NFL betting

Sunday 7th February 2016 saw the clash of the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers in the 50^th Super Bowl game.  Much to the surprise of just about everyone, the Broncos won.

The odds in Vegas favoured the Panthers by a fairly narrow margin—around 4 points when I last looked.  One Associated Press sports journalist predicted the Panthers would beat the Broncos 31-18.  Many pundits thought that the lead would be a lot bigger than that—30 or more points.

If you are handicapping american football, one of the statistics you might look at is the quarterback rating. There are actually two quarterback ratings which are widely used, the NFL quarterback rating and the ESPN’s Total Quarterback Rating, or QBR.  The NFL quarterback rating has been around much longer.  While it is less comprehensive than the QBR, it does still offer value to bettors.  The correlation between the NFL quarterback rating differential and the success of the quarterback is quite strong. 

In past years, the Super Bowl was a big deal mainly in the USA, but recently it has become a global phenomenon.

We’re less than a couple of days away now from Super Bowl 50.  With the game being broadcast to 230 countries, this is the biggest year ever for NFL around the world—including in the UK.

Following NFL football?  If so, you are one of millions of UK sports fans who have become caught up in the action of a sport which used to enjoy only a relatively narrow geographical reach.  This year, Super Bowl 50, the culminating game in the NFL season, will be broadcast in 230 countries. 

There are a number of different factors that can impact teams and players at the start of an NFL season, resulting in unpredictable performance  and predicting NFL at the start of the season challenging.  One of those factors is changes in personnel.  Staff turnover is a complex matter.  Players are traded, coaches hired or fired, and managers replaced.  When a team has major changes in its roster or management, there are a number of resulting variables that can impact a team’s performance:

If you have been following NFL football this year, you know that it is has been an exciting and very unpredictable year.  Many people were closely following the Denver Broncos from the start, being as this is almost certainly going to be quarterback Peyton Manning’s final year playing professional football.  But no one could have predicted the team’s numerous unlikely victories this season, particularly in the recent playoff game against the New England Patriots. 

We’re almost at the end of another season of NFL football.  If you have been following along through the season, you may already have a number of predictions for this year’s teams and players.  Whether that is true or you are only just now starting to handicap NFL football, it is smart to remind yourself that making solid predictions early on in the season is very difficult.  Why?

In the USA, NFL betting is the most popular form of sports betting.  Here in the UK, NFL betting may not be as popular, but it is something you can get into if your betting site offers it (which most these days do). 

Why is NFL betting fun?

The preseason for American NFL football is an exciting time where fans and punters get a glimpse at teams in action and get to make predictions about how players and teams will fare in the upcoming season.  That makes this the perfect time to plan your NFL futures bets.