NFL quick hits: Week 9 betting recap
By Shawn Torrey
Mon, Nov 7, 2005

You might remember that we dubbed Week 6 of the schedule, “The Square Affair” when the favorites combined to go 10-3-1 ATS. With that in mind, it’s only fair that we call Week 9, “The Sequel.” --football gambling--

Books have to be feeling the pain as the chalk teams prevailed for the third time in the past four weeks. A quick run back through previous editions of this column shows the favorites bringing home the cash at a mind-boggling 27-13-1 ATS over the past four weeks. --football gambling--

We should mention that the past two Monday Nighters are not included in that total since we changed the publishing time of this piece to Monday mornings. Regardless, without getting nit-picky, that’s one heck of a haul for anyone who would be silly enough to blindly bet the favorites. --football gambling--

Road favorites covered as many as eight games this week depending upon your line, and overall the homers finished just 4-8-1 ATS. There was no distinct advantage for totals players as the under finished with a slight 7-6 edge. --football gambling--

Hang in there underdog bettors, the big payday is coming. --football gambling--
Atlanta 17 at Miami 10 (1 / 40) --football gambling--
Since nobody seems willing to give Vick the credit that he says he deserves, we’ll gladly step to the mic. The noted scrambler stayed home in this one and tossed for a season-high 228 yards. More importantly, the Falcons improved to 5-1 (4-2 ATS) in their last six contests. --football gambling--

The Dolphins dropped the cash for the fourth time in five games. --football gambling--
Oakland 23 at Kansas City 27 (-4 ½ / 51 ½)

Why do they kick meaningless extra points when there is no time left remaining on the clock?
Well, as far as we can tell it’s merely to give bettors chest pains. --football gambling--
Whether you were on the side or total in this one, we’re willing to bet that you were frantically counting pointspreads in your head as time expired. We’re also guessing that you were again reminded to always get the best number. --football gambling--

Houston 14 at Jacksonville 21 (-13 / 36 ½) --football gambling--

Jacksonville didn’t make life very easy for fans, and bettors alike on Sunday as it took 14 fourth-quarter points to gain victory over the one-win Texans. The slow start had Jags supporters chewing on chalk from the word go. --football gambling--

Tennessee 14 at Cleveland 20 (-3 / 37) --football gambling--
The Browns now have more wins to their credit than eight other teams in the league and the Titans are included in that list. Technically that means that the Browns are the ninth-worst, which isn’t bad considering they lost to the Texans last week.

The under is now an 7-1 when the Browns hit the field, but unexplainably the posted total has actually gotten higher in each of Cleveland’s last three games. Go figure.
Cincinnati 21 at Baltimore 9 (3 / 36) --football gambling--

The Bengals racked up 329 yards on the Ravens, and racked the cash for the fourth time in five road games this season. They pushed in the other. --football gambling--

The under improved to 3-0 in the Bengals’ last three, and 3-0 when they tackle a divisional foe. The Ravens failed to score more than 10 points for the fourth time this year, and the under improved to 6-2 in Baltimore games.

Carolina 34 at Tampa Bay 14 (pk / 37) --football gambling--
Let’s keep it simple. The Bucs finally faced a talented opponent, and they flat-out got their butts kicked. --football gambling--
The win was the Panthers fifth in a row (3-2 ATS), and the over has now hit in six straight Carolina games. The Bucs lost for the second straight time since their bye week and are now just 1-5 ATS over their last six games. --football gambling--

San Diego 31 at NY Jets 26 (6 / 41)
Chargers supporters fell victim to the ‘backdoor cover’ after looking like they were going to cover this spread by double-digits. Brooks Bollinger was the unlikely hero for New York bettors, leading a charge that didn’t fall short by much. --football gambling--

The 26 points is the most that the Jets have put up all season. The over has now cashed in three straight Jets contests and this result snapped a four-game under streak, and three-game ATS run for the Bolts. --football gambling--

Detroit 14 at Minnesota 27 (-2 / 38) --football gambling--
The Vikings went to bat for steam bettors who had this line moving fast prior to kick-off, easily collecting the coin with a 13-point win. Oddly enough they did it without their best player and quarterback Culpepper, reinforcing they fact that sometimes things go unexplained in this league. --football gambling--

Minnesota has quietly won and covered three in a row at home and has pulled into a second place tie in the NFC North with the Lions. --football gambling--

NY Giants 24 at San Francisco 6 (11 / 43) --football gambling--
The Giants picked up their first road win of the campaign and improved their current win streak to three. So long as Eli Manning stays far away from San Diego, this team will do just fine.

