Bettors Favor Jaguars
The oddsmakers at online sports book Bodog opened the Wild Card playoff matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Jacksonville Jaguars with the Steelers as -1 point spread betting line favorites. The over/under odds were set at 37.5 total points.
Since the line opened up, behind the money of 74% of the public according to the NFL public betting stats provided by TheSpread.com, the Jaguars are now favored on the road by 2.5 points.
The huge line swing is not surprising considering the Jaguars have covered the point spread 10 of 12 times against the Steelers including a 29-22 road win against Pittsburgh just three weeks ago. Even though the final score looked close, the Jaguars actually dominated the Steelers by outgaining them 421-217 and sacking Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger five times.
For the Steelers to disappoint all of the money being bet on the Jaguars, they will need to slow down the Jaguars scoring machine who have put up more than 24 points in each of their last 10 games. Due to the new offensive looking Jaguars, people seem to forget their defense is ranked in the top 10 of almost every defensive category.
The Jaguars will be looking to once again control the line of scrimmage as they did in their road victory in Heinz as Jacksonville running back Fred Taylor was the first running back to 30 games to rush over 100 yards on the Steelers defense at home. Taylor is a big fan of playing in Pittsburgh and has gained 381 yards in the last two games played in Pittsburgh. "I don’t see Fred Taylor doing that to our defense twice in a row," Steelers receiver Hines Ward said.
After our in-house betting experts reviewed all the intangibles, the only factors that seem to point toward the Steelers are the revenge factor and the fact it is a January playoff game at Heinz Field.
“All the numbers point to a Jaguars blowout”, said Michael Cash, General Manager of TheSpread.com “but we are going to have to wait until closer to game time before our experts make any official pick selections”. “Our cappers should have something for everyone Saturday that will be released at SpreadExperts.com.” said Cash.
By: Staff Writers – Email Us
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