When betting websites refer to betting totals, they are talking about the over-under bets for each NFL football game. Betting March Madness over-under totals can be difficult because those teams do not normally play each other during the regular season and the circumstances that surround the NCAA Tournament tend to make accurate betting difficult, especially in the early rounds. But football teams develop patterns, and when those patterns are compared to league averages, then you can start to get a better idea of how to bet totals.

One of the things that many bettors try to do with totals is complicate them with things like points per quarter, total yards gained or some other factor that really has little to do with over-under. All you need to develop a decent over-under betting system in football is team and league scoring averages. If both teams involved in a game average more points per game than the league average, then bet the over. If both teams score below the league average, then bet the under. The trick comes when there is one team that does not follow the average.

If you run a hockey blog, then you know how unpredictable teams can be on any given night. But in football, teams tend to stick with their patterns. If you have a team that scores below the league average playing a team that scores above the league average, then you can average out their defensive and offensive numbers to get your totals bet. For example, if the league average is 20 points per game and one the teams in your game scores an average of 14 points per game, then you can average that out and get 17 as the points that team can expect to score. Plug that number into your system and you will get a more accurate totals bet for any football game.

Super Bowl 45 betting online has become more popular than any other Championship game of the 2010 to 2011 seasons. In 2009 sports betting handicappers got to watch a baseball purists dream game when the Philadelphia Phillies battled the New York Yankees, now in 2011 it’s the football purists turn as Green Bay takes on Pittsburgh. Here is a preview of the upcoming Super Bowl Championship game.

Since 1970 when the AFL merged with the NFL, no two teams have been followed more closely than the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. For the Packers they were the bench mark setters for the rest of the NFL prior to the merger winning 12 Championship rings. However, it would take them 30 years to win ring number 13 as they did so in 1998. Now 13 years later, the Packers go for a franchise best 14^th Championship ring, despite only winning three Super Bowl titles.

Meanwhile, in the 41 year existence of the new NFL has there ever been a better team than the Pittsburgh Steelers? In the first decade of the new NFL alone, the Steelers won four of a possible 10 Championships. Then in 2005, when current quarterback Ben Roethlisberger arrived as a rookie in Pittsburgh, a new era of awesome started. Since Roethlisberger has been in the league the Steelers have either been Championship winning team or bust. For instance, over the last five years, the Steelers have won the Super Bowl title in both playoff appearances, while missing the three years there was new Champions.

For Ben Roethlisberger, this game has huge implications for his career and reputation. On the one hand, if Ben Roethlisberger can guide the Steelers to a third championship, it will tie him for most rings for a current NFL quarterback with New England Patriot Tom Brady. On the other hand, a Super Bowl win will make his offseason issues a distant memory, and finally cement him as an elite quarterback. Prediction: Pittsburgh 41 Green Bay 37

This week’s Super Bowl betting lines see a jump for some times and a further slide down for others. From the increase in odds for football betting long shots, Seattle to the drop by the Jets, fans aren’t sure who to take this weekend in the divisional round playoffs. Today we look at the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.

Prior to the start of the playoffs, many fans and experts from around the country were already banking on the Ravens and Steelers meeting in the playoffs. Ideally, this game shouldn’t have been taking place until the Championship round of the playoffs next weekend. As in theory, Baltimore would be facing off with the New England Patriots this year, in a rematch of the Wild Card round from 2010, while the Steelers would be facing the Indianapolis Colts in a battle of the league’s two most dominant teams over the last decade.

Instead, due to the Jets upset win over the Indianapolis Colts, the ranking worked so that the AFC divisional round would live up to its name as all four teams involved in the two games, are from the same division.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have literally hated one another since the Ravens came into the league in the middle of the 1990s. For the most part over the last decade, the AFC North has been a two team battle between these two storied franchises. This year alone the two teams faced off and split their two game series against one another. What’s more, the winning team only won by a field goal.

On Saturday afternoon, when the Steelers and Ravens face off, fans should once again expect to see a highly defensive oriented matchup. Both teams have decent offenses, however we feel that like their first two matchups, this game will once again come down to a game winning field goal. Only similar to week four, this game will be won by Baltimore.

PayPerHead.com, an online sportsbook service provider for local agents, today unveiled a new campaign featuring Vince Curatola, Johnny Sack of The Sopranos fame.

The campaign leads with Vince asking “Five bucks per head, that’s what I wanna pay…” and the website, featuring video and voice overs by Vince, walks you through the product, the process and the competition.
“Five bucks a head is really an industry first given our level of service,” a spokesman from PayPerHead.com explained. “And we very carefully and in great detail delineate on the website exactly what you get and at what price level at PayPerHead versus the other serious players, such as Pay x Head.”

