Sports Betting Blog

There comes times in football when all you need to do is avoid making those huge mistakes that ultimately costs games. Keep the ball in your hands, complete the pass, make the catch, avoid getting sacked, the principles of football: it just wasn’t happening for the New York Jets on Sunday. The Patriots, on the other hand, finally managed to win a game in the final minutes, under pressure and when it matter most. Things got a bit scary for a moment there for the fans at the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, as once again New England seemed to be losing control of the game in the final minutes. With a 2-yard pass from Tom Brady to Rob Gronkowski with 2:39 to play in the third quarter, the Patriots took a 13-23 lead going into the fourth.

But Rex Ryan, the Jets head coach, started to move his lines and after three consecutive scores, the Jets were back on the lead with Nick Folks 2^nd 43-yard field goal that gave them a 26-23 lead. Then came Tom Brady. He got to work and was able to set up Stephen Gostkowski for a 43-yard field goal as time expired to force the game into overtime. It wasn’t a good felling. At least not until they managed to turn things around in overtime: after all, Pats fans were all well aware of the fact that up to that point, New England had played three games that were decided in the final two minutes this season. And they had loss all of them. But not this time, not against Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets: this time it would be the visiting team making all the mistakes and basically handing the win to the Pats when Rob Ninkovich knocked the ball out of Mark Sanchez’s hand in overtime and recovered the fumble. That was it; the Patriots took a 29-26 win at home against the Jets and took a hold of the first place in their division.

Before the games started the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills and the Jets and the Patriots were all tied in at 3-3. With the win over the Jets, the Bills loss to the Tennessee Titans and the fact that the Dolphins were on their BYE week, the Pats are now leading the division. Sure enough the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick knows that there’s plenty of work to be done and that at 4-3 for the season, improvement is a must for this squad. “There’s a lot of football left to be played,” Belichick said. “I don’t think anybody clinched anything today.”

Rex Ryan, on the other hand, had to recognize one thing: they gave the game away. They were sloppy with the football and despite the huge effort they made to get back in the game, they just couldn’t get it straight down the line. “We made too many mistakes but we had our opportunities,” Rex Ryan said. “It just stinks being on this end of it.” It sure does. There are still plenty of internal issues with the Jets. They have yet managed to make Tim Tebow a factor in the game and Mark Sanchez has been as inconsistent as you could wish for. Let’s see what Ryan can make of this mess in the next few weeks. 

Well, for what it’s worth, you can at least now make it official, it’s time to set off the panic alarm for the Jets. Let’s be clear about this one: we have had enough. I mean, enough with the cautionary tales, with the offensive extravaganzas, with the media-grabbing circus; it’s time to start winning some games. The Jets kicked off the season with flying colors behind Mark Sanchez, who completed one of his finest games in his career against the Buffalo Bills. But it’s all been down hill since. Sure enough, if you look at their record, at 2-2 for the season, things are not that bad.

What’s more bothering here is a whole other issue. They look sloppy on the field, they really don’t seem to have a clue how to get their offense running. Forget the fact that they went on to hire Tim Tebow as if he was going to be the answer. Rex Ryan, the Jets head coach, just doesn’t seem to know what to do with Tebow and Sanchez, and the San Francisco 49ers took advantage of this to humiliate the Jets to a 34-0 pummeling win at New York.

The San Francisco 49ers showed out there that they have what it takes to go deep into the postseason this year. This guys have a solid running game, a bombproof defense, they even managed to play the wild-cat offense at times, and their special teams were as effective as one could ever wish for. The 49ers quarterback, Alex Smith guided San Fran’s efforts with 12 of 21 passing for 143 yards. He knew well that a win at the Met Life stadium in Rutherford New Jersey was a must. At 3-1 for the season, things are good for the 49ers. Now, their loss last week to the Minnesota Vikings was certainly when they looked more vulnerable as we’ve seen them in a couple years. So winning here was important. They needed this motivational boost. “For sure, the whole week there was more of an edge; it was just a bad taste in your mouth,” Alex Smith said in the postgame press conference. “I don’t think that goes away in one day. We wanted to be 3-1 and got it done.”

The 49ers played everything they had in the book. Or at least they gave the Jets a good idea of how  one is supposed to set up an offensive strike. The 49ers running game was flawless, they went on to run for 245 yards including a 51-yard returned fumble for a touchdown by Carlos Rogers. As if that was not enough, Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter and backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick, relying on a wildcat-like option, all ran for scores. As a matter of fact, it was Kaepernick, who pulled off the sort of play that Rex Ryan though he would get from Tim Tebow in and out this season. The defense had an interception and three fumble recoveries, and special teams blocked Robert Malone’s punt to set up the final touchdown. It really seems that the 49ers are probably exactly what the Jets thought they were going to be this season.

Jim Harbaugh has proved once and again that he has made the 49ers his team. His decisions are a bit unique, but they work. He decided to have his team stay in eastern Ohio and practice at Youngstown State all week. A good call, I would go ahead and say considering how well they played in New Jersey. Now, let’s see if they can be as dominant as they were last year.

