superbowl

There are just eight teams remaining on the road to Superbowl XLVI after a thrilling Wild Card round on the weekend. Now we head to the Divisional Round, where the top two seeds from both Conferences, take on the respective winners from the Wild Card round. So the four teams who sat out the Wild Card Round, now enter back into the race after getting a week off, a reward for their high seeding. We have the last eight standing and four great looking match ups, with the highlight being the New Orleans Saints at the San Francisco 49ers. The race for the Superbowl is on. Just two games stand between the remaining teams and a shot at NFL glory. Here is an NFL Betting look at next weekend’s Divisional Round of matches. The games are being played on Sunday 15th, apart from the Saints at 49ers which is on Saturday.

Denver Broncos at New England Patriots
The Broncos pulled off a great win against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Wild Card. The Steelers went into the match up with a thrilling win in Overtime. The Bronco’s fired off twenty points in the second quarter, and the only points outside of that was three points in the fourth. It left the game poised and balanced at 23-23 at the end of regulation. But then up stepped Tim Tebow after just eleven seconds of Overtime and nailed a touchdown pass. That was the first play off win for the Broncos since the 2005 season and their defence carried well with five sacks on the Steelers’ quarterback Roethlisberger. So a great effort from the Broncos, but now they will have to face the rested New England Patriots. The Patriots are running as second favourites in Superbowl outright betting. New England went 13-3-0 for the season, and that stands up against the Broncos 8-8-0. Top seeds in the AFC, the Patriots have not managed to land a win in the playoffs in the last four years. The Patriots have incredible firepower going forward, but they also hold up defensively sound. The Patriots carry a 7-1 home record for the season. A lot of the weight of the game will depend on which Tim Tebow shows for the Broncos, but with the Patriots winning in Denver 41-23 back in the middle of December, there is likely only going to be one outcome to this.
Patriots 1/7, Broncos 11/2 at Boylesports
Points Spread: Patriots -13.5 for 10/11 at BetFred

Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens
The Texas, after overhauling the Cincinnati Bengals in their Wild Card match up, now face a tough Divisional Round encounter against the Ravens. This is the first time that the Texans have been in the post season, as the franchise is just ten years old. They are led by rookie quarterback TJ Yates, landed some great touchdown passes against the Bengals, but will have a much tougher time picking things out against the Ravens. The Ravens hold a 8-0 home record for the season and with the Texans 5-3 on the road, then home advantage is likely to pay out big here. The Ravens beat Houston 29-14 at home during the regular season, with Ray Rice rushing for over 100 yards. The Ravens finished the season strongly with a couple of wins, and went 4-1 in their last five, while the Texans, they could only muster up a 2-3 record in their last five matches and entered the post season on the back of three game losing streak. The Bengals lack of any real threat may have flattered the Texans a little in the Wild Card round, and can’t see Houston winning this in Baltimore. The Ravens have that extra quality.
Ravens 1/4, Texans 3/1 at VC Bet
Points Spread: Texans +7/5 for 10/11 at Bet365

New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers
The Saints are still many people’s tips to take the Superbowl this year, and they fired off a 45-28 win over the Detroit Lions to move through to the Divisional Round. There is an interesting stat to look at with regards to the Saints heading to San Francisco, because New Orleans are not as effective going forward in outdoor arenas, as they are undercover of indoor fields. The Saints found the Lions defence in a generous mood and that won’t happen against the 49ers. The Saints do have one the strongest attacks, led by star Quarterback Drew Brees and a tremendous power running unit. Arguably the best in the league. So this is going to be about the great Saints offence against the tight and mean 49ers defence. When Brees is hot, as he has been for pretty much the second half of the season, then the Saints can steamroller opposition defences. The Saints went into the post season on the back of an eight match winning streak. However, the 49ers have the kind of defence that can really disrupt him and take him out of his comfort zone. That is pretty much going to be the key in New Orleans Saints at San Francisco 49ers betting. Whether or not the 49ers can limit the Brees factor. The San Francisco 49ers are not as prolific going forward, so they need their defence to carry them through matches and to give them a chance. It has worked for most of the season in their 13-3 record and with the Saints also carrying a 13-3 record in the regular season, this should be a war of attrition which Brees could make or break.
Saints 20/37, San Francisco 33/20 at Bet365
Points Spread -3.5 for 5/6 at VC Bet