And what you get is a lot, including not only the traditional online sportsbook betting management but an optional casino, live poker, in game live betting, mobile betting, tools for managing players and their funds, layoff and scalp accounts, even a “sharp check.” “We have the sharpest lines out there and one of the most experienced stages anywhere offshore,” the spokesman said, “so if we start seeing sharp action from one of your players, we can give you a heads up. What you want to do with him is up to you.”

The choice of Vince Curatola was an interesting one. “We always liked Vince’s character on The Sopranos, as John “Johnny Sack” Sacramoni,” the PayPerHead spokesman said. “He had a certain style, classy, but not over the top; there’s a calmness and authority about him that we really admire.  He brings that serious business demeanor to PayPerHead.com, the first sportsbook-service to EVER feature any kind of celebrity in its marketing.”
With post-up books like BetUS, Sportsbook.com and SportsInteraction stopping taking US players, Bodog and others struggling with “Ecom” processing problems, the street scene is heating up and players are posting daily in forums looking for a “local out.” Players want the huge selection of markets, including live in-game betting, and the convenience of anytime betting online or via their mobile, but more and more say “they want to bet online but prefer to settle in cash on Monday.”

Is this the future of online sports betting? Quite possibly. And with firms like PayPerHead.com investing in marketing in an unprecedented way (celebs, who’d have thunk it?!) and in product (they also offer live poker, casino and in-game betting), expect to see this sector grow significantly this season.

For more information, see PayPerHead.com.

NFL betting cappers are looking to change their 2011 Super Bowl predictions only two weeks after the start of the regular season. Whether you took Minnesota or Dallas to win the 2011 Super Bowl, betting and predicting the right team has proven rather difficult. Here are six things to help you break down your Super Bowl prediction.

• The Lost Causes – Sure, it’s possible that one of these teams may in fact have all the pieces fall into place and go on to be this year’s Super Bowl Champions, but that is as likely as the Baltimore Orioles winning the 2010 World Series.

The lost causes are the longest of the long shots. You can find these teams as the bottom seven of the league each and every year for the last five years. The bottom three teams will be the St. Louis Rams, Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders. Getting rid of John Kitna, JaMarcus Russell and Mark Bulger are all steps in the right direction, but these teams are still a few years and pieces away. The latter group made up of the KC Chiefs, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Bucs and Buffalo Bills are all teams used as punch lines for a joke, but still manage to be better than the previous three.

• The Underwhelming Teams – These are the teams that look like they could make a serious push at least on paper, but then make up the middle of the pack. Teams like Atlanta, Jacksonville, Seattle, New York Giants and Tennessee. They all have the makings of letting loose, but one injury and they are down to the bottom of the pack.

• The Overrated – Similar to underwhelming teams, these are teams that have that ‘it’ factor, yet they do nothing. Team’s such as the Baltimore Ravens, who have an all world defense, but find their offense letting them down, will be in this boat. Same as the San Francisco 49ers that have a lot of defensive tools, but tend to drop the ball because of their quarterback being more hyped than he deserves.

• The Sleeper – These are teams that could either go all the way and make a serious splash or be in the underwhelming teams section. This year, we feel that two teams in the AFC East fall into this group, the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins. Both teams had an awesome offseason, so they could surprise some teams.

• Serious Contenders – These are teams that year in and year out, you just know will always make the playoffs, yet can’t go all the way for one reason or another. Teams like the Indianapolis Colts, New Orleans Saints, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings come to mind.

• The Pick – Finally you’ve arrived at the pick, after going through all the requirements you are left with one team to win it all. For us that team is the Houston Texans. Critics for years have been saying they are one or two players away from going over the hump. In week one they finally defeated the Colts, a feat they’d yet to accomplish. What’s more, Arian Foster and Andre Johnson are the two pieces Matt Schaub has been waiting for. As well that Texan defense is amongst the league’s best. February 2011 will be the month of the Texans.

There is no worse feeling when NFL betting, than having your team get absolutely obliterated by their opponent. When betting on the Super Bowl, football betting handicappers have come to expect rather close games. A battle of offense verses defense in a low scoring affair. Yet occasionally, there will be a rather dull Super Bowl game in which one team makes the other look silly. Here are five of the worst Super Bowl games of all time.

• Chicago Bears vs. Indianapolis Colts 2007 Super Bowl XLI – As many fans will recall, this is when Colts future hall of famer Peyton Manning won his first championship. The overall final of the game was 17 – 29 for the Colts. But to be honest the Bears were never in control of this game.

Led by current Washington Redskin backup quarterback Rex Grossman, the Bears known more for their defense, became the latest victim to an all out Colts attack. The Colts defense made Grossman look incompetent. What’s more, the only offense the Bears had was from a pair of kick returns by Devin Hester. Manning made the Bears defense look foolish.

• Pittsburgh Steelers vs. LA Rams Super Bowl XIV 1980 – As we noted in the opening sentence, obliteration of your team is never a good feeling. Let’s just say, if you took the Rams in this game, you better not have wagered that much.

