NFL 2012, Week 2: Hedging the Straight-Line (Projections)

9/23/2012		Hedging the Straight-Line
WEEK 2		NFL 2012 Season
		by Guichard Cadet
Home		Away	Hedging		Straight Line	Projected Total Score
Green Bay Packers		Chicago Bears	4.22		-1.28	39.0
Buffalo Bills		Kansas City Chiefs	-1.40		-1.50	53.0
Carolina Panthers		New Orleans Saints	1.89		9.78	44.0
Cincinnati Bengals		Cleveland Browns	5.79		0.65	52.0
Indianapolis Colts		Minnesota Vikings	11.20		5.91	48.0
Jacksonville Jaguars		Houston Texans	11.87		7.93	46.0
Miami Dolphins		Oakland Raiders	4.91		3.81	46.0
New England Patriots		Arizona Cardinals	-8.92		-6.58	42.0
New York Giants		Tampa Bay Buccaneers	-0.50		-4.58	51.0
Philadelphia Eagles		Baltimore Ravens	6.19		8.31	54.0
St. Louis Rams		Washington Redskins	4.97		8.28	53.0
Seattle Seahawks		Dallas Cowboys	1.88		3.90	39.0
Pittsburgh Steelers		New York Jets	10.02		10.38	45.0
San Diego Chargers		Tennessee Titans	-11.08		-2.73	48.0
San Francisco 49ers		Detroit Lions	8.06		3.40	44.0
Atlanta Falcons		Denver Broncos	-3.83		-1.27	41.0

NFL 2012, Week 1: Hedging the Straight-Line (Projections)

9/22/2012		Hedging the Straight-Line (Projections)
WEEK 1		NFL 2012 Season
		by Guichard Cadet
Home		Away	Hedging		Straight Line	Projected Total Score
New York Giants		Dallas Cowboys	-3.96		-3.26	49.0
Chicago Bears		Indianapolis Colts	-6.52		-4.37	38.0
Cleveland Browns		Philadelphia Eagles	14.44		7.47	41.0
New York Jets		Buffalo Bills	-2.31		-2.39	41.0
New Orleans Saints		Washington Redskins	-16.22		-9.26	54.0
Tennessee Titans		New England Patriots	11.27		5.99	53.0
Minnesota Vikings		Jacksonville Jaguars	-9.05		-5.78	36.0
Houston Texans		Miami Dolphins	-8.76		-5.59	43.0
Detroit Lions		St. Louis Rams	-19.92		-11.04	42.0
Kansas City Chiefs		Atlanta Falcons	15.28		7.96	35.0
Green Bay Packers		San Francisco 49ers	-11.64		-7.20	61.0
Tampa Bay Buccaneers		Carolina Panthers	10.19		5.36	41.0
Arizona Cardinals		Seattle Seahawks	6.89		3.83	42.0
Denver Broncos		Pittsburgh Steelers	3.63		2.15	42.0
Baltimore Ravens		Cincinnati Bengals	-4.98		-3.77	46.0
Oakland Raiders		San Diego Chargers	4.30		2.52	46.0

Week 13, 2011: Falcons vs. Texans by EvenMoney

Atlanta Falcons vs. Houston Texans is another game that helps bring this NFL season into better focus because it is an inter-conference matchup that will shed light on whether it was AFC or NFC teams that faced a tougher road within their own conference.

 Courtesy of BestSportHighlights

The Atlanta Falcons are one of four teams battling for 2 remaining playoff spot. They also have a chance to win their division should they win 2 more games than the New Orleans Saints do. For now, let’s focus on the fact they cannot afford to lose many or any of their remaining 5 games. A win today goes a long way to propelling them to the playoffs and/or a shot at the NFC South division, since one of their remaining games is against the Saints.

The Falcons been inconsistent all year and have only beaten one team contending for the playoffs – the Detroit Lions. At the same time, the Falcons are good at everything, except Pass Defense. They rank in the top 15 in almost all categories – top 10 in some. When it comes to Pass Defense, they rank 23^rd with their main problem being getting Sacks. Other than that, the Falcons do enough to allow their balanced offense to put up 23.5 PPG (points per game), offsetting the 20.2 PPG they give up.

On the other side of the field, the Houston Texans have a two-game lead in their division, and unless they suffer a late season losing streak, they are guaranteed a playoff spot. The Texans also have only beaten one opponent that is in playoff contention – the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unlike the Falcons, they are leading their division and will most likely qualify for the playoffs by simply winning 2 of their remaining 5 games.

Another bit of difference between the two teams is that the Texans are ranked 1^st on Defense (4^th for Rushing; 2^nd for Passing). They are 2^nd in Sacks and 1^st in Defensive Pass Percentage. When it comes to Rushing, the Texans Defense is ranked Top 5 in each major category, except Average Yards per Rush (4.2). They also give up only 16.3 PPG.

The Texans feature a Top 10 ranked offense, whose goal is to run over their opponents. They score 26.6 PPG on 380 YPG (yards), with 152 of those yards from their Rushing game. They lead the league in Rushes per game and are second in Rushing TDs per game. Though they do have a decent Passing game (ranked 16^th in the league), this matchup is clearly on whether the Texans Rushing offense will stand up against the Falcons Rushing defense – ranked 2^nd in the league.

NFL PICKS Week 13

Texans (+1.5) Over (38) – It comes down to Matt Ryan against the Houston Texans Defense.

12/4   1:00 ET     Atlanta                 -1.5         At Houston         38

http://www.footballlocks.com/nfl_lines.shtml @11/27/11 @ 11:30am