Seattle 33 at Arizona 19 (5 / 43) --football gambling--
Remind us again why Dennis Green decided to go with Kurt Warner, or was that brilliant idea kept a secret? --football gambling--
The Seahawks are in cruise control and enjoy a 5-2 ATS run, while over bettors are benefiting from a 5-1 streak. --football gambling--

Chicago 20 New Orleans 17 (3 / 34) --football gambling--
Chicago may have been guilty of playing to the level of its competition here, but ultimately couldn’t help but win its fourth in a row against the lowly Saints. New Orleans has recorded just one win since a season-opening victory over Carolina. --football gambling--
The over cashed in a Bears game for just the second time this season- the first since Week 2 of the schedule.

Pittsburgh 20 at Green Bay 10 (3 ½ / 38) --football gambling--
Has anyone seen Favre’s mo-jo?
The Packers had ample opportunity to go up early in this one, but bad teams tend to squander those chances. The Pack did just that and they are a bad team. Green Bay hasn’t cracked the 20-point plateau in three weeks, and the under is 3-0 in those games. --football gambling--

Philadelphia 10 at Washington 17 (3 / 38 ½) --football gambling--
Note to Andy Reid: Umm, you`re allowed to run the ball inside the other team’s five-yard line with less than two minutes left and the game on the line. In fact, some would even say it’s encouraged. --football gambling--

Note to T.O.: Under the safe assumption that you’ll never read this article, I feel compelled to say that you’re an idiot. --football gambling--
The Eagles dropped their fourth in a row against the number and matched their season-low points total. The Skins are now 5-2 ATS in their last seven and 3-1 ATS at home.
Share your thoughts on this article in the Covers posting forum. --football gambling--

Browns aren’t only thing wrong in NFL football

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

SPORTS SPOTLIGHT TODD PORTER

BEREA - Anyone else wonder if Paul Tagliabue mowed his grass Sunday? Or last Sunday or the one before that? -NFL Football-

The NFL must be proud of the product it’s forcing down fans’ throats. Watching some of these teams — the Browns are near the top of that growing list — is like eating liver and onions, which, by the way, smell a lot better than the supposed highest level of football. -NFL Football-

Think about this a minute. -NFL Football-

The NFC North may be the worst conference in NFL history. Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota have 10 wins between them. Three of the Bears’ four wins are against the other three bad teams in the NFC North. Heck, they even lost to the Browns. If the NFC North didn’t have to play two games against each other, the only team anyone in that division could beat is the vagabond Saints. -NFL Football-

Houston? Unwatchable. Tennessee? You can watch them, but cruel and unusual punishment could be used as an argument. Cleveland had to play a near penalty-free game just to be in position to lose to the previous winless Texans on Sunday. -NFL Football-

Bad Browns have a clue

Just how bad are the Browns? -NFL Football-

Believe it or not, they have a clue. They know they’re bad enough they have to start over. They know they’re bad enough that no one really had expectations this year. -NFL Football-

Things are so bad in Cleveland, some of the guys who have seen this before don’t want to talk after games. Can you blame them? How many different ways can Daylon McCutcheon say this has to turn around? How many times can he say he doesn’t have the answers? -NFL Football-

If the Browns were in the NFC North, FEMA officials would be sending meals ready to eat to those cities (about four weeks too late). -NFL Football-

That may explain why former President George Bush was smiling as officials carted him and Barbara away in the bowels of Reliant Stadium during the final seconds of Sunday’s game. Bush gave a thumbs up to a handful of Browns writers. Had it been Bill Clinton, he’d have hopped out, hugged us and cued up the tears. -NFL Football-

watching soccer? -NFL Football-

Let’s get this straight: The Browns have a plan. Believe that. General Manager Phil Savage is too smart not to have a way out. He was smart enough to drop warnings along the way about a season like this. Head Coach Romeo Crennel has too much pride to watch this happen every week, season after miserable season. -NFL Football-