Going into the game, the Rams were a lousy nine and seven and squeaked through the playoffs to the final. On the other hand, the Steelers led by Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann, went into Super Bowl 14 and ate the Rams for dinner. Steelers would cap off the dynastic 70s with a 31 to 19 victory.

• San Francisco 49ers vs. San Diego Chargers Super Bowl XXIX 1995 – The final score in this game was an astounding 49 – 26 for the Steve Young led 49ers. Fans wagering on the game, were surly disappointed as the game was perhaps the most hyped of any Super Bowl.

The game was done by halftime, with Steve Young finally emerging out of Joe Montana’s shadows. Young threw six touchdowns, with three of those going to Montana’s former favorite target, Jerry Rice.

• Denver Broncos vs. Washington Redskins Super Bowl XXII 1988 – For hall of famer John Elway, it might be best if we never made this list of the five worst Super Bowls of all time. Elway was the only bright spot to a rather awful Broncos team.

NFL betting enthusiasts have seen many great Super Bowl moments since the inaugural game in January of 1967. For fans new to NFL betting online, we count down three of the greatest moments in Super Bowl History.

1.   Super Bowl XVIII Marcus Allen TD – Oakland Raiders fans have fond memories of Super Bowl 18 as this was one game where they were doing the destroying rather than getting destroyed. As many NFL fans will remember, this was one of the more one sided games in the history of the sport as the eventual score was 38 to nine for the Raiders over the Washington Redskins.

What makes Marcus Allen’s touchdown so amazing is that he started on his own 26 yard line. Allen took the handoff from legendary quarterback Jim Plunkett and appeared destined for a plethora of Redskin defenders. Instead Allen made a sharp cut to the middle and went 74 yards to the house effectively putting the game out of reach at the end of the third quarter.

2.   Super Bowl XXXII Flying Elway – Denver Broncos clash with the Green Bay Packers in this encounter. What makes this play so incredible is twofold. Firstly, John Elway and the Bronco offense are pinned at their own 12 yard line in a 17 to 17 draw with the ever dangerous Green Bay Packer defense breathing down their necks. Elway takes the snap, but can’t find an open receiver. Yet rather then throw out of bounds, the old guy takes off down the field, eventually making a spectacular dive and getting crunched by two defenders. Elway not only got the first down, but he also inspired his teammates. The drive was capped off two plays later when Elway connected to Terrell Davis for the go ahead touchdown. Broncos victory 31 – 24.

3.   Super Bowl X Lynn Swann Catch – Perhaps the greatest performance in Super Bowl history, was the effort Lynn Swann put in during the Super Bowl 10 match against the Dallas Cowboys. Swann’s biggest play was in the second quarter of the game when he and Terry Bradshaw connected on a 53 yard pass. Swann was covered like white on rice by Dallas Corner Mark Washington. However Swann turned into Super Man when he flew above Washington to make the grab.

During its 40 years of being the most popular championship game in all of sports, many fans Super Bowl betting have been around for some of the most memorable games. Whether it was a romp as in Super Bowl I or a close game in the 2008 Super Bowl, NFL betting fans have seen it all. Here are three of the most memorable Super Bowls football picks in the history of the NFL.

1.  Super Bowl XXXVIII February 1, 2004 New England Patriots v. Carolina Panthers –

Entering the game, the Patriots led by future hall of famer Tom Brady were appearing in their second finals in a three year span. Conversely, this was the Panthers first game in the big show, and they showed no signs of stage fright. To say the game was thrilling would be an understatement. The final score of the game was a 32 – 29 victory for Brady’s Patriots after an Adam Vinatieri field goal with four seconds left sealed the deal. This was the highest scoring Super Bowl at 61 total points. As well it is famous for the halftime show which saw Janet Jackson have a wardrobe malfunction.

2.   Super Bowl XX January 26, 1986 Chicago Bears v. New England Patriots –

Over the last decade many experts will tell you that no team has been as good as these current New England Patriot teams who have won four championships. Enter the 85 Bears, who went 15 and one in the regular season that year. During this time, the Bears laid waste to the rest of the league with their most savage victory taking place at Super Bowl XX. During the game the Patriots got out to the early lead with a field goal. However this proved to be a fatal error as the Bears decimated the 85 Patriots by a final of 45 – 10. This was the first time a team had been absolutely crushed since Super Bowl I when the Packers killed the Chiefs 37 – 10.

3.   Super Bowl X January 18, 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers v. Dallas Cowboys –

Considered one of the most exciting Super Bowls, this was the Steelers led by Terry Bradshaw and Lynn Swann’s second of back to back Super Bowl titles. The final score of the game was close at 21 – 17. In the final minute of the game, Roger Staubach led the Cowboys down to the Steelers five and was a complete pass away from winning the game. Unfortunately for him, his final pass was picked off by Glen Edwards. Lynn Swann was named the MVP of the game for both his 64 yard touchdown catch and 161 yards receiving.

