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

Sports Betting Overview
New York Giants’ fans don’t want to admit it, but that hissing sound coming out of the New Meadowlands is the sound of the air being let out of the Giants’ season. You can almost set your calendars by it. By the time the ninth or tenth game of the season rolls around, the Giants will surely start to squander their lead in the NFC East and lose any chance it had of making the playoffs. Same players and same coach for the past three years will yield the same results. Most price per head bookie experts would call trying to get different results from the same people insanity. The Giants call it the standard operating procedure for the New York franchise.

This was supposed to be the season that the New Orleans Saints passed the NFC South torch on to the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons finally got the memo and started winning after a horrible start to the 2011 season. But someone forgot to get the memo to the Saints and New Orleans has amassed a 7-3 record and sits on top of the NFC South standings. The pay per head fans in New Orleans are a little nervous about their team because the defense has not played consistently this season. But quarterback Drew Brees and the New Orleans offense has been unstoppable and, as Brees has shown in the past, he is more than capable of winning a Super Bowl title on his own.

New York Giants
In past seasons, much of the collapse of the Giants could be laid on the shoulders of quarterback Eli Manning. However, this season it looks like offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride may be the culprit this year. The Giants have lost its last two games in a row, and in both games Gilbride’s pass-happy offense was shut down by the opposing defense. The Giants’ offense has done nothing to try and establish the run in the second half of the season. A 5 dimes review of Eli Manning’s season shows that Manning is playing well in the second half of the season even with throwing three interceptions in the past two games. But the running game needs to get going or else the Giants will lose out on the playoffs once again.

New Orleans Saints
The numbers that New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees has compiled so far this season reads like a video game set on expert level. In 10 games played, Brees has thrown for 3,326 yards, 23 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. That puts Brees on pace to throw for more than 5,300 yards and almost 40 touchdowns this season. When NFL fans want to understand how the New Orleans Saints win football games, they only need to look as far as Drew Brees.

The Bottom Line
Drew Brees will pick the Giants defense apart, so the pressure of winning this game falls to Kevin Gilbride and the Giants’ running game. The Saints love to get involved in shootouts. Eli Manning can keep up, but if the Giants cannot run the ball then the Saints’ defense will just take the pass away and make this a very lopsided game.

Pick: New Orleans Saints

Sports Betting Overview
It is difficult to tell why the Chicago Bears keep winning football games. One of the most obvious reasons is the inexplicable desire that NFL head coaches have to kick the ball to Devin Hester. NFL coaching 101 includes an entire chapter on the reasons why it is a bad idea to kick the ball to Devin Hester, yet teams insist on doing it. The Chicago offense is not great at moving the ball, but it is great at utilizing the field position it is given and scoring points. Many football fans would be surprised to know that Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler has 2,033 passing yards and 11 passing touchdowns in nine games played. That is just further proof that the Bears can move the ball with the passing game but rely on the running game and special teams to score. Running backs Matt Forte and Marion Barber have scored a combined seven touchdowns this season, which is one reason why the Bears are winning.

It is difficult to tell why the San Diego Chargers keep losing football games. The price per head sports fans in San Diego may have finally had enough of the damaged relationship between head coach Norv Turner and quarterback Philip Rivers. The Chargers, once again, have a top 10 offense and a top 10 defense but cannot win football games. Horrible special teams play and bad penalties have put the Chargers at 4-5. But more than that, it looks like the Chargers do not believe they can win games. The pay per head enthusiasm that used to be in San Diego is gone, and Norv Turner may wind up leaving with it.

Chicago Bears
The Bears are 2-2 in the division while the Detroit Lions are 2-1 in the division. Luckily for the Bears, the Lions do not have a divisional game this week either. But a sportsbook review of the past couple of games for the Bears shows a new determination to win that the team may have lacked earlier in the year. The Bears’ coaching staff is still making questionable decisions and Jay Cutler is not finding consistency with getting the ball in the endzone. But when the Bears are given a chance to score points, it is becoming much better at taking advantage of those opportunities. Whether it is a Marion Barber touchdown run or cashing in on the bad mistake of kicking to Devin Hester, the Bears are making the most of their chances.

