| The NFL has long since supplanted baseball as | | | | these numbers, for example 3, 7, 10, 13, and 14 are the |
| "America's sport" and for good reason when | | | | most common margin of victory numbers in both |
| considering NFL and College football teams play once | | | | college and professional football. The reason why has |
| weekly which in the end lends credence to the saying | | | | to do with the way a team scores, 3 is a field goal, 7 is |
| of "absence makes the heart grow fonder", however, | | | | a touchdown with a kicked point after and so forth. |
| in the big picture one of the predominate reasons for | | | | Keep in mind that there is big difference in betting on |
| the popularity of football centers around how easy it is | | | | or against a team taking or laying 2 ½ points |
| to understand the mechanics of wagering on football. | | | | versus taking or laying 3 or 3 ½ points and so |
| Following are three considerations to ponder when | | | | on. |
| wagering on the NFL that can help you consistently | | | | 3) Injuries are one of the most over-rated statistics in |
| beat the books: | | | | both the NFL and college football game, the exception |
| 1) Do not over analyze last week's performance in | | | | to this is if the injury is to the starting quarterback or if |
| terms of a good outing or a bad outing by any | | | | the current injury is part of a "cluster injury", a cluster |
| individual team, instead look at how that team has | | | | injury means that a team is now short two or more |
| performed over the previous four or five weeks. Keep | | | | starting offensive or defensive linemen or is now short |
| in mind that college football differs from professional | | | | two or more offensive or defensive backs. Generally |
| football in the maturity level of the players involved, | | | | speaking, the betting public over reacts to news of an |
| meaning that much more value must be assigned to | | | | injury and quite often this over reaction causes a line |
| the home team in a college football game than to a | | | | move that is totally unjustified in terms of the |
| professional team playing at home. | | | | importance of the injury versus the adjustment to the |
| 2) Shop around for the best betting line available to | | | | posted point spread, this creates at times a lot of |
| you, this is especially important in games in which "key | | | | "value", look to exploit the line by taking the side with |
| numbers" come into play. Key numbers are called as | | | | the injury. |
| such because the final margin of victory often lands on | | | | |