NFL Playoffs: Zoneblitz picks the Super Bowl

by | Feb 1, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling, NFL Picks, Super Bowl

The Harbaugh Brothers, Ray Lewis and his alleged use of deer antler spray and idiot reporters asking players how ticklish they are – all the hype ends Saturday. Finally we get down to the intrigue of the game itself … and this year it’s a hugely intriguing game.

I am extremely curious to see if the Ravens, with several of their most important players aging, can keep up with the more youthful 49ers. I am curious to see whether Baltimore’s coaching staff can come up with a way to neutralize phenom quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

While the storylines off the field have been many, this year’s game on the field also is as intriguing a matchup as we’ve had in a few years. Here is how we see it playing out: (more…)

NFL Playoffs: Divisional Weekend Picks and Bets

by | Jan 20, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling, NFL Picks

It’s Championship Game day, which means it’s time for our picks. Last week, my picks were significantly better than in Wildcard Week, as I picked up 13 points in our format. Unfortunately, Andy picked up 13 points as well, so he still has a 24-20 lead. To keep things interesting (and to give me a shot at catching up), we’re going to up the ante with fewer games this week, and make regular picks worth 2 points, and best bets worth three.

Andy Tony
Baltimore @ New England
Straight up New England New England
Spread Baltimore +9 New England -9
Over/Under Over 51.5 Over 51.5
San Francisco @ Atlanta
Straight up San Francisco San Francisco
Spread San Francisco -4 Atlanta +4
Over/Under Over 49 Under 49
Best Bets: Baltimore @ New England: over 51.5 New England -115
San Francisco -4 San Francisco -115

Our game takes:

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NFL Playoffs: Divisional weekend picks and bets

by | Jan 12, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling, NFL Picks

After a week of rather lackluster Wildcard games, the NFL playoffs are back at it today with a slate of games that at least appears to be a lot more appealing. In our new pick format last week, Andy kicked my butt, going only 7-5 with his picks, but getting two best bets for 11 total points. I went 5-7, and finished with 7 points.

Andy Tony
Baltimore at Denver
straight up Denver Denver
spread Baltimore +8.5 Denver -8.5
over/under over 45 over 45
Green Bay at San Francisco
straight up San Francisco San Francisco
spread San Francisco – 3 San Francisco -3
over/under under 45 under 45
Seattle at Atlanta
straight up Seattle Atlanta
spread Seattle +2 Atlanta -2
over/under under 44.5 over 44.5
Houston at New England
straight up New England New England
spread New England -9.5 Houston +9.5
over/under over 47.5 over 47.5
Best Bets Baltimore at Denver over 45 Baltimore at Denver over 45
San Francisco -3 Green Bay at San Francisco under 45
Seattle +115 Seattle at Atlanta over 44.5
New England -9.5 Houston at New England over 47.5

Our game takes:

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NFL Playoffs: Wild Card Weekend Picks and Bets

by | Jan 5, 2013 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling, NFL Picks, NFL Random Thoughts

The chili is in the crock pot. The logs will soon be ready for the fire. And the regular season is over. It’s time to separate the contenders from the pretenders. It’s time for playoff football.

It’s well documented that while our picks during the season were ok, our bets during the season were terrible. So even though we did ok with a different betting system for college bowl games, we decided to mix things up again for the NFL playoffs, given that there are fewer games to choose from. So, our picks are below. Let us know in comments who you think is going to win this week and who is likely to emerge with the Lombardi Trophy in a month. (more…)

Wrapping up 2012 picks and bets

by | Dec 31, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling, NFL Picks

In an effort to provide accountability – and because I’m sure all six of you who make a point of looking for our picks and bets every week are dying to know – we wanted to provide final regular tallies for our best bets and picks segments.

In week 17, our futility continued when it comes to betting. Andy and Tony both hit just one of four picks, though both of the correct ones were moneyline upset picks that, if bet right, might have kept us from going completely broke with our imaginary money.

The 1-3 tallies left Andy with a 30-37-1 record for the season. Tony tumbled to a 28-40 mark.

Our picks were markedly better. Andy finished out the season with a bang, going 13-3 in week 17. A 27-5 run the final two weeks upped his record to 166-89-1 for the season. Tony led most of the way but fell to 9-7 in week 16 and 10-6 in week 17 for a 161-94-1 mark.

I’d like to once again thank the team bloggers who participated in our celebrity pick segment every week. Their efforts resulted in a 158-97-1 mark for the season.

As this is a highly anticipated segment each week, we’ll probably come up with something for the playoffs too. Check back for details on that later.

 

NFL Picks, 2012 season, Week 17

by | Dec 26, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Picks

With a convincing win over Detroit on Saturday night, the Atlanta Falcons took another step toward a championship by locking up home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.

So why isn’t anyone buying Atlanta? The 13-2 Falcons have been dominant against teams they should beat this season, but have not played the most difficult of schedules. That’s not their fault – you can only play the teams they tell you to play. But there’s still the lingering feeling stemming from blowout losses in playoff games the last two seasons.

Greg Huseth, senior editor and staff writer for Blogging Dirty, says those two games have this team better prepared for what it takes to have success in the playoffs.

“The Falcons have been embarrassed the last two seasons in the playoffs and I think that has made them more mentally tough,” he says. “They also overlooked a bad Carolina Panthers team in Week 14 and got obliterated. Those playoff losses, and the more recent loss to Carolina, have taught them not to overlook any aspect of the game and that if they don’t execute, it won’t matter that they’re the number one seed in the NFC.”

The Falcons are going to have a challenging road in the postseason, even if they are playing at home. San Francisco and Seattle look to be peaking and Green Bay also is playing well. But it did look to me like Atlanta did take its game up a notch against Detroit, so maybe they are poised for a better showing.

Huseth joined us as our guest blogger for the regular season’s final week. Last week’s guest celebrity blogger was Keith Myers from 12th Man Rising. He went 12-4, which was good for second place last week. He beat Tony, who went 9-7. Andy hit on a bunch of upsets, which led to a 14-2 week that sprung him to a two-game lead for the season.

  Week 16 Season
Andy 14-2 153-86-1
Tony 9-7 151-88-1
Celebrity bloggers 12-4 148-91-1

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