Super Bowl betting is one of the most wagered on future propositions for both online and land sportsbook in North America. Since 1967 when the first Super Bowl was played, sports bettors have become very wealthy when teams with low Super Bowl odds win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Here are three of the most memorable Super Bowl games since 1970.

1. Super Bowl XVI January 24, 1982 San Francisco 49ers v. Cincinnati Bengals –

This was the first Super Bowl win for future hall of famer Joe Montana as he guided the 49ers to a victory over the AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals. During the game Montana led his 49ers to a first half romp 20 – zero lead, before the Bengals made a push in the second half, eventually losing 26 – 21. Montana was the game MVP, throwing for 157 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown.

In the NFC Championship game against the Cowboys, Montana and the 49ers were trailing late in the fourth quarter. However Montana and star wide out Dwight Clark engineered a drive at the end of the game to steal the win from America’s team. The win against the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI was simply a formality.

2.  Super Bowl I January 15, 1967 Green Bay Packers v. Kansas City Chiefs –

This was the first ever Super Bowl game, and it was played between the NFL and AFL champions as the two leagues were separate prior to 1970. The game itself was memorable because the Packers showed the world just how dominant the NFL was by blowing out the Chiefs 35 – 10. Over 61, 946 fans took to the Memorial Coliseum in LA for the first ever Super Bowl.

3.   Super Bowl VII January 14, 1973 Miami Dolphins v. Washington Redskins –

The Dolphins took home their first Super Bowl trophy in a defensive minded battle 14 to seven. Although the game was not all that interesting, it was integral to the legendary 1972 Dolphins squad. Quarterback Bob Griese led the Dolphins to the only perfect season in NFL history at 17 wins and zero losses.Super Bowl betting is one of the most wagered on future propositions for both online and land sportsbook in North America. Since 1967 when the first Super Bowl was played, sports bettors have become very wealthy when teams with low Super Bowl odds win the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Here are three of the most memorable Super Bowl games since 1970.

1. Super Bowl XVI January 24, 1982 San Francisco 49ers v. Cincinnati Bengals –

This was the first Super Bowl win for future hall of famer Joe Montana as he guided the 49ers to a victory over the AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals. During the game Montana led his 49ers to a first half romp 20 – zero lead, before the Bengals made a push in the second half, eventually losing 26 – 21. Montana was the game MVP, throwing for 157 yards with one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown.

In the NFC Championship game against the Cowboys, Montana and the 49ers were trailing late in the fourth quarter. However Montana and star wide out Dwight Clark engineered a drive at the end of the game to steal the win from America’s team. The win against the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI was simply a formality.

2. Super Bowl I January 15, 1967 Green Bay Packers v. Kansas City Chiefs –

This was the first ever Super Bowl game, and it was played between the NFL and AFL champions as the two leagues were separate prior to 1970. The game itself was memorable because the Packers showed the world just how dominant the NFL was by blowing out the Chiefs 35 – 10. Over 61, 946 fans took to the Memorial Coliseum in LA for the first ever Super Bowl.

3. Super Bowl VII January 14, 1973 Miami Dolphins v. Washington Redskins –

The Dolphins took home their first Super Bowl trophy in a defensive minded battle 14 to seven. Although the game was not all that interesting, it was integral to the legendary 1972 Dolphins squad. Quarterback Bob Griese led the Dolphins to the only perfect season in NFL history at 17 wins and zero losses.

NFL betting online is underway, and the Super Bowl odds for the big game in February has the usual suspects at the top of the list, including last year’s competitors.

Indianapolis comes in at +500 after losing to New Orleans, who are rated at +750, and any team with Peyton Manning or Drew Brees at the helm of superbowl scoring have an excellent shot at winning the Super Bowl. Dallas comes in at +800, and Tony Romo showed last year that he could compete in big games, they just got rolled by a much-better Minnesota team on the road. Green Bay comes in at +850, and Aaron Rodgers proved that he was able to lead a team, but the Packers’ offensive line has to be better at keeping him on his feet. New England is listed at +875 after a disappointing end to last season, but Wes Welker is healthy, giving Tom Brady his favorite target back. Baltimore could be a decent betting darkhorse at +900 as the Ravens got some weapons for Joe Flacco, including Anquan Boldin, but how healthy will Ed Reed be able to get?

The wild-card here is Minnesota at +1200, as they’re obviously still waiting to see what Brett Favre is going to do. With Favre, the Vikings are a likely Super Bowl northbet.com favorite after their escapades last season. Without Favre, they’re once again a team with Tarvaris Jackson and/or Sage Rosenfels as their quarterback, and you can only imagine what that does for their online betting odds.