Blogy

Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings are undefeated no more. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ used a couple of big plays from their defense in the fourth quarter to break open a close game and defeat the Vikings by a final score of 27-17. Favre put up decent yardage in the loss, throwing for 334 yards but had no touchdowns and an interception. The defending Superbowl Champion Steelers improved to 5-2, while the Vikings are now 6-1.

NFL pointspread players who backed the Steelers as -6 home favorites were rewarded with the cover. Pittsburgh had only covered one of their first six games heading into the contest, and the win improved their record against the number to 2-5. Minnesota dropped to 4-3 against the spread with the setback. The 44 points scored went UNDER the posted total of 46′.

The Steelers largely shut down Minnesota’s rushing game, holding Adrian Peterson to 69 yards. Pittsburgh safety Ryan Clark underscored his team’s dominance against the run:

“That’s the biggest point of the game. You have the best running back in the world and you don’t give it to him. They’re saying they can’t beat us running, and that’s a major statement when you have the guy they have back there.”

Favre gave a mealy mouthed justification for the loss in his postgame interview:

“There were a lot of what ifs, a lot of reasons we didn’t win. The red zone was one of them. They’re physical, and they were as good as we thought they’d be. … When I came here and looked at our schedule and saw the Steelers game, I went, ‘Oh-h-h.’ ”

Favre has only thrown three interceptions in a Vikings’ uniform, but #3 was a costly one as it was returned by Steelers’ Keyaron Fox for a touchdown to put the game out of reach as Minnesota was driving for a potential game tying field goal. Afterwards, Fox recalled the play:

“Brett tried to force it in there and the running back bobbled it and slipped out of his hands and it fell into my lap. I had just run across the field after Peterson and I was winded, so it felt like it was 100-plus yards.”

The Vikings now face another big game next week as they head to Favre’s old stomping grounds in Green Bay for a battle with the Packers. It’ll be Favre’s first appearance at his old home in an enemy uniform. The Vikings will then have a bye weekend before hosting the lowly Detroit Lions on November 15. Pittsburgh will enjoy a bye week this week before returning to action on Monday, November 9th facing the Denver Broncos on the road.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and World Cup betting sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

The offensively struggling Kansas City Chiefs have finally found a way to win-play a team with a more stagnant offense than their own. The Chiefs gave Todd Haley his first win as a NFL head coach on Sunday with a—6 win over the Washington Redskins. Kansas City won despite not scoring a touchdown, compiling their– points via 4 Ryan Succop field goals and a game ending safety.

To successfully bet on NFL football you occasionally have to put aside W/L records and look at the underlying statistics. Those who did that found reason to take Kansas City as +6′ road underdogs and were rewarded with the outright victory. Kansas City is now 2-4 against the NFL pointspread and has covered two straight while Washington is a dismal 1-5 versus the money. The 20 combined points went well UNDER the posted total of 36′.

After the contest, Haley sounded more relieved than excited about finally putting a “W” on the board:

“We made it pretty difficult, right down to the end. We’ve pushed through a very difficult period. We needed to get some positive reinforcement with a win.”

Kansas City QB Matt Cassel also won for the first time since coming over from New England in the off season. His postgame comments were more upbeat:

“There’s been a lot of change, but this has definitely been special. We rose to the occasion. We made some big plays. We put ourselves in a position to score points.”

Embattled Redskins’ coach Jim Zorn was stripped of his offensive play calling duties by team management after the contest. In one of his last decisions in that role, he pulled starter Jason Campbell at halftime and went with Todd Collins. He explained his move as follows:

“I felt the need to create a spark on our football team offensively and went with Todd. I think the guys responded well. We kept our spark, at times, and then we refizzled.”

The Redskins have managed to win only two of their first six games despite being the only team in NFL history to play their first six games of the season against winless opponents. They’ll get another chance to silence their doubters next Monday night as they host the Philadelphia Eagles. The Skins are +6′ home underdogs with the total set at 38′. They’ll have a bye the next week and return to action on November 8th against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome. Kansas City will try to string together back to back wins as they host the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer who has written on sports gambling and how to successfully bet on NFL football. He has appeared on TV and radio talking about boxing, hockey and NFL pointspreads. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a wombat.

