Defense bails out defending champion Colts

Football Betting Lines

09/18/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Even though Peyton Manning played up to his usual standards on Sunday, it was the Indianapolis Colts' defense that saved the day in a 22-20 win over the AFC South-rival Tennessee Titans at LP Field.

Colts defensive coordinator Ron Meeks had his thinking cap on snug in the latter stages of the game, as Titans elusive quarterback Vince Young was flustered on the final play thanks to a furious push from the line. As defensive tackle Darrell Reid and left end Josh Thomas crashed the pocket, middle linebacker Gary Brackett was able to break through and grab Young by his legs.

Young then flipped the ball to offensive lineman Jacob Bell, who had trouble tucking the ball away before watching it fall to the ground and into the hands of Reid with four seconds remaining on the clock.

"As a defensive unit, that's what you want," said Colts safety Bob Sanders, who recorded 2 1/2 sacks and a team-best 11 total tackles on Sunday. "You don't want to be put in those situations, but when they do come up, you want to be able to stop them. You want to have your offensive team lean on you and say, 'All right, go out and get the job done.'"

For so long that hasn't been the case for the Indianapolis defense. Since Manning has been on the team, most of the talk is about the offense and which of the team's two star wide receivers will break out. Sunday was a different story, one the Colts needed to become familiar with because they can't rely on Manning every week.

A Manning interception led to a Tennessee touchdown and ended his streak of consecutive passes without a pick at 190 in the third quarter, when Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan grabbed a pass intended for Reggie Wayne.

Afterward, Manning questioned whether or not Finnegan made illegal contact with Wayne during the play.

"I've got to bite my tongue until I see, but I've got to see that interception again," said Manning, who threw for 312 yards and a touchdown on 28-of-42 passing. "Something wasn't right about (it). Reggie's running the route on a post and you feel pretty good when you throw a pass and think it's going to hit him in stride. All of a sudden I think one of their players might have had a little contact with one of our players."

Manning's favorite target was tight end Dallas Clark, who contributed a team- high 69 yards and a score on seven receptions. Clark was the leading receiver, since the Titans were able to contain and keep Marvin Harrison and Wayne out of the end zone and off the highlight reel.

The trio will be on display this weekend in Houston for a showdown with the unbeaten Texans at Reliant Stadium.

A RUNNING BACK TO ADDAI FOR

There's a long list of great Colts running backs, including Lenny Moore, Lydell Mitchell, Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk and Edgerrin James.

So where does Joseph Addai fit?

Yes, I know, it's too early to assume such great status for the former LSU star, but it's going to be talked about soon. Addai emerged on the scene during his rookie campaign last year while splitting time with Dominic Rhodes. Now that Rhodes is suspended and playing in Oakland, Addai is now left alone to carry the load and the ball.

So far, so good for head coach Tony Dungy and his ground attack. Addai had 118 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries in a Week 1 win over New Orleans before compiling 81 yards and another score on 20 touches this past Sunday.

Not to be a dark cloud on Addai's parade, but the Houston Texans are next on the schedule and have played superb run defense in two games this season. The Texans shut down Chiefs running back Larry Johnson in Week 1 before denying both DeAngelo Williams and DeShaun Foster of greatness last Sunday in Carolina.

Addai will make sure a third time is no charm in Houston.

KICK 'EM TO THE CURB

Colts veteran placekicker Adam Vinatieri had an outing he would like to put in the back of his head for some time.

The often-reliable Vinatieri had a PAT blocked and was wide left on a 36-yard field goal try in Sunday's 22-20 win over Tennessee. Vinatieri, who has made 44-of-49 field-goal attempts since joining the Colts last season, admitted he was bothered by the errant try.

"I pride myself on not letting things get into my head," Vinatieri said, "But on that missed field goal, I think that's what happened."

Vinatieri will put this performance behind him. That's what the best players do. Why else does he sport four Super Bowl rings?

UP NEXT: COLTS GALLOP TO HOUSTON

The top spot in the AFC South is up for grabs on Sunday at Reliant Stadium, where the 2-0 Houston Texans will host unbeaten Indianapolis.

The Colts are 9-1 in the all-time series with Houston, which is the last team to send Dungy and Indianapolis into the loss column. The Texans recorded a 27-24 win at home in Week 16 of the 2006 season, as Ron Dayne rushed for a career-high 153 yards with two touchdowns and Kris Brown nailed a 48-yard field goal as time expired.

Manning, Harrison and Wayne will make sure a scenario like the last matchup doesn't occur this time around. The trio must not take the Texans lightly or they will be another victim of Houston head coach Gary Kubiak, who will try to ride the wave of his early success.

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MySportsbook.com Releases World Series Championship Lines

New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox early favorites to win 2008 World Series
The Major League Baseball season starts this weekend and MySportsbook.com, a leading online sportsbook for over 8 years, is the first to offer baseball sports betting lines on who will win the 2007 World Series.

"The World Series is the biggest baseball event in the sports betting world and MySportsbook.com is excited that we are first to market with betting lines on every team," says Tim Dalton, Marketing Director, MySportsbook.com. "We are getting things ready for a great baseball season and our members are looking forward to our Player Payback Bonuses, as well as Dime Lines, all season long."

Going in to this weekend, MySportsbook.com's favorites to win the World Series are the New York Yankees at 7-2 and last year’s winners the Chicago White Sox at 9-2.

"These betting lines are ripe for the picking," Dalton added, "baseball fans know that the season is long and many factors, including players staying healthy, will affect these Future odds as the baseball season progresses. Betting on your favorite team in the beginning of the season could prove quite lucrative. We are seeing examples of this right now in the NCAA College Basketball Tournament with a lucky few that placed pre-season bets on George Mason to win it all. Anything can happen."

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Mastercard needs..

About www.MySportsbook.com
MySportsbook.com is the foremost online sportsbook offering Internet wagering to its worldwide customers. Fully licensed and regulated in St. John’s, Antigua since 1997, MySportsbook.com offers a complete range of online casino games, sports betting lines, poker tournaments and horse racing offtrack betting daily through its portfolio of companies and managed services. With over 7 years of experience, MySportsbook.com has become one of the most respected companies in the gaming industry by providing unparalleled 24/7 customer support and timely payouts. MySportsbook.com is part of the SportingBet PLC group of companies that is publicly-traded on the London Stock Exchange ( LSE ) under the symbol SBT.L. MySportsbook.com provides a secure environment for sports and casino wagering and has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MAXIM Magazine, Cigar Aficionado, and CNN’s Paula Zahn Now among others.

Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.