NFC championship: Vikings at Saints

While the AFC championship features greenhorn Mark Sanchez against wily vet Peyton Manning, the NFC title game will see two experienced QBs going head to head in the New Orleans Saints’ Drew Brees and the Minnesota Vikings’ Brett Favre.

Going into Sunday’s tilt, online sportsbooks have New Orleans listed as a 3.5-point home fave and the Total is currently 53.

The Saints are favored by a field goal in first half NFL Betting and the Total for the first two quarters is set at 26.5.

SPORTSBETTING.com is reporting balanced action on this game, much more so than the AFC matchup between the Jets and Colts.

The NFC’s Top 2 seeds performed similarly in the divisional round, handily defeating their opponents.

The Saints covered as 7-point home faves as they defeated the Arizona Cardinals 45-14 and the Vikes stopped Tony Romo and the surging Dallas Cowboys in a 34-3 win — Minnesota covered as a 3-point home favorite.

Let’s look at some NFL Betting numbers from this matchup:

NFC Championship Trends:

- In their last nine games overall, Minnesota has the edge over New Orleans, going 8-1 straight up and 6-3 against the spread.

- The last nine games between these two teams have produced 1 Over, 7 Unders and 1 Push. .

- New Orleans has a record of 14 Overs and 3 Unders in their last 17 starts vs. teams from the NFC North.

- The Saints are only 3-8 ATS in their last 11 starts.

- The last 11 January road games have not been kind to Minnesota and its bettors, as the Vikings are 1-10 SU and 1-10 ATS.

- The Saints haven’t been too sharp either though in January, as they are only 4-9 SU and 3-10 ATS.

- The last 13 times New Orleans has been favored by 4-points or less, it has been a boon for bettors, as they boats a record of 10-3 ATS. In this situation, they have scored 11 Overs and 2 Unders.

- Minnesota, on the other hand, has burned a hole in bettors’ pockets in their last 13 games when underdogs of +4 or less; as they have a record of 3-10 SU and 3-8-2 ATS in that situation.

Super Bowl Odds:
In Super Bowl XLIV futures betting, the Saints are +200 favorites while the Vikings are +400.

Both teams have a lot of offensive weapons so the NFC title game should be a good one.

Good luck.

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Former Chief Allen is a big hit in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS | It’s impossible to avoid the larger-than-life persona of Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen in the Twin Cities.

Step off the plane, and there’s Allen’s purple Vikings jersey hanging on the wall at the security checkpoint. Walk past Mall of America Field, and a poster of Allen’s menacing visage stares from the stadium walls.

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Tune in Thursday nights and listen to his weekly radio show, or turn on the television and watch him pop on as a guest on the Vikings’ weekly television program.

Jared Allen owns this town.

“That’s Jared,” said fellow defensive end Ray Edwards. “He’s a lovable guy.”

Allen added to his popularity as the Vikings reached this week’s NFC championship game at New Orleans with their 34-3 pulverizing of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

Allen helped spark the win with his sack and strip of Dallas quarterback Tony Romo — one of six sacks by the Vikings — as he enjoyed the first playoff win of his NFL career.

“It took a while to get one,” said Allen, who was part of playoff losses with the Chiefs at Indianapolis in 2006 and with the Vikings against Philadelphia last season. “But we finally did and got it in a big way.

“It’s all perspective. This is just one. The only way to go out on a winning streak is to win the Super Bowl. So if you lose the next one, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Allen, for the second consecutive season, finished the regular season with 14 1/2 sacks, second in the NFL. But 7 1/2 of those sacks came in two games against Green Bay, and he had just two sacks in the final five games.

Still, the Vikings led the NFL with 48 sacks for the season, and the ability to get to Romo so often was critical in the win over the Cowboys — and will be equally as important against New Orleans’ Drew Brees this week.

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NFL's final four

t's down to four in the National Football League, with storylines aplenty.

Ageless wonder Brett Favre and his Minnesota Vikings meet Drew Brees and the mighty New Orleans Saints in the NFC championship, while another grizzled veteran in Peyton Manning leads his Indianapolis Colts into the AFC championship against the upstart New York Jets, led by rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.

