Brady, Taylor each sharp as Pats down Falcons
Football Betting Lines
08/19/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Brady completed 10-of-12 passes for 85 yards with a touchdown and the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 28-10, in an exhibition game at Georgia Dome.
Fred Taylor rushed 11 times for 54 yards with a touchdown and Sammy Morris gained 52 yards on six carries with a TD for New England, which has won both its preseason games. Randy Moss had two catches for 24 yards, while Aaron Hernandez caught a TD pass in the victory.
Matt Ryan finished 8-for-13 for 76 yards through the air for the Falcons, who won their preseason opener last week but watched their offense struggle in this one. Michael Turner gained 32 yards on eight carries in the loss.
John Parker Wilson also saw action under center for the Falcons and completed 14-of-25 passing attempts for 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Matt Bryant's 46-yard field goal 5 1/2 minutes into the game gave the Falcons the lead, but the Pats answered on the ensuing possession. Brady and Taylor combined to engineer an 11-play scoring drive capped by Taylor's 28-yard TD run.
In the second quarter, with Brady still the signal-caller, New England found the end zone again. The 10-play drive started with a 14-yard connection to Moss but eventually stalled after a fumble. Stephen Gostkowski's 41-yard field goal attempt was no good, but a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Pats a first down at the 11-yard line. Brady found Hernandez for a 4-yard TD on third down.
In the third quarter, Sammy Morris's 20-yard touchdown run made it 21-3. Morris started up the middle, but cut outside and raced down along the left sideline and into the corner of the end zone.
The Pats scored again in the fourth quarter via a 24-yard TD pass from Brian Hoyer to rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski. Hoyer finished 8-for-15 with 94 yards passing.
The scoring was capped by Wilson's 19-yard touchdown pass to Troy Bergeron.
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Kurt Suzuki and Rajai D
What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
How to Read Point Spreads
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.