Saints Return Home for Opener and Eagles Getting Much Love

This is not only the first week of the NFL Season but it’s also the week where every NFL writer in the world makes his picks for the Super Bowl. I usually don’t pick just two teams but look to make online bets on some overlaid teams.

I also read some of those other writers. The ones who pretend that making online wagers on football is somehow anathema to the game itself? The biggest surprise I have seen this week is that everybody, I mean everybody, has jumped onto the Philadelphia Eagles bandwagon.

Really? The Eagles? Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Donovan McNabb. The guy is a hall-of-famer in my book, but this team will have to really step it up defensively in order to get to the Super Bowl this year.

The Cowboys, Redskins and Giants all have a chance at winning the NFC East. The Eagles will be lucky to make the playoffs much less make it to the Super Bowl. Their online wagering odds to win the Super Bowl, currently at + 2000 makes them an underlay.

I much prefer taking a stab on the New Orleans Saints. They also play in a very good division, the NFC South, but the Saints improved their defense by acquiring a serious linebacker in Jonathan Vilma, signing a very good corner in Randall Gay, and drafting the soon to be monster force that is Sedrick Ellis.

They’re also going off at the online betting odds of + 2000. Drew Brees has tons of weapons on offense. That could carry this team into the NFC Championship game. At 20 to 1, the Saints are a tepid choice to make it to the Super Bowl.

One good piece of news was the fact that Hurricane Gustav didn’t cause too much damage to the Superdome. That means that the Saints get to open their season against the Bucs at home.

The New England Patriots have started to receive the hype over the San Diego Chargers in the AFC. The fact that the Chargers’ best defensive player, Shawne Merriman, will take the field with a screwed up knee tells me that the Chargers are desperate.

A desperate team never does well. I still have the Chargers as an overlay at + 700. How about the Patriots? Sure, they will win a lot of games, when you play in the horrid AFC East you can’t help but win a lot of games. But the Patriots’ D doesn’t look nearly as intimidating as they have in the past. I think their offense is terrific, but the defense will be their undoing. They are still an underlay at + 325.

The one long shot team to win the Super Bowl that caught my eye this past week are the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers are absolutely loaded on offense and their defense will be much better this season. The biggest difference is that revamped offensive line. If it protects Jake Delhomme, then forget it. This team could win the NFC South and march into the Super Bowl at + 5000 to win the whole thing. Those are terrific online football odds on this team.

Another long shot with a nice shot at making it to the Super Bowl and winning it are the Denver Broncos. If their defense improves, then their offense only needs to protect the football for this team to win a lot of games. Jay Cutler is improving every season. Their online NFL betting odds are + 4000.

Until next week, good luck!