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers
This should be a treat for the Divisional Round. The Packers are rested up and ready to go again after their 15-1 run in the regular season. They are the defending champions and are expected to navigate their way through this match up. Let by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Packers have shown incredible power moving forwards, however, their defence has not been the greatest, and actually finished last in the NFL for yards conceded. However, the defensive lapses have been brilliantly covered up by their offence and that is going to be the big game difference here against the Giants. The Giants don’t have anywhere near the flair of the Packers, nor the consistency, but they have spirit and power football on their side. Unpredictable is the best way to describe the Giants, who did pull out some big wins towards the end of the season when they needed it most and they need another massive one here. The Giants will have to face up to the almost unstoppable Packers offence, but what the Giants did in their win over the Atlanta Falcons in the Wild Card round, was old style power football, which just tore at the physical heart of the Falcons defence. It paid off big time. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t stylish. It was effective. The Giants Eli Manning leads the offensive line and although tagged as inconsistent rattled off a pretty impressive season as well. The Giants have not got the forward power to match the Packers in a shoot out. They will grind though and disrupt but the Packers should see it out.
Packers 2/7, Giants 11/4 at VC Bet
Points Spread: Packers -8 at Bet356

 Superbowl Outright Winner Odds
Green Bay Packers: 6/4 at BetFred
New England Patriots: 3/1 at SkyBet
New Orleans Saints: 4/1 at VC Bet
Baltimore Ravens: 7/1 at Bet365
San Francisco 49ers: 16/1 at Boylesports
New York Giants: 18/1 at Bet365
Houston Texans: 40/1 at Bet365
Denver Broncos: 66/1 at SportingBet

Green Bay Packers remain 15/2 market leaders for the SuperBowl with Skybet, Blue Square and 888sport, despite going down to a late Robbie Gould field goal at Chicago. The Bears are now 25/1 with totesport, Boylesports and Paddy Power to win the trophy themselves after extending their unbeaten record but are available at a general 10/1 to win the NFC nomination, while the Packers are no bigger than 10/3 (Coral). Chicago will be hoping to continue their perfect start to the season when they face the New York Giants in the Monday night game next week. For the second week running, the Giants looked a long way off the pace when going down to Tennessee in their latest match-up and have subsequently drifted out to a general 9/2 to win the NFC East. Miami Dolphins won their first two games, sparking hopes of a return to the glory days in Florida. But a 31-23 reverse against AFC East rivals the New York Jets last week has brought Fins’ fans back down to earth. Tony Spararno‘s team are out to 11/4 with Boylesports and Betfred to take the divisional honours with the Jets a best 7/5 with Boylesports and New England Patriots 13/8 with Betfred.

I must say, if I was having a punt on the outright SuperBowl winner this season I’d be taking a good look at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Few teams can match the Steelers’ overall record since the inception of the modern NFL and they have that happy knack of making the play-offs even if they don’t appear to be at the top of their game throughout the regular season. Having coached his team to SuperBowl glory in 2008, Mike Tomlin knows the type of players he needs on his roster and will have been encouraged to see reserve quarterback Charlie Batch step up to the plate in Dennis Dixon‘s absence with two touchdown passes as the Steelers kept up their winning run against Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. That represents Pittsburgh’s best start to a season since 2007 and they look a tempting bet at 14/1 with Betfred to go all the way. Tomlin’s team are 13/8 with the same firm to win the AFC North.

Sunday sees one of the biggest sporting annual televised events hit the screens across the world, as the NFL’s Super Bowl rides into Miami. Only recently has the Champions League Final overtaken the Superbowl in terms of worldwide viewing figures, and even with all of the hype surrounding this big event, very often the $200 million which gets spent on TV advertising during the game, produces more interesting results. This year however, promises to be a real showcase of the best of the attacking game between the AFC’s Indianapolis Colts and the NFC’s New Orleans Saints.

