Giants continue to roll in win over Arizona
Football Betting Lines
11/23/2008 - Glendale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eli Manning completed 26-of-33 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns as the New York Giants kept rolling with a 37-29 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.
Kevin Boss, Amani Toomer and Madison Hedgecock were on the receiving end of TD passes from Manning for the Giants (10-1), who have won six consecutive games.
Derrick Ward added 69 yards and a score on 20 carries while kicker John Carney was perfect on four extra points and three field goals.
Kurt Warner threw for 351 yards, one touchdown and an interception on 32-of-52 completions for the Cardinals (7-4), whose three-game win streak was halted.
Tim Hightower scored two rushing TDs and Anquan Boldin caught 11 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown in defeat.
Manning connected with Boss on a 10-yard touchdown 45 seconds into the fourth which gave the Giants a 31-19 advantage, and Carney hit from 27 yards out with 6:17 remaining for a 15-point New York edge.
However, the Cards snuck back within 34-26 as Boldin hauled in a five-yard pass from Warner a little more than two minutes later.
The Giants recovered the onsides kick and Carney was good from 33 yards out right after the two-minute warning for a 37-26 game. Rackers countered from 44 yards to make it 37-29 after Arizona went 43 yards in eight plays.
New York made a clean recovery of Rackers' onside kick and Manning took a knee to run off the remaining seconds.
Arizona's first possession of the contest yielded a 34-yard field goal from Rackers. Warner went 6-for-7 during the 63-yard drive.
Ward's one-yard TD run put the Giants ahead 7-3 early in the second quarter, but the Cards went up 9-7 on the next drive after a failed conversion pass followed Hightower's four-yard run.
Hixon returned the kickoff 83 yards deep into Cardinals territory, and Carney ended New York's series with a 33-yard make.
The following Arizona drive stalled inside the five, and Rackers made a 20- yarder to put the home team up 12-10.
Hixon returned that kick 68 yards and Toomer's 12-yard catch for a score put the Giants up 17-12 with 1:08 left in the half.
Hedgecock's two-yard reception early in the third pushed the Big Blue lead to 24-12.
A pass interference penalty in the end zone aided Arizona's next scoring drive, as Hightower plunged in from the one with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.
Game Notes
Giants wideout Plaxico Burress aggravated hamstring injury in the second quarter and did not return...New York also played without running back Brandon Jacobs...Hixon racked up 200 total return yards...Arizona outgained New York 371-321...The Giants head to the nation's capital to face division rival Washington next Sunday, while the Cardinals travel to Philadelphia on Thanksgiving.
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Sportsbooks to bet on football
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.