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Tuesday January 25th, 2005 Page updated at 11:26pm
By:
Q.
Smyth
Senior
Editor For WagerOnFootball.com
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Well all the boys
here at Wager On Football – Sportsbook Review
thought we’d all get together and write our
first collaborated article. Weighing in on the big
game first is me.
James Johnson
(Analyst, Wageronfootball.com)
You won't find
it on NFL.com, because the league likes to pretend
the number doesn't exist. But by Monday morning, it
was already the talk around office water coolers and
inside truck stop diners across the nation.
Can New England
win a second straight Super Bowl - make that three
in four seasons - by beating the Philadelphia Eagles?
Probably.
The real question
is: Can the Patriots cover the 6 1/2-point spread
that oddsmakers put up Sunday night even before New
England was done routing the Pittsburgh Steelers?
That's the question millions of Americans will be
trying to answer in the next two weeks as the hype
builds to a Super Bowl game climax on Feb. 6 in Jacksonville,
Fla.
They'll come to
Vegas with wads of cash, bet with the corner bookie,
or punch a few keys to link up with an Internet betting
site. They'll buy squares at bars, get in office pools
and wager with the neighbor next door.
They'll make big bets, small bets, stupid bets and
crazy bets. Some will bet their favorite team with
their heart; others will bet the opening coin flip
comes up tails.
By the time they're done, billions of dollars will
have changed hands.
Like it or not,
betting and pro football are joined at the hip. The
lines that came out of Las Vegas in the 40s and 50s
helped make the league what it is today, and the amount
of money wagered on pro football grows unabated every
year.
In Nevada alone,
there's likely to be nearly $100 million bet in legal
books on the Super Bowl. That number could reach $1
billion on the fast-growing Internet betting sites,
while hundreds of millions of dollars in other bets
exchange hands privately.
Parity in the NFL is a myth, and these playoffs have
proved it. Such are the reasons millions of people
love to gamble on the big game.
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Next is Q. Smyth
(Senior Editor – Wageronfootball.com)
The best teams at the start of this season were
the Patriots in the AFC and McNabb's Philadelphia
Eagles in the NFC, and both are still standing at
the finish. That's not to say they're equals. They're
not. In fact, I'd put the Steelers second —
albeit distantly — behind New England in ranking
the NFL's best teams.
The Patriots have something extra, almost indefinable.
Twisting the cliché slightly, the whole is
greater than the sum of the Pats. Prior to the Colts
game, I was fooled, though hardly alone, by the false
vulnerability of New England's secondary. Turns out,
the Patriots' second-string secondary is better than
most teams' first string. Or did you miss Rodney Harrison
and friends turning Ben Roethlisberger back into a
rookie?
New England coach Bill Belichick, the best in pro
sports today, is a master strategist, motivational
guru and psychologist. He's 9-1 in playoff games,
a mark that puts him alongside Vince Lombardi for
postseason success. Belichick, his coaches and his
players outfoxed two opposing styles in two weeks.
New England held the Colts' allegedly unstoppable
offense to three points. The Patriots then played
the Steelers' unbreakable defense and ended up with
41 points on the board
How smart is Belichick? He could probably go on jeopardy
and kick some serious ASS!!. He’d probably go
on a huge winning streak too. He is a master at X's
and O's. Belichick uses the whole alphabet.
Andy Reid is going to have to phone all his old buddies,
Holmgren, Gruden, Shanahan, Marriucci, and Sherman
to have a hope in this game.
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D. Bachman – (Wager on
Football – FantasyFootball Editor)
From what we've seen this season, New England is
the superior team, which means Tom Brady has a better
chance of capturing another MVP award. However, Philadelphia's
secondary -- more talented than any faced by the Patriots
in this year's playoffs or their previous two Super
Bowls -- gives me a second to stop and think. If New
England wins the game, I wouldn't be surprised if
Corey Dillon or a defensive player earned MVP honors.