The New York Jets and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez found a sure fire cure to their recent struggles-a game against the lowly Oakland Raiders. Sanchez passed for–3 yards and a touchdown, plus added a rushing touchdown as New York thumped Oakland 38-0 in the largest regular season shutout win in franchise history. Oakland quarterback JaMarcus Russell continued to struggle, and he passed for just 61 yards with three interceptions before he was benched in favor of Bruce Gradowski.

NFL football betting enthusiasts who took the Jets as -6 road favorites had smooth sailing throughout the game for an easy pointspread cover. The Jets improved to 4-3 against the spread while the Raiders fell to 3-5 against the number.

It was such an effortless game that the only thing that Sanchez had to apologize for was surreptitiously eating a hot dog near the end of the contest:

“I want to apologize for that. I wasn’t feeling very good and didn’t eat much before the game, so I was feeling a little queasy. Toward the end of the game, I probably should have eaten one of those bars or something, but someone offered a hot dog, so I grabbed it and tried to be discreet about it, but obviously not discreet enough. So I shouldn’t have done that, and it won’t happen again.”

Sanchez praised the defense for making his job easy:

“It makes it so easy on the offense when your defense is playing like that. Hats off to them, they had a heck of a game to shut that team out. I don’t care who we’re playing, that’s a big-time accomplishment for our team.”

Jets’ coach Rex Ryan was very pleased with Sanchez’s performance:

“Sanchez was great. He was just smart with the football. I think sometimes he could have put the ball on a receiver, but he was making sure the ball wasn’t intercepted. It was great to see him respond.”

Raiders’ defensive lineman Richard Seymour, who boldly predicted the team would make the playoffs despite their slow start, was singing a different tune after the rout:

“I don’t think we could have beaten an Oakland high school team today.”

Despite Russell’s struggles, Oakland coach Tom Cable remains committed to him as the team’s starter:

“I thought he was really out of sorts early in the game. I just did not feel like at that point he gave us the best chance to have the success we needed to have offensively and made the move. JaMarcus will continue to be our starter. There is no issue there.”

The Raiders will try to bounce back this weekend in a big rivalry game on the road against the San Diego Chargers. Oakland is +16′ road underdogs with the total set at 42′. They’ll then enjoy a bye week before back to back home games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals. The Jets host Miami this Sunday, with New York a -3′ home favorite and the total set at 40′. They’ll also have a bye week to look forward to before returning to action at home on November 15 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and noted authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

The retirement of Brett Favre is becoming an annual rite of the NFL preseason, and this year is no different. A few months after retiring from football after playing last season with the New York Jets, The Gunslinger is back in the NFL and will play for the Minnesota Vikings.

Favre made his announcement at a Tuesday press conference where he spoke of the decision to come back for another NFL season:

“I felt I did everything I possibly could do to get where I need to be. You’re 39, your arm may not feel like it did at 21. But the pieces are in place that you don’t have to do that much and I agree with that. If they were willing to take that chance, I was, too. I don’t know how I’ll feel a year from now, five years from now, but I didn’t want to say what if.

The Vikings will pay Favre $12 million this season and $13 million next season. If he makes the opening day roster in either year, he gets the full amount of the contract though the payments themselves will be deferred. If his level of play isn’t up to par, or should he get injured in training camp the Vikings are still on the hook for $6 million.

Favres mother was even asked for her thoughts on the matter:

“I have mixed emotions, but I have always loved to watch him play. This time, however, I thought he would stay retired and stay home. I guess he could not do it. They Minnesota seem to have a good team in place, and he liked that. I guess I need to get a Vikings jersey now.”

Favre initially decided to not return to the NFL due to a torn rotator cuff but after consulting with noted sports physician James Andrews, he had a change of heart:

“I just kept thinking I didn’t want to go through what I did last year. Between three weeks ago and the phone conversation yesterday [with Vikings coach Brad Childress], I talked to Dr. [James] Andrews and he assured me it wouldn’t be an issue. I felt if everyone was going to take that chance, I was to. As friends and family has told me, you never know until you take the chance,”

Favre said that he’s optimistic that the Vikings can make a deep run in the NFL playoffs:

“I felt from my standpoint that I could offer some experience and leadership, and I have to admit through this whole process after I said no three weeks ago, sometimes I was OK with it, and other times I said. I can really help this team.”