You think Paul Brown could have imagined this once proud team falling so far? Probably. It was Brown who said if a coach stays in this business long enough, he experiences everything. Besides, Brown also knew what kind of person Art Modell was. -NFL Football-

Seven seasons of this grade of football. A friend didn’t watch Sunday’s game. -NFL Football-

“Mowed the grass,” he said. “Then I watched the University of Akron.” -NFL Football-

The Zips had a football replay on Sunday? -NFL Football-

“No. Soccer.”

Soccer?

What’s the difference? Browns games turn into a soccer match. Phil Dawson trots out, kicks a field goal as the offense fails in the red zone. -NFL Football-

Are the Browns bad? Yes. Is there hope? There has to be. -NFL Football-

Crennel should make at least two changes. Since his team is sinking toward top-five pick status, Cleveland has to find out what it has in Charlie Frye. Savage and Crennel need to know if they have to draft — another — quarterback. -NFL Football-

Throw Frye in the fire. At the very least Frye gives the Browns a QB who can threaten the perimeter inside the red zone, which might as well be the ozone to this offense. -NFL Football-

And keep Braylon Edwards on the field. Edwards should be no worse than the team’s No. 2 receiver. Dennis Northcutt is a decent slot, No. 3, receiver. -NFL Football-

Aside from that, there isn’t much else to do. There isn’t anything to blow up. -NFL Football-

Not until FEMA steps in, anyway. -NFL Football-

Reach Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or e-mail: todd.porter@cantonrep.com

Ware's TD run a dream come true

For 2 years, Bernard Ware kept telling his son about this dream he had, one that recurred so much it was almost like a vision. In it, Matt Ware was trucking down the sideline , football tucked under his arm on his way to score touchdown. -NFL Football-

“He’s been talking about it forever,” Ware said of his father yesterday. “Every couple of months he’d say, ‘Son I keep having this dream.’ I’d say, ‘OK, Dad, that’s great,’ but inmy head I was thinking, ‘Yeah right.’ ” -NFL Football-

Apparently dreams, even in the literal sense, can come true. When Ware scooped up the ball after Quintin Mikell blocked a San Diego field goal late in the game on Sunday, he did in fact run down the sideline and did indeed end up in the end zone, just as Bernard Ware had envisioned. Not surprisingly then, when Ware’s cell phone started jingling immediately after the game one of the first of the 40-plus folks to call was Ware’s dad. -NFL Football-

“He said, ‘Remember? I told you so,’ ” Ware recalled of his father’s phone call. “Honestly I had forgotten all about that dream of his until he said it.” -NFL Football-

Ware’s touchdo wn not only salvaged a victory for the Eagles, it touched off a wild week for the reserve cornerback. He’s been a regular on the TV circuit, and cameramen and reporters, who usually shuffled by his locker, have spent the past week regularly checking in. -NFL Football-

That may not seem unusual for an NFL football player, but for a 22-year-old who toils in the anonymity of special teams it was like an understudy stepping into the spotlights. -NFL Football-

“You do a lot on special teams that nobody ever sees because you don’t have that ball in your hand,” Ware said. “Now I know what it feels like to be one of those offensive guys.” -NFL Football-

To folks who see and work with Ware every day, the play itself was surprising; that it was Ware on the end of it isn’t. -NFL Football-

Agifted athlete who was actually drafted by the Seattle Mariners out of high school, Ware threw for more than 1,000 yards in high school, rushed for more than 1,000 more and went on to become Pac-10 Freshman of the Year at UCLA. -NFL Football-

The guy whose locker sits next to Ware’s and a guy who knows a thing or two about the NFL thinks Ware will continue on the same path of success at this level as well. -NFL Football-

“Matt has a lot of talent,” Brian Dawkins said. “He’s a big guy that can run. He’s physical and has a mean streak in him. I tell him this all the time —he has some talent inside of him that’s going to come out and that’s going to please all of you.” -NFL Football-