San Diego Chargers
The NFL fans in San Diego get the feeling that their team just looks dejected. It has now become obvious that the window that the Chargers had to be champions has come and gone. Now San Diego is losing games it should be winning and running into morale problems. There needs to be some changes in San Diego when this season is over. But, for now, the Chargers need to try and reduce the mistakes this week to win this football game.

The Bottom Line
The Chargers have been giving games away all season long. The Chicago Bears have become very good at accepting gifts from other teams which will probably be the thing that swings this game in favor of the Bears.

Pick: Chicago Bears

Sports Betting Overview
The best part about the Carolina Panthers is its offense. In week nine, the Minnesota Vikings defense shut down the Panthers’ offense to get the Vikings a 24-21 win. The Vikings offense is playing much better under rookie quarterback Christian Ponder than it did for veteran quarterback Donovan McNabb. Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson is on a pace to rush for 1,500 yards and 18 touchdowns this season. Peterson is definitely getting the action he thought he would see when Brett Favre left Minnesota. But at 2-6, the Vikings are not a playoff team. The Vikings are improving, and that is why this week 10 game against the division rival Green Bay Packers should be interesting.

The price per head fans in Green Bay are ecstatic that the Packers are 8-0 on the season. But there is also this sentiment running through the fan base that the Packers have still not put together a complete game yet. The price per head bookmaking experts know that the Packers have been dominant on defense and prolific on offense when necessary. But the team has not come out and dominated a game for a complete 60 minutes yet this season. The Vikings are hoping that the Packers do not start dominating games for a full 60 minutes in week 10. But it could happen.

Minnesota Vikings
Rookie quarterback Christian Ponder is 1-1 as a starter this season and he looked very good in the Vikings’ week nine win over the Panthers. It would be a betonline scam to say that Ponder is the long-term answer to the Vikings’ quarterback problems, but he could be. The biggest improvement Ponder made in week nine was protecting the football. He took four sacks in that game, but he did not throw any interceptions. In week eight against the Packers, Ponder was sacked only twice but he also threw two interceptions. Now that he is getting his NFL confidence, and he has some experience in playing the Packers, that could make this a very competitive football game.

Green Bay Packers

NFL fans all over the country are well aware of the history of the Green Bay Packers. Would Coach Lombardi be proud of this group of players? Maybe not, because the Packers have yet to dominate a game from start to finish. It is nice to have the tools to pull out a win when needed but, at some point, the inability to play 60 minutes will catch up to a team. The Packers have a perfect record to this point in the season, but they have not been perfect. Look for quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the guys to step up the play a little bit in the second half of the season. But also look for Christian Ponder and the Vikings to push back.

The Bottom Line
The Vikings will lose this game, but it will not be the 13 ½ point blowout that the odds makers are expecting. The Packers will allow the Vikings to stay close for most of this game. The meeting between these two teams in week eight was not a 13 ½ point blowout, and there is no reason to expect this one to be that way either.

Pick: Packers to win straight-up but take the Vikings with the points

Game Overview
The Breeder’s Cup betting will be coming to an exciting conclusion two days before the Chicago Bears travel to Philadelphia to take on the surging Eagles. After consecutive losses in weeks four and five, the Chicago Bears went into its bye week with two consecutive wins. The Bears had two weeks to think about its week seven win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and prepare for its week nine battle with the Philadelphia Eagles. While the Bears were resting and preparing, the Eagles were out winning ball games.

The price per head sports fans in Philadelphia are hesitant to get excited about the direction the team is headed in. After a horrible 1-4 start, the “Dream Team” won two critical divisional games back to back. The Eagles handled the struggling Washington Redskins in week six by a score of 20-13, and then downed the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 34-7 on national television in week eight. The Eagles can see the first place spot in the NFC East that is currently held by the New York Giants. As the Redskins and Cowboys continue to fall to the wayside, the Eagles stand as the one legitimate challenge to the Giants for the NFC East crown.