There is a little something for everyone in this Sunday doubleheader.

You've got a meeting of powerhouses between the Vikings and Saints.

Minnesota was 12-4 on the season, having lost its final four games, while New Orleans, which flirted with perfection nearly all season, finished the campaign at 13-3.

In this matchup, it's hard to determine the sentimental favourite.

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Neither team has won a Super Bowl. In fact, the Saints have never even played in the big game.

For Minnesota, there's the Favre factor. It's hard not to root for the man many have been writing off as well past his prime for years.

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Vikes-Saints battle it out for NFL NFC Title Odds 2010 NFL Playoff Schedule

Vikes-Saints battle it out for NFL NFC Title Odds 2010 NFL Playoff Schedule - Current NFL Playoffs The Saints are coming off of a win over the Cardinals where they scored 45 and gave up 14 . The Vikings are coming off of a win over the Cowboys where they scored 34 and gave up 3 . Vikings are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 meetings. Over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.

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NFL Playoff Predictions The Saints will have no answer for a balanced offensive team like the Vikings. In the end, the Vikings will win by a td. The line has opened for the NFC championship between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings and the Saints are NFL Odds 4.5-point home faves — the Total is set at 52.5 NFL Playoff Odds.

Seeded No. 1 overall in the NFC, New Orleans was able to capitalize on home-field advantage on Saturday, defeating the NFC West champion Arizona Cardinals by a final of 45-14, more than adequately covering the 7-point spread.

The Vikings were the second-best team in the conference and they also won at home, defeating the Dallas Cowboys 34-3. Minnesota was favored by a field goal and easily covered. Also NFL Point Spread Odds AFC Championship Indianapolis -7.5 favorites. 2010 NFL Playoff Schedule Sunday, January 24, 2010 Minnesota at New Orleans 6:40 PM ET.

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Main Favre gets better with age

I did not believe Favre would be the final piece in the Minnesota Vikings' jigsaw. I had no doubt the future Hall of Famer could still throw a pretty pass and lead a team with some devastating strikes downfield. I just could not see a 40-year-old quarterback - who had admitted he got tired throwing to college kids over the summer - being in peak physical condition at the business end of the season.

I did not particularly like the way the former Green Bay star engineered his release from the New York Jets before conveniently signing with the Vikings once most of the preseason training was out of the way, but that was not my primary concern. I just felt a guy who had physically broken down at the back end of the previous season was not going to be in the right kind of form to lead a Super Bowl run in January.

To say I was a little bit off the mark would be an understatement.

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NFL Power Rankings Week 12

Here are some NFL Power Rankings for Week 12 (Last week's ranking is in brackets):


1 (1) Indianapolis Colts (10-0) Can the team go 16-0? Somewhere Mercury Morris is crapping his pants.

2 (2) New Orleans Saints (10-0) Don't believe me that the Saints are among the NFL elite. Listen to Bill Belichick, who said that the Saints are the best team in the NFL. Of course, Belichick may have said that to lull the Saints into a sense of security. Damn you, Belichick! You're so devious.

3 (3) Minnesota Vikings (9-1) Brett Favre for MVP. Uh, no.

4 (5) New England Patriots (7-3) Can we now get past the whole Belichick 4th and 2 call? Football people say it was a bad call; math nerds say it was the right call. We get it.

5 (10) San Diego Chargers (7-3) The Chargers defense needs to stay out of bars and away from Tila Tequila.

6 (4) Cincinnati Bengals (7-3) The Bengals were stymied by the juggernaut that is Bruce Gradkowski.

7 (7) Dallas Cowboys (7-3) Their win over the Redskins felt like a loss.

8 (8) Arizona Cardinals (7-3) That Beanie Wells is coming along nicely.

9 (11) Philadelphia Eagles (6-4) For once, Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb showed they can engineer a fourth-quarter comeback.

10 (6) Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) The Steelers really need to do something about special teams.