If Philly blitzes as ineffectively as Pittsburgh,
and Brian Dawkins gives up the post route as often
as Troy Polamalu, then Brady walks away with the award.
Guaranteed!!!
As for Donovan McNabb, I don't think the Eagles can
win unless he's the MVP -- Philadelphia needs his
best, with or without a healthy Terrell Owens. Simply
put, the club draws on his mojo, and an offense full
of nice-but-complementary players is only as good
as the man making the decisions. (The Pats are similar,
with the exception of Dillon.) Can McNabb pull it
off? Good question. He's probably the most complete
quarterback in football, and his accuracy woes seem
to be a thing of the past. Still, it's hard to pick
against Belichick with two weeks to scheme, even though
Andy Reid is no film-room slouch himself.
I guess this means I'm picking the Pats. Now, if you'll
excuse me, I'm off to break down fantasy football
players in the Lingerie Bowl II.
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C. McDermott –
(Handicapper – WagerOnFootball.com)
If T.O. is somehow fully healthy,
I think you've got a really interesting game on
your hands, probably close with leads going back
and forth. If not, though, I think the Patriots
have to be heavy favorites. Sure, McNabb can go
long to Greg Lewis maybe once a game; but for the
most part, the Philadelphia weapons are all close
in: Westbrook and Levens running, Westbrook on screens
or in the slot, the tight ends, (oops tightend –
Chad Lewis is having surgery on Wednesday and is
OUT for the superbowl), Mitchell on short routes.
The Patriots are excellent at pursuit and tackling.
They never give up the long running play.
They are the league's best defense
against tight ends. With a defense based around
linebackers and Rodney Harrison, they are perfectly
designed to make life so difficult for the other
10 Eagles that McNabb has nothing to work with.
The Eagles had two games this season against 3-4
defenses with great linebacker depth: the Ravens,
who nearly beat them (Owens was responsible for
most of the Philadelphia offense); and the Steelers,
who destroyed them. Brady . . . Well, the Eagles
have a lot of great defensive players, and I'm sure
Kearse will have him on his back a couple times;
but the Patriots offense was better than the Eagles
defense this season and it has a wider variety of
weapons than the Eagles offense. That means a Patriots
win and, yep, probably another Brady MVP.
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R. Monohan – (Analyst
– WageronFootball.com) - Tight end Jeff
Thomason is going to the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia
Eagles after being out of the NFL the last two seasons.
Thomason signed with the Eagles on Tuesday to replace
tight end Chad Lewis, who scored two touchdowns but
also injured his foot in Philadelphia's 27-10 victory
over Atlanta in the NFC Championship Game. Lewis was
put on injured reserve to make roster space. Thomason
spent three seasons with the Eagles but hasn't played
since 2002. Seven of his 25 catches with Philadelphia
were touchdowns.
L.J. Smith will take Lewis' starting spot against
the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl on Feb.
6. Seldom-used Mike Bartrum is the Eagles' other tight
end. Well does Jeff Thompson…err excuse me Thomason
have it in him to replace the NFC double TD threat
of Chad Lewis? I doubt it. So basically it’s
going to be up to LJ Smith to open up the middle of
the field against that tough tough New England Linebacking
Quartet.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking? What I’m
thinking is going into this game the Patriots will
have a HUGE chip on their shoulders. Credit coach
Bill Belichick for it. Somewhere in his genius, he
has convinced his players that, despite winning two
Super Bowls in three years and being favored to win
a third, nobody gives them their due. Before Sunday's
game, Belichick gathered his team around and gave
them a few rallying words -- using that approach to
motivate them. "Look around the locker room,"
Belichick told his team. "This is all you've
got. This and your families. They're the ones who
believe in you. That's it."
And that’s it for us. Look around the site
there’s going to be plenty going on around here
as we get set for Superbowl Sunday and all the wagering
that goes with it.
The Staff – Wageronfootball.com
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