NFL Odds and Lines Betting Update - Good Team or Good Bet?

I do believe that online NFL betting fans understand that the biggest detriment to increasing their bank roll when making bets on NFL teams is making bad online wagers.

There’s a difference between a good online bet and a bad online bet. The factors that go into determining what is a good online bet and what is a bad online bet are obvious. But how important are they?

For instance, the Minnesota Vikings this off season were one of the favorites from the NFC to win the Super Bowl. They have dropped three out of four games straight-up and against the BetUS online sportsbook wagering spread. They have already benched their starting quarterback. They are giving up more points than a lot of expert football handicappers predicted.

But this Monday night they are playing a team beset with injuries. Are the Vikings a good bet or bad bet? The BetUS online sportsbook betting spread in the Vikings vs. Saints game is 3 ½ points for the Saints. Are the 3 ½ points enough to make an online wager on the Vikings?

No. Not in this case. Even though the Saints are beset with injuries, those injuries have to be taken into the context of what the Saints will be trying to do versus the Vikings. The Saints want to stop Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson. So the lack of Marques Colston at wide receiver and Jeremy Shockey at tight-end aren’t nearly important as having a healthy Jonathan Vilma at middle-linebacker and Scott Fujita at outside linebacker. The Saints are a good online bet in this situation because their goal, stopping Peterson, won’t be compromised by their injuries.

Another example is the game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins. The Chargers are 7 point favorites in the BetUS online sportsbook to beat the Miami Dolphins on the road. Are the Chargers a good online wager or bad online wager? Again, let’s go to injuries.

The Dolphins have no injuries to report. They are also coming off a bye week which has allowed them to get Ronnie Brown, their star running back who scored five touchdowns to weekends ago, healthier. The Dolphins have also committed only one turnover this season. That’s right, one.

The Chargers will be without their best defensive player, Shawne Merriman. What has been the impact so far on this team? The Chargers haven’t given up less than 18 points this season and those 18 points were given up to the one dimensional Oakland Raiders. They gave up 26 to the Carolina Panthers, 39 to the Denver Broncos and 29 to the New York Jets. They needed to score 25 points against a team a coach-less team in the fourth quarter to cover the 9 points in their last game by a single point.

With Brown healthy, the Dolphins appear to have turned the corner. They were thumped in the first two games of the season, but then found a way to get the ball to Ronnie Brown. Five touchdowns is a lot.

So are the Chargers a good online bet or not? I have to say no because they are continuing to play with fire. They have won their last two games, but they didn’t look pretty versus the Oakland Raiders, a team they should have dominated, and will go into this game unable to stop an offensive team that has revamped their system.