Chicago Bears
The bookie software shows that the Chicago Bears have been rolling lately with two wins in a row. The Bears have a 1-2 road record, but that is a bit deceiving. Chicago played a solid game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when both teams were forced to play in England. The Bears are having problems throwing the ball and defending the pass. The Chicago defense is ranked 28th in the league at stopping the pass, and the Chicago offense has the 17th ranked passing game in the NFL. The burden for the offense has been carried by running back Matt Forte. The Chicago defense needs to start picking up the pressure if it wants to give the offense a chance at winning these important games that the team has coming up.

Philadelphia Eagles
A 5 dimes review of the Eagles’ week eight win over the Dallas Cowboys shows that the Philadelphia offense really missed offensive lineman Jason Peters. With Peters in the lineup, the Eagles were much more effective at running the ball and at giving Michael Vick time to find open receivers. The entire Eagles offense looks like it is coming together, while the defense is starting to find its rhythm as well. But Philadelphia has to remember that the Bears have a very good offensive line. The Eagles have had trouble containing the run as of late, and the running game is one of the primary weapons of the Chicago Bears.

The Bottom Line
NFL fans in Philadelphia are cautiously optimistic about the team’s future. It looks like the Eagles have finally put its bad start in the past and is ready to start building on recent success. But the Bears have been able to hang in there on big games this season and will offer some serious resistance to the new and improved Eagles.

Pick: Philadelphia Eagles

Price Per Head Overview
The excitement surrounding the Breeder’s Cup betting is still in the air as the Arizona Cardinals try to figure out what keeps going wrong with its offense. The Cardinals’ passing game has improved dramatically with the arrival of new quarterback Kevin Kolb as Arizona owns the 13th best passing game in the league. But the offense cannot run the ball or put points on the board consistently, and that is costing the Cardinals games. Another thing that is not helping the Cardinals is its 26th ranked defense. Arizona made very few changes to a bad team in the off-season. If it wants to develop, it needs better players.

The Baltimore Ravens are cruising right along and should be in contention for the AFC North title all season long. While Joe Flacco and the Ravens’ offense has improved significantly over last season, the real surprise this year is the potent Baltimore defense. After an average pay per head performance last season, the Ravens rank 1st overall in lowest points allowed this year and 1st overall in total team defense. Ray Lewis and his defensive unit have been able to dominate the pass and the run all season long. The Ravens hit hard and can run fast. This is definitely going to be a team to be reckoned with all season long and will give the Pittsburgh Steelers a run for its money in the race for the AFC North title.

Arizona Cardinals
It looks like quarterback Kevin Kolb is still adjusting to being a starter in the NFL. He has seven touchdown passes this year, but he also has seven interceptions. But Kolb is moving the offense, and he is being effective at quarterback. When running back Tim Hightower was allowed to go to the Washington Redskins, that left Beanie Wells to run the ball. Wells has done a good job but he is also proving to be a little injury prone. The Cardinals look like a team that just needs to keep making smart NFL picks in the draft and improve through free agency. Arizona needs a lot of parts to be competitive, but it looks like the team may slowly be headed in the right direction.

Baltimore Ravens
Linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed are elder statesmen by NFL standards. But they are the leaders of a defense that has come to dominate the NFL. Lewis is still a significant factor up the middle for stopping the run, and NFL quarterbacks still will not throw the ball in Reed’s direction. If they do, Reed makes them pay. The Baltimore offense features quarterback Joe Flacco, running back Ray Rice and a whole host of very talented NFL receivers. It took a few years to build this Baltimore team, but it finally looks ready to be a playoff contender.

The Bottom Line
The Cardinals are a few years away from being a good football team and the Ravens are already there. This will be a good learning experience for the Cardinals, but it will not be a game to help boost its confidence.

Pick: Baltimore Ravens