Matt Cochrane
Chicagoland native recently relocated to San Diego, California. Been out here since February 2015 and have come to the conclusion that the west coast time zone is amazing for sports fans! No game is too late. I envision the perfect football season ahead: waking up by 10am, start sippin on bloodies on the couch, planted drinking IPA's by the Sunday night game and passed out by 9:30 with plenty of rest for Monday!
October
Betting on sports can be a fun way to make watching sporting events even more exciting than they already are! When done correctly, it can also be a way to generate some extra pocket change. Occasionally I will place wagers on other sports, but my bread and butter has always been on the NFL. There are a couple of things I like to keep in mind when I'm wagering. First and most important is to stay within your means, it's no fun when you are gambling with money you need. Next don't chase a loss: if you make a losing wager it is tempting to just bet on the next game and catch up. Whenever this comes up for me it usually leads to making a bad play on a game I don't feel strongly about. And the last thing I like to do is try to avoid making parlay bets. Parlays are tempting because you can win a lot by wagering a little and there is a reason for that! In the coming weeks I will use this forum to share some plays I am making and offer some insight on the picks I make.
First, here is a little recap on plays I've made so far this season. I have made 4 total wagers so far and have hit on 3 out of the 4. The first play I made was on the Chargers +1 at Buffalo in week 3. The public's opinion on the Bills was inflated after their victories over the Bears and Dolphins so I jumped on San Diego. Generally speaking whenever a home team is favored by less than 3 points it means they really aren't favored. Next I won betting on the Lions -1 against the Jets. That one was pretty simple for me, the Jets can not score enough to beat the Lions. Then I made an error: I tried to run up my roll too quickly and decided to bet the Saints -3 in Dallas on Sunday Night Football (as it was the only game left to bet on the day). Generally I will try to avoid betting on a road team in a prime time game when there isn't a wide disparity in talent. Finally most recently I won on the Packers -10 Thursday night over the Vikings. That line opened at Packers -9, and when Christian Ponder was announced as the Vikings starter I knew I would have to bet the Packers at home and was willing to take on the extra point.
This week there are three games on my radar for placing a wager. I like the Bears to bounce back getting 3 points vs. the Panthers. I think they will win outright with the Panthers down to their 3rd running back. Matt Forte should be able to have a good day against the Panthers who haven't stopped the run yet this season. Next I've been told by a trustworthy source that the Eagles have an 82% chance to cover 6 points against the Rams at home. Currently the line is set at -7 so if I place a wager on this game I probably will buy one point. Lastly I think the Patriots getting 2 points at home on Monday night will be a good bet. The Bengals are good this year, but you can never count out the Pats. I think they will have a strong performance in prime time and silence some doubters.
September
I am a survivor no more. i was among the 212 victims of last week's action. I managed to fade the biggest upset of the week when the 'can't hold a 4th quarter lead' Saints fell to the Cleveland Browns in their home opener, eliminating 80 of the 212. My heart was torn in two when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drove down the field on the final drive of the game and failed to score. Mike Evans caught a long pass to put the bucs in field goal range with 8 seconds on the clock, only to come up lame and initiate the 10 second runoff rule for an injured player on a team with no timeouts! I looked on in disbelief as i watched the game end instead of the ball being spiked and Patrick Murray attempt a game winning field goal. So for the second straight year I am booted by an underdog Quarterback in their inaugural start. With this death this column will be coming to an end.
Look for a new column from me next week!
September
Well Week 1 is in the books and I survived to pick again this week, albeit with significantly shorter finger nails after the slow start from the Philadelphia Eagles in their 34-17 victory at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Others in the Pool however were not so lucky with 279 of the 889 entrants eliminated in the very first week. The majority of the victims suffered at the hands of the Chicago Bears 23-20 overtime loss to the Buffalo Bills, which claimed 195 entrants. Gotta love gambling against a bunch of homers!
Week 2 has three very safe options to go with, but one team stands out above the rest. You could go with the heavily favored Denver Broncos, fresh off an impressive performance on Sunday night vs the Indianapolis Colts. The Broncos are favored by 13 over the Kansas City Chiefs at home and should get the job done, but I would like to save them for later on in the season. Another good option is the New Orleans Saints to take care of business on the road against the Cleveland Browns. Luckily for the Saints the Browns do not have the firepower that the Falcons have and should score enough to win this game. The team I will be picking is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The St. Louis Rams made the Vikings look like a Super Bowl contender last week and it looks like Austin Taylor is going to get his first ever NFL start Sunday in Tampa. The Bucs will be looking to bounce back after a tough loss to Carolina in Week 1. Josh McCown should enjoy the extra time he will have to throw the ball with Chis Long out for 8-10 weeks for the Rams and that Tampa defense should be able to shut down the Rams' mediocre offense.
September
Back again this year to take a shot at winning all the money and the glory of being the survivor pool champion. So far I am off to a poor start. I procrastinated on getting my payment in and the gentleman who runs the pool only excepts cash/check payments to a P.O. Box. So I mailed my check on Tuesday hoping it will be enough time to make yesterdays deadline. My hesitation might have stifled me, but hopefully my article can help our Drinkfive followers win some greenbacks.
Last year my early season strategy was to look for the lower tier teams that had favorable match-ups to get all the stinkers out of the way and give me more options as the season went on. Well that ended up biting me in the ass when first time starter Brian Hoyer crushed my dreams early on leading the then win-less Browns over the Vikings. So this year I am going to adjust my strategy a bit and keep it simple stupid. With that in mind I am picking this week's biggest favorite the Philadelphia Eagles to roll over the always rebuilding Jacksonville Jaguars. Last year the Jags defense appeared to be on the rise at the end of the season, but they will not have enough offense to keep up with the high octane Eagles. The 10.5 point favorites should win handily in their home opener, while the Jags fans anxiously await the debut of rookie QB Blake Bortles. I set the over under at 6 games until he is anointed the starter.
Have a great season everybody!
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