SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA -- Online free NFL picks and odds site SBRForum announces its week 1 NFL picks for the 2011 NFL season. With the season kicking off today, our resident handicappers have made their picks for the top upcoming games.
New Orleans will visit the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers Thursday night starting at 8:00 PM ET. This line opened at Green Bay favored by 5.5 and money has moved steadily on the Saints. The line as of Tuesday morning was Green Bay favored by four points and there still remains a steady flow of public support on the Saints that could see this line move to 3.5 by game time. If you are Green Bay backer then be patient and I strongly believe you will get a 3.5 point line.
The Total has remained constant at 47 points despite public sentiment favoring the 'OVER'. Small bettors are hitting the 'over' at about a 72% clip of all total bets wagered on this game. Playing against the public is certainly the side to be on so this may offer some support for those liking the 'UNDER' on this game.
Houston will host Indianapolis with game odds favoring Houston by 7.5 points and steadily moves higher with the current line seeing Houston favored by nine points. The news this morning is that it is a near certainty that Peyton Manning will not play in this game. I believe this news is already reflected in the nine point line, but you may see it move to 9.5.
The 'Battle for Ohio' (Cincinnati at Cleveland) has seen the second biggest line movement with only the line movement of the Carolina at Arizona game seeing greater variance. The Browns opened at just 2.5 point favorites and have since moved to 6.5 points. The line did 'trade' briefly at seven points as Bengal money, albeit, small amounts capped the movement of the line.
The Bengals obviously have mountains of issues to overcome to be even playing at the NFL level of performance. They just got back Cedric Benson, who had 1,111 rushing yards in 2010, after serving time in a Texas jail for a 2010 assault incident. The only consistency in this team is their head coach Marvin Lewis, who on Sunday will become the longest tenured head coach in Bengals history (entering his ninth season) and with five more wins will become the winningest head coach in Bengals history. The Bengals are a team that will improve significantly during the season, but right now they are a team to avoid.
Carolina at Arizona has seen the greatest line movement opening with Arizona a three point favorite and moving to its current position with Arizona favored by eight points. Some of the sportsbooks are now moving the line back to seven where I expect it to settle in for this game. The total for this game opened at 38 points and has moved lower with 'UNDER' bets pushing it to its' current 36.5.
Clearly, the news of Kevin Kolb coming to quarterback the Cardinals was the major impetus for the line movement. However, Carolina did clean house after a pathetic season and did draft quarterback Cam Newton. He has not had near enough time to learn a NFL system and as a result the playbook is quite thin. Moreover, he does not have enough offensive weapons to go to and he cannot win games by him himself like he did at Auburn.
NFL fans can share in the predictions via the forum and post comments or analysis as they see fit. NFL fans and players of fantasy football will find that, in addition to the quality NFL picks provided by SBR, there is also an abundance of statistical information that will be useful in their recreational NFL activities. From injury reports and team stats to public betting consensus, this kind of information can give an NFL fan an edge in their fantasy league or just in conversation with friends.
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Cynthia Paniagua
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