A New NFL Wagering Season Begins

Keeping with recent NFL tradition, the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers open the new season at home before a national television audience on Thursday night. Pittsburgh, fresh off its second crown in four years, hosts Tennessee in a battle of the AFC's top two playoff seeds from 2008.

The Titans (13-4, 14-4-1 ATS in 2008), who defeated the Steelers 31-14 in Week 16 last season and captured the AFC South title with 13 victories, are eager to be back in action after suffering a mistake-filled playoff loss at home to Baltimore in the divisional round. Tennessee outgained the Ravens by 180 yards, but three turnovers in the red zone proved too much to overcome.

Turnovers, a stifling defense, a deft running game and sound quarterback play from veteran Kerry Collins made the Titans the team to beat entering last year's postseason. And even with menacing tackle Albert Haynesworth (Redskins) gone from a defense that ranked in the top six in most categories, Tennessee is certain to be a factor in a division any of the four clubs could win and is 7-0 ATS in September the last couple of years.

Pittsburgh's competition in the AFC North may only go one deep, with nobody outside of Baltimore expected to contend. The Steelers (15-4, 11-8 ATS) have essentially the same personnel and are a safe bet to pick up right where they left off as 27-23 winners over Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII. Aside from an Achilles' scare in practice, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger enjoyed a quiet offseason, unlike 2006, and is primed to top last year's numbers (3,301 yards, 17 touchdowns, 15 interceptions) with a new second tier of receivers in Limas Sweed and Shaun McDonald (Lions) to go with veteran Hines Ward and Santonio "Super Bowl MVP" Holmes. Pittsburgh is 5-1 ATS in first game of a new season.

Roethlisberger passed for 331 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions versus the Titans last Dec. 21 in a game that saw Pittsburgh's top-ranked defense allow just one scoring drive of more than 40 yards. That came midway through the third quarter when Tennessee went 79 yards on 11 plays and took the lead for good on Chris Johnson's 21-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-inches.

Pittsburgh can expect a heavy dose of Johnson and LenDale White, but as the Titans showed in last year's meeting they won't hesitate to pass, as Collins went 20-for-29. That means Justin Gage will see plenty of action after totaling 104 yards last season against the Steelers defense. Look for the Titans to want to clock Big Ben just like last season, when they sacked him five times. Though Haynesworth will be missed, he didn’t play in last year’s matchup.

The Titans are six-point underdogs, with total of 35 at Bookmaker.com and are 16-6 ATS when catching points and are 8-2 UNDER in September.

If the opening game is to be joyous occasion in the Steel City, then the offensive line has to give Roethlisberger time to throw and not have him running for his life. Look for Pittsburgh to test Tennessee defense with deep shots to Sweed and rookie Mike Wallace. Defensively, the Steelers have to keep Johnson inside the tackles and prevent him from bouncing out wide. Pittsburgh is 39-18 ATS as a home favorite of 3.5 to 7 points and has played OVER in seven straight openers.

In the last six meetings between these AFC squads, the OVER is 6-1. The excitement starts at 8:30 Eastern on NBC for the NFL lid-lifter and the previous year’s Super Bowl champions are 9-0 and 7-1-1 ATS in first game of a new season.


College and Pro Football Newsweekly contributed to this article.

Sometimes Sports Betting Leaves a Mark

I only lost twenty of the 66 million dollars that went back to the sportsbooks in the officiating debacle that transpired last Sunday afternoon.

So I am over it. I have accepted the bad beat and moved on. Besides, it was only twenty bucks.

But for the gentlemen (and women) who had a little more at stake on the outcome of the game - perhaps dinner that night, fuel for an empty gas tank or even next month's rent, I can understand if there is still some animosity lurking.

After all, the call that the officiating crew made at the closing of the Pittsburgh Steelers 11-10 victory over the Chargers shifted the universal balance of winners and losers.

In the waning seconds of the snowy showdown, San Diego desperately attempted to run a hook-and-ladder play but their plans were thwarted when superstar safety Troy Palamalu scooped up a toss and scampered into the endzone for a touchdown. Scoreboard flashes 17-10, teams run off the field. Game over.

Then the infamous referee huddle begins to form on the field. The studious bunch eventually came to the conclusion that there was an illegal forward pass that should have ended the play. The final score was changed back to 11-10 and the game was now officially over.

At this point millions of dollars exchanged hands and the donators felt like they were just robbed at gunpoint. Because they knew the touchdown should have counted, the people on the sidelines knew it should have counted and even the commentators in the booth knew it should have counted.

And eventually head referee Scott Green knew it should have counted. After a barrage of questions from reporters after the game he responded by saying, "We should have let the play go through in the end, yes."

The upheaval was of seismic proportions.

Changing the right call to a wrong one is bad enough. But then coming out and relaying the fact that the call was correct in the first place and it should have been left alone but it was changed anyway just makes it that much more unbearable.

You could hear people across the country screaming that this wasn't the National Football League, it was the National Fixed League!

And to their defense it was easy to trace back through the transpirations of that game and realize why these folks wanted an extensive investigation performed regarding the integrity of the game and the officials.

Before Jeff Reed booted the game-winning field goal, a Steelers touchdown run was called back for offensive holding on receiver Hines Ward. What was fishy about this is that this penalty is rarely called, replays showed it wasn't much of a hold and it was his third holding infraction of the day. Let me just repeat that...it was Hines Ward's THIRD holding penalty of the day. He is a wide receiver, not an offensive lineman.

The other peculiar happenstance, besides the botched called at the end of the game, was the total number of penalties doled out to each team. Pittsburgh witnessed the yellow flag on the field against their favor 13 times (115 yards) while the Chargers were called for an infraction only twice (5 yards). Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin was questioned in his postgame interview about the disparity and he replied by saying he had never seen anything like it.

Look, I am not saying the game was fixed. And I don't think anyone can claim without a doubt it was. The matter of fact is that someone has to win and someone has to lose in this wonderful world of gambling. Unfortunately the losers in this outcome suffered an excruciating misfortune.
I have been on the winning side, and I have been on the losing side of these "did that really just happen" types of games. And most of the people who were on the wrong side of this bad beat have probably been on the right side just as many times. It is just something you might have to chalk up to karma.

But this anomaly should not discourage anyone from having a little fun on the weekends and making a few wagers. So get back on the saddle today, peruse the card and see if you can find a winner. May the gambling gods be with you.

I personally don't think the NFL is fixed. Now the NBA...I might need to sit down with Tim Donaghy before making any conclusions on that matter.

Scott Cooley is a free lance writer who drops in and shares his opinions.