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NFL power rankings Week 9 - NFL Betting

The results of the Saints vs Falcons Monday night NFL game are still pending but ourweek 9 NFL power rankings are ready to go.

The week 9 NFL power rankings are set and we are assuming that the undefeated Saints are going to be able to get past the Falcons in the Monday night game. If the Falcons manage to pull off the upset then we’ll adjust our week 9 NFL power rankings but it doesn’t appear they have much of a shot against the Saints with New Orleans currently favored by 12 points on the spread at BetRepublic.

We will go with the top 10 on the week 9 NFL power rankings for now and will provide a complete list of all 32 teams after the Monday night matchup.

The week 9 NFL power rankings top 10:

1.New Orleans Saints
2. Indanapolis Colts
3. New England Patriots
4. Minnesota Vikings
5. Dallas Cowboys
6. Philadelphia Eagles
7. Cincinnati Bengals
8. Pittsburgh Steelers
9. Denver Broncos
10. Baltimore Ravens

New Orleans gets the top spot in the week 9 NFL power rankings after the Colts struggled badly and looked off against the 49ers while the Eagles and Cowboys have been playing impressive football the last two weeks. The top 4 of the week 9 NFL power rankings could very well be a playoff preview with none showing many signs of weakness.

NFL Betting Picks: Bookies Report Card and ATS Summary

NFL Betting picks bookies report card and summary on ATS Roundups. Check out http://nfl-betting-picks.blogspot.com/  for NFL betting tips & picks, free nfl picks.

NFL Betting Picks is on its way in giving bookies report card and brief summary on ATS Roundups.

Minn @ St L: This was the number on favorite game of the NFL Betting public, getting mostly one-way action on Minnesota. Line opened at Minny -10 and closed at -11, with over 92% of the action on the Vikes. When the Vikings won by 28, it was a bad start to the day for the books. Line was off by 18 points and the house got killed on the game. GRADE: F

Dal @ KC: Line opened at Dal – 8 ½ and was bet all the way down to Dal -7. When the Cowboys had to come from behind to win in OT, the books took their second beating of the day. Line was only off by 2 ½, but with the Chiefs as the most popular dog of the day with the wagering public the house lost big again. GRADE: F

Wash @ Car: Line opened at Panthers -4 and closed at 5 ½. Carolina won, but only by 3 points so the house got a little back on this game. Line was off by only 1 point and the books made money on this one. GRADE: A

Oak @ NYG: Like the game above, the public did not think the dog was attractive at the opening number. Here, NY opened 15 ½ and closed -16’. Giants beat the NFL’s worst - the LA Raiders - by a whopping 37 points. Line was off by 21 ½. GRADE: F-

Ind @ Ten: Another bad number here. Indy opened at -3, the books too scared to go off that key number. The public jumped all over the visiting Colts against the winless Titans, and Indy won 31-9. Number was off by 19, the public, as is their tendency, jumped all over the favorite in the only game on the board, and the house got hit again. GRADE: F

NYJ @ Mia: Best game of the week for the bookies and the house, and it couldn’t come soon enough. The odds makers opened NY at -1 and the sports betting public was still buying into the Ryan-led Jets D as near-invincible theory – the Jets closed at -3 with a price on it! Miami was in control the whole way, emerging with a 4 point win. The opening line was off by 5, but the house, who could ill afford to end the week with another loser, profited nicely. GRADE: B


ATS Roundup - NFL Betting:

Four opening lines within 3 points of the final score. (Five week total at 13 of 76!)

SIX of fourteen games were off by ten or more points (five week total at 39 of 76.)

Favorites went 6-8 (five week total at 38-37-1.)

There were no flip-flops (games where teams opened as favs and closed as dogs). These are 4-0 on the season now.

Double digit dogs went 1-3 (five week total at 4-8.)

Home favorites went 4-4. (Five week total at 27-23-1.)

Home dogs went 4-2 (five week total at 13-12.)

NFC vs. AFC is 10-7 ATS

Totals: 7 overs 7 unders 1 push (five week total at 39 overs, 36 unders.)
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