With a glut of talented cornerbacks on the Eagles roster — starting at the top with Lito Sheppard and Sheldon Brown—Ware has to bide his time to get into the regular rotation. Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson brings him in for dime packages and will continue to do so, but for now Ware will have to do most of his damage on special teams. -NFL Football-

“To me he has the makings of great corner,” special teams coordinator John Harbaugh said. -NFL Football-

“You compare him to Bobby Taylor and then add a physical element for a guy that is that rangy. Plus he can probably play safety, corner. He’s tough, fast, he’s athletic and young. Yeah he’s going to be a really good player in this league.” -NFL Football-

Of course right now the biggest challenge for a kid whose previous game highlight was a forced fumble in a meaning less and starterless game against St. Louis last December, is to come back to earth. -NFL Football-

Ware sheepishly admitted he’s been enjoying himself this week, but when asked what’s the most important thing on his agenda, quickly turned all business. -NFL Football-

“I know what I have to do,” said Ware, who is waiting to get his touchdown football so he can find a place of honor for it in his home. “I have to get back to work, put myself in position to make another play or help my teammates.” -NFL Football-

NFL moves Chiefs-Dolphins game to Friday
--- nfl ---
The game between the Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs was rescheduled to Friday night to beat Hurricane Wilma's arrival in Florida.
The game will begin at 7 p.m. Friday instead of Sunday afternoon, which is about when Wilma is expected to hit Florida's southwestern coast.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said broadcast and television details were being worked out.--- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
It's the third time since the start of the 2004 season that the Dolphins have rescheduled a home game because of a looming hurricane. Last year's home opener against Tennessee was played a day early because of Hurricane Ivan, and the Dolphins' Week 3 game with Pittsburgh was pushed back 7 1/2 hours by Hurricane Jeanne. --- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
Hurricane Wilma also forced the University of Miami to postpone its home game against Georgia Tech. --- nfl ---
--- nfl ---
That game will likely be rescheduled for Nov. 17. --- nfl ---
It's the fourth time a hurricane has necessitated a schedule switch of a Miami home game; Hurricane Georges postponed a game with UCLA for more than two months in 1998, Temple's visit in 1999 was pushed back nearly three months by Hurricane Irene; and Florida State's trip south for the 2004 season-opener was delayed nearly a week by Hurricane Frances.--- nfl ---

Cadillac Williams inactive for Bucs

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (Oct. 9, 2005) -- Tampa Bay rookie running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams was inactive for the Buccaneers' game against the New York Jets because of foot and hamstring injuries. - NFL Football -

Williams tweaked his left hamstring in a 17-13 win over the Detroit Lions last week, and gained just 13 yards on 11 carries before sitting out the fourth quarter. He was replaced in the starting lineup by veteran Michael Pittman, who had 30 yards on five carries and six catches for 96 yards and a touchdown in place of Williams. - NFL Football -

Williams, the first player in NFL history to begin his career with three consecutive 100-yard rushing games, sprained his left foot Sept. 18 against Buffalo. The injury has caused lingering discomfort for Williams, who hasn't practiced the last three weeks.

Buccaneers safety Jermaine Phillips (thumb) and Jets linebacker Eric Barton (sprained ankle) were also inactive for the Jets game. - NFL Football -

© 2005, NFL Enterprises LLC.

Mexicans Catch Football Fever as NFL Takes Game South of Border

The San Francisco 49ers football team will play before their biggest crowd this weekend in 14 years -- in Mexico City.

The National Football League is using the game between the 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals to try to add to its 20 million fans in Mexico, the largest group for any country after the U.S. The NFL says the Oct. 2 game will draw 85,000 to Azteca Stadium for its first-ever regular-season game outside the U.S.

``We have a great fan base in Mexico and it's been growing dramatically over the last several years,'' said NFL Chief Operating Officer Roger Goodell.

Football is the second-most popular sport in Mexico, trailing only soccer, said Ricardo Perez, director of sports and special events for Grupo Televisa SA, world's largest Spanish- language media company. Perez said NFL games on Televisa, which is co-sponsoring the 49ers-Cardinals match, draw ratings as much as 40 percent higher than baseball.