Something which does not happen too often, indeed you would need to go back nearly twenty years to find the previous occasion, is that winners of both conferences are actually meeting in the Super Bowl. The two sides were dominant throughout the early stages of the regular season, and it looked even from an early viewpoint, that they would be meeting each other in the NFL’s showcase. But with some blips coming into both of their season’s near the end, their confidence could have been rocked. It was not to be however, as both fairly cruised their way through their conference play-offs to Sunday’s Final.

To many outside, American Football looks boring, and looks overly complicated. Granted there is not the flow of a rugby union match, to which it can be most closely associated, but there is a sense of technical overabundance and showmanship, which all works. The players are padded up to the hilt, and for the most part, play perfectly into their role of over the top sportsmanship. The game has tried to crack Europe, with little to mediocre success, although there is another planned regular season game in the UK in October between the Denver Broncos and the Washington Redskins. For many outside of the US, it remains something of an enigma, yet many sports fans tune in to watch the Super Bowl and of course, have a once-a-year punt on American Football.

The NFL is broken down into two conferences, each conference, the AFL and the NFL, consisting of four divisions in each. Quite confusingly, instead of eight teams, only six teams make it through to each of the conference’s play-off stages. Each conference play-off will consist of the four division winners (get seeded from 1-4 based on the win, loss, tie record), and then two wildcard entries make it. Wildcard 1, plays Division winner 4, and Wildcard 2, plays Division winner 3. The winners of those games will go on to play either Division Winner 1 or Division Winner 2 in what is essentially a conference semi finals. The winner of each of the conference’s finals, go head to head for overall NFL supremacy in the Super Bowl.

If you are looking for a favourite, then the smart sports betting money will be going on the AFC’s Indianapolis Colts. They have star Quarter Back (the equivalent of Rugby’s scrum-half for the un-ordained American Football fan) Payton Manning, who has been to the SuperBowl before and won it. He has the coveted Super Bowl ring, which is an actual gold ring, and not something you get from sitting on the lavatory for too long, and he has the experience to guide his team to glory. For the New Orleans Saints, it would be a sporting victory that would epitomise the hope of a region, even five years on from the devastation which Hurricane Katrina wreaked. The Saints very nearly had to find a new home altogether on a permanent basis, but their strength has put them in a perfect spot to complete something of a fairy tale story.

The New Orleans Saints have brought the best out of Quarter Back Drew Bees, who was bounced around the NFL a little before finding an adopted home where he could flourish. He is in many respects, the all-American hero, portrayed as a quiet spoken, humble hero. Should he carry the Saints to a victory on Sunday, he will be revered along the path to a Hall of Fame spot. Like Manning, Bees has an attacking arsenal that can split games wide open and rack up the points. The Saints may have the edge in defence, as they are quick up on the line of scrimmage, but both Quarter Backs are quick and intelligent. These two combatants are considered the best that the NFL has, and that is why there is great hopes that the 2010 SuperBowl really can stand head and shoulders as one of the best.

Super Bowl XLIV Outright Odds
Indianapolis Colts to win: 8/15 at Bwin
New Orleans Saints: 9/5 at Boylesports

New Orleans
Average points per game for: 31.9 points per game (1st overall)
Average points per game against: 21.3 pointer per game (20th overall)

Indianapolis Colts
Average points per game: 26.0 (7th overall)
Average points per game against: 19.2 points per game (8th Overall)

Sports-week 26 January - 1 February

Date	Sport	Org.	Venue	Event
27-28 Jan		FA	England	Premier League
28 Jan		FIGC	Italy	Serie A
30 Jan-1 Feb		DFB	Germany	Bundesliga
31 Jan-2 Feb		FA	England	Premier League
31 Jan-1 Feb		FFF	France	Ligue 1
31 Jan-1 Feb		FIGC	Italy	Serie A
1 Feb		RFEF	Spain	Primera Division
19 Jan-1 Feb		WTA	Melbourne	Australian Open
19 Jan-1 Feb		ATP	Melbourne	Australian Open
1 Feb		NFL	Tampa Bay	Super Bowl