passer in the history of the NFL. Brees’ 5,476 passing yards smashed the old record set almost 20 years ago by Dan Marino. While Brees’ arm makes the Saints a dangerous team, the price per head sportsbook experts point out that Brees does have a decent running game to fall back on. But if it comes down to an offensive shootout in the playoffs, there are few NFL gunslingers better equipped to compete in a foot race than Drew Brees. Considering that the Saints have one of the worst defenses in the NFC playoffs right now, Brees may have to get involved in a couple of shootouts to get the Saints to the Super Bowl.

Green Bay Packers
Drew Brees may have had the best numbers this season, but Aaron Rodgers of the Packers is the league MVP. The Packers have almost no running game to speak of. When Green Bay wins a game, and it won all but one this season, it is due to Aaron Rodgers. But a 5 dimes review of recent events in the news shows that Rodgers and his offensive coordinator Joe Philbin enter the playoffs with heavy hearts after the death of Philbin’s 21-year-old-son. Football can be an emotional game, and this could be something that weighs on the minds of each Packers player as they line up for the game against the Giants. Unfortunately, the Giants will show no mercy. We will get to see how well Rodgers performs under several different kinds of pressure in the same game.

Alex Smith – San Francisco 49ers
It would be a betonline scam to talk about Alex Smith and not give almost full credit for his success to his new head coach Jim Harbaugh. Smith is an effective game manager that can move the offense up and down the field. But he does not have that field vision to take over a game if the 49ers get behind. If the San Francisco defense starts falling behind to the New Orleans offense, do not look to Alex Smith to bring the 49ers back in the game.

The NFL playoffs are ready to get underway and the NFL betting lines are open for business. There are some teams that fans are interested to see and other teams that are expected to skate through the wild card round. When you spend some time looking at each game in detail, you realize that nothing is set in stone. The price per head sports experts have set the odds and now it is time to see who will come out on top in this weekend’s wild card action.

Cincinnati Bengals @ Houston Texans (-3)
The line on this game has not moved since it was set earlier in the week. This is the first time that the Houston Texans have made the playoffs in franchise history, so it is an exciting time for the football fans in Houston. But the Texans enter this game without their starting quarterback Matt Schaub and defensive star Mario Williams. The defense has been able to compensate somewhat for Williams’ absence, but the offense is struggling without Schaub. With third-string quarterback TJ Yates ready to start his first NFL playoff game, things do not look good for the Texans.

The Bengals are healthy and the rookie duo of quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver AJ Green are ready to score points in Houston. The price per head bookmaking experts are looking at the Cincinnati defense to be the key to this game. With the Houston passing game struggling, the Bengals’ defense will be called on to shut down Houston running back Arian Foster.
Pick: Cincinnati Bengals

Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints (-10 ½)
Of all the teams that the Detroit Lions could have drawn in the first round of the playoffs, it had to be the New Orleans Saints. A bodog review of the second half of the season shows that the Saints ran the board and went 8-0 in its last eight games. In the process, quarterback Drew Brees set the single-season passing record and the New Orleans’ offense was lighting up scoreboards all over the NFL.

The Lions are young and confident. But this Saints team may be too much for the Detroit squad to handle. Detroit is definitely an up and coming team and this playoff experience will be valuable to them.
Pick: New Orleans Saints

Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants (-3)
NFL fans in New York watched the Giants rise to the challenge and win the NFC East. Now they want to see the Giants rise to the challenge and beat the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons have a huge uphill battle as it is a dome team that is not only playing a playoff game on the road in a stadium without a dome, but it is playing that game in New York where the weather is probably going to be cold and unbearable. The Giants probably do not have enough talent to get to the NFC championship game, but it definitely has enough to pull off this victory.
Pick: New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers (-9) @ Denver Broncos
Teams have learned that you need an active defensive secondary and fast linebackers to completely shut down Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos’ offense. The Steelers have everything it needs to beat the Broncos in Denver. The Pittsburgh offense is battered with the loss of running back Rashard Mendenhall and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s bad ankle that will severely limit his mobility. But all of that probably will not matter in this game.
Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers

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