Aaron Rodgers, the incumbent NFL MVP, has been struggling quite a bit this season as the leader of the Green Bay Packers. First they dropped their opening game 30-22, but on week 2 they seemed to get a better hold of their game, as the Packers took a 23-10 win over Jay Cuttler and the Chicago Bears. But this time, it was not all about Rodgers. Against the Bears the Packers opted to go on into a more defensively biased game plan and it paid off.  As a matter of fact Cutler was forced into throwing four interceptions, including a pair to Tramon Williams. But it was the constant rush that got the Bears into the most trouble. Facing a fierce pass rush all night, Cutler was sacked seven times, including 3 1/2 by Clay Matthews who is the souls of the Packers defense. Now, at 1-1 for the season, the Packers really needed to get this two wins at home for the next five weeks are going to be really though for this club. Green Bay starts it’s five-week road tour with a visit to the Seahawks on Monday Night Football and then follow it up with a home game against the New Orleans Saints before hitting the road again for games against Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans and the St. Louis rams.

The issue here is that Seattle has been playing very well at home this season. As a matter of fact in week two they proved that the Dallas Cowboys hyped-up win over the New York Giants was by no means a sign of much better things to come. Considering how Tony Romo outplayed Eli Manning, it was only normal to expect him to have no troubles against a rookie quarterback like Russell Wilson. Well, were the Cowboys in for a big surprise as on his second NFL start Wilson guided the Seahawks with 15 of 20 passing for 151 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions for a 27-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys. So quite frankly, this has really given this team the needed confidence to get the Packer into some trouble.

Now, as of press time the Green Bay Packers are a -3½ point favorite on the spread against the Seahawks. Seattle on the other hand believes that it’s young quarterback could go ahead and pull off the stun. This week, however, is uncertain how the spirits are among the Packers.  Truth is that they are still dealing with questions about an incident between Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver James Jones. Sure enough Jones accepted blame for the interception that led Rodgers to voice his displeasure with his teammate. But still, it became a bit clear that Rodgers could probably be a phenomenal quarterback and he might eventually end up in the hall of fame. But some of his critics have said once and again that he lacks the character to be a real leader.

Jones went on to make a public statement to the press later on the week to try to calm down the waters inside the locker room.  “He apologized, said he’s sorry for showing his emotions,” Jones said about Rodgers comments on Sunday. “But I was like, (there’s) no need to apologize. We’re trying to win. I messed up. Frustration happens. It’s all good. No love lost. We’re teammates. We’re family in here. Like I said, everybody’s trying to win.” Let’s see if they can do that on Monday.

For what we had heard and saw last week Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys were expected to fly into the Emerald City and simply dominate the Seattle Seahawks. There was really no doubt about this one. Romo was coming off perhaps the most notable regular season kickoff’s of his career, dominating the defending champions the New York Giants on the road. It looked as if they Cowboys would return from a the road trip with a 2-0 start. As a matter of fact the line makers at betias.com had made them a -3½ point favorite in the spread against the Seahawks despite the game been played at the Century Link Field in Seattle.

At the end, however the Seattle Seahawks not only defeated the Cowboys, they also managed to shake them down. On his second NFL start the rookie Russell Wilson guided the home team’s effort with 15 of 20 passing for 151 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions as the Seahawks took a 27-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

We were seriously expecting to see so much more coming from Tony Romo. I guess that he had had such a great game on week one that we couldn’t help but to imagine only how well thing could work out for Dallas last Sunday. But it just wasn’t there. I mean, Romo didn’t play badly; he finished the matchup completing 23 of the 40 passes he attempted for 251 passing yards with one touchdown and one costly interception. Now, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either, and considering just how fast the Seahawks defensive system runs its plays at home, it was a bit overwhelming for Romo and the Cowboys. The Seattle Seahawks special teams had a brilliant first quarter.

By the time Dallas figured out what had happened, the Seahawks already had a 10-0 advantage. In less than 5 minutes the Seahawks’ Michael Robinson forced Felix Jones to fumble on the opening kickoff that led to a short field goal. Minutes later Malcolm Smith blocked Chris Jones’ punt which Jeron Johnson returned for a touchdown to give Seattle (1-1) the early advantage.

The rookie Russell Wilson delivered in his second start. He had a good overall performance, making safe decisions while showing that he might just have what it takes to make it among the big guns. Among his highlight reel, we could mention the fabulous way in which he directed a 90-yard scoring drive in the third quarter capped by a 22-yard touchdown strike to Anthony McCoy to give Seattle a 20-7 lead. But it was not all about the quarterback effort. Seattle was playing with poise and determination. Size didn’t even matter at one point or another. Golden Tate circled back around and lined up Sean Lee with a crushing block that sent the burly Dallas linebacker flat to his back. It was a great play that got the fans on their feet. You could feel it in the air: this was a rue team effort. “We stuck with our game plan: Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball, and eventually they’re going to get tired,” Tate said. “Our motto is play longer and harder than they can and then it started opening up in the pass game.”