Less happy with Favres signing were Viking QBs Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson who were competing for the starting job and will now be relegated to backup status.

Ross Everett is a staff oddsmaker for Sports-1 Sportsbook as well as a widely published freelance sportswriter specializing in MMA, boxing and how to bet on NFL football. He is a well known authority on Internet sports betting, fine dining and fencing. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a pet wallaby.

Its that time of the year again–Americans are getting ready for football. In a few months NFL teams will be opening training camp and college football teams starting practice. Up north, however, the footballs are already flying as pro football is in full swing up in Canada with the Canadian Football League (CFL).

The CFL is almost as old as the NFL, coming into existence in’30. The league’s Grey Cup championship trophy is even older, having been awarded to the best Canadian professional football team since’09. There have been a number of NFL stars who got their start in the CFL including Doug Flutie, Randall Cunningham and Jeff Garcia.

The CFL is very high level professional football, but there are some significant differences between it and the NFL game:

The most obvious difference is the football itself–the CFL football is longer and fatter than the NFL ball. The CFL still has their goal posts on the goal line, which the NFL moved to the back of the end zone years ago. The field is 10 yards longer and 12 yards wider than the NFL field, and the CFL end zones are 20 yards deep instead of the NFL’s 10 yards.

CFL teams are allowed an extra offensive player (a wide receiver), and on defense they’re allowed an extra defensive back. This means that 12 players can be on the field at one time as opposed to 11 in the NFL. CFL football also differs in that teams only have three downs to gain ten yards, as opposed to four in US football. The phrase “two and out” is as commonplace in CFL football as is “three and out” in the US game.

There’s also a significant difference in the way the game is scored. The first time many US fans see a CFL score update reflecting a 1-0 game they’re usually left scratching their head in confusion. CFL teams are able to score a single point, known as a “single” for a kick that lands in the end zone such as a punt or missed field goal.

Of all the rule differences between the NFL and CFL the one that has the most significance on the game isnt enforced on the field; its enforced in the GMs office. Canadians are big on laws and rules to protect their national identity–thats why their TV and radio stations are required to devote a certain percentage of their airplay to Canadian content. That has led to a number of Canadian-only media stars both good (The Tragically Hip, Sloan) and bad (Avril Lavigne, early 90s white rapper Snow). The CFL has a similar rule which requires that’ of the 40 players on a roster must be Canadian born. This keeps the CFL from becoming a de facto NFL developmental league, and helps maintain its unique identity.

Despite the rule differences that suggest a higher scoring, more wide open style of play than in the NFL it really doesn’t work out that way. Most games end up with a final score in the 40′s and have a similar pace to their NFL counterparts. There may be a few individual rule differences, but a strong rushing game and defense are tickets to success in the CFL as in the NFL.

There’s also more parity in the CFL than even the NFL, which is famous for the competitive equality of their teams. The reason is fairly simple–football at the high school and college level in Canada simply isn’t as competitive as in the US. That means the mandated ratio of native players also serves to facilitate parity within the CFL.

The CFL isn’t in a financial position to draw the top level US players away from the NFL or, in most cases, even a NFL practice or developmental squad. While some US players are uniquely suited to the CFL style of play, most of the US players that end up there are of a similar talent level as to that seen in Arena Football.

Despite the differences between the CFL and American football, at the end of the day its still high level, professional football. Once you understand the unique aspects of the CFL, it’ll become second nature much as NFL viewers quickly assimilate rule changes there.

Before the Internet became ubiquitous, it wasn’t easy for an American fan to keep up with the CFL. While they still don’t receive coverage on ESPN, the Internet affords access to the sports media of every CFL city along with the national Canadian sports media at sites like Slam! Sports. The CFL’s official site is also a great source of news, stats and information on Canadian football.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.