Sales of NFL caps, jackets and other merchandise in Mexico bring in about $15 million a year, according to the league.

Companies scoop up advertising time during NFL games on Televisa because the audience is made up of ``high-income'' earners, said Perez, 43. He declined to give Televisa's ad prices or revenue from NFL games.

Those wealthy fans include Fernando Villarreal, a 51-year- old independent business consultant based in Monterrey. Villarreal travels several times a year to the U.S. to watch his favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys.

`Nightmare'

On his last trip Sept. 19, Villarreal went back and forth to Dallas in the same day to watch the Cowboys play the Washington Redskins. The Cowboys, the most popular team in Mexico, let a 13- 0 lead slip away in the final four minutes of the game and lost 14-13.

``It was the season opener and it was a beautiful night,'' Villarreal, who attended the Cowboys' three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s, said in a telephone interview from Monterrey. ``And then it turned into a nightmare.''

Televisa began airing games in the late 1960s, planting the seeds for the popularity of football in Mexico, Perez said. Games can now be seen on Mexico's television networks as well as cable TV networks ESPN Inc., owned by Walt Disney Co., Fox Sports Networks LLC, owned by News Corp., and Sky Mexico, Televisa's satellite television unit.

Both ESPN and Fox Sports are part of Empresas Cablevision SA's basic cable package in Mexico, which costs 260 pesos ($24) a month.

Football or Baseball

Mexicans prefer football over baseball even though more of them play professional baseball than football. Eighteen Mexicans started the 2005 baseball season on Major League teams. Only one Mexican -- 361-pound (164 kilograms) Rolando Cantu -- plays in the NFL. He is an offensive lineman for the Cardinals who never has played in a regular season game.

``The NFL has done its homework in Mexico,'' Perez said. ``The challenge now is to spread the game to the masses.''

The NFL converted Joshua Olivo, a 14-year-old student in Mexico City, from a soccer fan to a football fan by inviting him to join about 100,000 other Mexican kids in a flag football league set up in 1998 by the NFL. Olivo said he knew nothing about football when he joined the league three years ago.

``I liked soccer more,'' said Olivo as he threw a football to his teammates at his school's practice field this week. ``When they invited me to play, I got interested and now I like football better.''

First Fans

Olivo said he plans to be one of the first of the 85,000 people to file into Azteca Stadium for the Sunday night game.

While the crowd would be the biggest the 49ers have drawn in 14 years, it would be smaller than the crowd of 112,376 that packed into Azteca to watch the Cowboys play a pre-season game in 1994.

Pre-season games in Mexico City in 1997 and 1998 also drew over 100,000. NFL and Televisa officials said they removed the lowest 10 rows of seats from the stadium for this weekend's game so that spectators can see over the players standing on the sidelines.

The 49ers and Cardinals have a combined record this year of one win and five losses. The 49ers, which won five Super Bowls from 1981 to 1995, had the worst record in the NFL last year with two wins and 14 losses.

The Cardinals, which will be considered the home team for the game at Azteca, haven't had a winning season since 1998.

``If this game fills Azteca Stadium with these two teams, then it's a true measure that people indeed love NFL football in Mexico,'' said Jose Manuel Basave, who writes a football sports column for El Norte newspaper in Monterrey.

©2005 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved.

Mexican fans begin to warm to football

Mexico City -- At 81, Jacinto Licea is still a live wire with no plans of ending a 50-year run coaching American football in Mexico.

Next Sunday, when the 49ers and Arizona Cardinals play here, it will mean that the future is finally now for Licea and millions of Mexicans who follow the NFL, despite the nation's obsession with that other football -- soccer. As many as 100,000 fans are expected to be on hand at Azteca Stadium in a country eager to show the NFL that it was right in selecting its capital city for the first regular-season game staged outside of the United States.

"The game is generating much expectation and enthusiasm," said Licea, whose Nacional Polytechnic Institute team last week lost the 64th "El Clasico" game 37-24 to crosstown rival Nacional Autonomous University of Mexico. The game was a sellout, with some 30,000 fans.

