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11/16/2008 - East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw powered a Giants rushing attack that piled up 207 yards on the vaunted Ravens run defense, as New York kept rolling with a 30-10 pounding of Baltimore.
Jacobs gained 73 yards on 11 carries with two touchdowns on the ground, while Bradshaw gained 96 yards on nine carries for the Giants (9-1), who won their fifth straight after their lone loss of the season, at Cleveland on October 13.
Eli Manning completed 13-of-23 passes for 153 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and Aaron Ross returned a tipped pass 50 yards for a touchdown for New York.
Joe Flacco completed 20-of-33 passes for 164 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions for the Ravens (6-4), who had won four straight. Derrick Mason had seven catches for 82 yards, but it was his drop that led to Ross' interception in the third quarter.
With the loss the Ravens fell out of a first-place tie in the AFC North with the Steelers. Pittsburgh hosted San Diego on Sunday.
After being pushed up and down the field in the first half, the Ravens climbed back into the game in the third quarter. Flacco led Baltimore on a 13-play, 79-yard drive, which he finished with a 10-yard scoring pass to LeRon McClain. The touchdown cut the Giants lead to 20-10 with 4:26 left in the third.
The Ravens defense held, and Flacco and Co. took the field looking to pull within one score of the Giants. A miscue by Mason allowed Ross and the Giants to regain the momentum, though.
On 2nd-and-5 at the Baltimore 47, Flacco threw a short pass to his left to Mason, who bobbled the ball up in the air. Ross stepped in for the interception, and ran it back 50 yards for the backbreaking score, giving the Giants a 27-10 lead with 14 seconds left in the third quarter.
A 77-yard run by Bradshaw early in the fourth quarter set up a 19-yard Lawrence Tynes field goal, and the Giants took a commanding 20-point lead with 12:02 to play.
The Ravens defense entered Sunday leading the NFL in rushing defense, having allowed just 65.4 yards per game on the ground this season, and just one rushing touchdown. New York surpassed those numbers in the first half.
The Giants came out and imposed their will on the Ravens, building a 20-0 lead with their powerful running game. Jacobs bounced off would-be tacklers and gained 36 yards on New York's second offensive play, and burst into the end zone from one yard out to cap that drive and put the Giants on top.
The Ravens answered by driving to the Giants 13, but Matt Stover's 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Fred Robbins. The ball was kicked by Giants defenders all the way back to the Baltimore 33.
Manning was picked off by Fabian Washington two plays later, but an offsides penalty on Justin Bannan negated the pick. Four plays later Jacobs dove in for another one-yard touchdown run. A bobbled snap prevented Tynes from kicking the extra point, and New York led 13-0 with 59 seconds left in the first.
The Giants pounded out a 12-play, 90-yard drive in the second quarter, capped by a one-yard TD pass from Manning to Darcy Johnson for a 20-0 New York lead with 7:14 left in the half.
Stover's 38-yard field goal got the Ravens on the board, but they still trailed 20-3 at the half. The Giants had a chance for more points at the end of the second quarter, but on 1st-and-10 at the Baltimore 18, Manning was picked off by Ray Lewis at the six-yard-line.
Game Notes
Stover set the NFL record for consecutive PATs made with his extra point after McClain's touchdown in the third quarter. The PAT was Stover's 372nd consecutive, breaking a tie with Jason Elam and Jeff Wilkins...Giants kicker John Carney was inactive for the game. The league's oldest player at 44, Carney was signed to fill in for Tynes, who suffered a knee injury prior to the season. Tynes returned to action for the Giants last week, but just handled kickoffs.
<< Bucs edge Vikings to keep pace in NFC South
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Bryant kicked four field goals and B.J.
Askew rushed for his first-career touchdown as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers edged
the Minnesota Vikings, 19-13, at Raymond James Stadium.
Jeff Garcia completed 23-
<< Panthers run at will, keep Lions winless
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - DeAngelo Williams had two rushing touchdowns
while Jonathan Stewart had one on the ground as the Carolina Panthers downed
the winless Detroit Lions, 31-22, at Bank of America Stadium.
Williams finished th
<< Thomas leads the way as Saints top Chiefs
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pierre Thomas racked up 144 total yards and
a TD with 88 rushing and 56 receiving on four grabs as the New Orleans Saints
survived a spirited effort from the Kansas City Chiefs with a 30-20 win at
Arrowhe
<< Robinson out at Syracuse
Syracuse, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Syracuse University head football coach
Greg Robinson has been fired, the school announced Sunday.
Director of athletics Dr. Daryl Gross made the announcement a day after
Syracuse lost 39-14 to
Cutler leads Broncos back past Falcons >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Cutler's nine-yard touchdown pass to
Daniel Graham in the latter half of the fourth quarter lifted the Denver
Broncos to a 24-20 come-from-behind win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Cutler completed
Birds, Bengals play to league's first tie since 2002 >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shayne Graham's 47-yard field goal attempt
with seven seconds left in overtime was wide right, and the Philadelphia
Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals played to a 13-13 final, the first tie in the
NFL sin
Bears' Orton starts vs. Packers >>
Green Bay, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton started
Sunday's 37-3 loss against Green Bay, despite an ankle injury that caused him
to miss last week's loss to Tennessee.
Orton, though, went a measly 13-for-26 with
Barca tops Recreativo to extend unbeaten run to 16 >>
Andalusia, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lionel Messi and Seydou Keita scored in the
second half as Barcelona topped Recreativo 2-0 on Sunday in Spain's La Liga to
open a three-point gap atop the standings and extend its unbeaten streak to 16.
B
In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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