"I see (the 49ers) game as symbolic, mostly a promotion by the big businesses that are sponsoring it," Licea said. "But in Mexico, that is what American football needs. Big business, TV networks, the universities and the fans need to show they're interested in this game. This is our opportunity."

Azteca Stadium, on the city's south side, is a behemoth that's usually home to Mexico's national soccer team. In 1994, Azteca hosted the largest crowd ever to watch a professional American football game: 112,300 people showed up for an exhibition game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Oilers.

That turnout gave the NFL the heads-up it needed for a south-of-the-border marketing blitz that, since 1998, has sponsored more than 100,000 teens in touch-football leagues. Two years ago, the best Mexican touch team won the world championship. The NFL also started a player-development program to scout college players in Mexico's scrappy Major League of American Football.

The payoff is an impressive fan base that has sports enthusiasts speculating that Mexico City, the teeming center of a valley jammed with 20 million people, might one day have its own NFL franchise.

One day may be a long time into the future, given the U.S. cities queued up for new or relocating franchises. For now, the league is content with selling around $15 million a year in licensed products, from jerseys to footballs and coffee mugs, and registering millions of TV viewers each Sunday in Mexico. Football ranks just behind the NBA in season-long ratings for foreign sports, attracting around 5 million viewers a week.

Next week's game is the reward for an estimated 20 million Mexicans who count themselves to pollsters as followers of American football. Mexicans are generally fuzzy on the intricacies, but most marvel at the spectacle of the games, and the size and speed of the players.

Unlike soccer, which is pushed heavily by Mexico's richest corporations and is played by the smallest of boys as soon as they can walk, fans of American football have to go out of their way to witness a game in person. There are 24 organized teams spread out across Mexico, with about 1,500 players ranging in age from 15 to 24, according to Humberto Fernandez, spokesman for the Student Organization of American Football.

"We have a long way to go before our children are picking up footballs as often as they are kicking soccer balls," Fernandez said. "But we have a new generation of players at the college level who are bigger and faster. They have the heart, but not yet the skills, to play in the NFL."

One Mexican player, guard Rolando Cantu, has the dimensions, at 6-foot-4 and 320 pounds. He's on the Cardinals' practice squad.

Mexican kickers have done well in the NFL, from Raul Allegre and Efren Herrera, to Alejandro Navarrette of the Monterrey Technical Institute, whom Fernandez believes will one day kick in the big league.

Still, American football is a poor stepchild to soccer. Resources vary among teams in the Mexican majors -- some have to borrow time on community soccer fields for their summer games. But two teams now offer scholarships to entice the nation's best prep players to private universities in the northern business hub of Monterrey and in Puebla, east of Mexico City.

"Our technical skills today are good and we are getting better at this game," said Omar Castro, a fleet wideout who plays for Licea's White Eagles. Castro harbors hopes of playing at a higher level.

"We're seeing more invitations each year from the NFL and the NFL Europe to show what we have, so there's hope," Castro said. As many as 60,000 fans have watched the White Eagles and the Pumas play in El Clasico in Mexico City's Olympic Stadium. The game has been played almost every year since 1937.

The only interruption was the three years that Mexico was afire in social upheaval, 1968-71, during which hundreds of students and activists were killed or kidnapped by Mexican police. Coincidentally, American football ignited the Mexican student and free-speech movements.

In 1968, Mexican police used brute force to break up a fight after an impromptu game of tackle football between kids from rival Mexico City high schools. The official overreaction sparked student protests that snowballed into Mexico's free-speech movement -- a social uprising that ended with the deaths of dozens of student activists in the Tlatelolco Plaza riot.

Next Sunday marks the 37th anniversary of the massacre. Licea hopes the 49ers-Cardinals game will erase the negative footnote American football has been for Oct. 2 in Mexican history.

"After '68, American football was tagged as violent sport," Licea said. "I'm just glad people are coming out now to see what this game is really about." Ricardo Sandoval is a Mexico City-based writer who covers Latin America for various publications.

San Francisco Chronicle.