Giants' Smith to miss Sunday's game
October 4th, 2007
East Rutherford, NJ (Sports Network) - New York Giants wide receiver Steve Smith will miss Sunday's game against the New York Jets with a broken shoulder blade.
Smith suffered the injury during a 35-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 2. A rookie out of USC, Smith had one catch for 10 yards in that game. He has four catches for 26 yards on the season.
Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress and defensive end Osi Umenyiora did not practice on Thursday, but both are expected to be ready for Sunday's contest.
Umenyiora, who registered six sacks last Sunday against the Eagles, is battling a knee injury suffered in the season-opener against Dallas. Burress has fought through an ankle problem since late August but has played in each of the Giants' four games this season.
Cards WR Boldin, T Brown questionable
October 4th, 2007
Tempe, AZ (Sports Network) - Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Anquan Boldin and offensive tackle Levi Brown did not participate in team practice on Thursday and are questionable for Sunday's game against the St. Louis Rams.
Boldin missed last Sunday's 21-14 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers due to a sprained hip suffered in the Cardinals' 26-23 loss to Baltimore on September 23.
In three games this season, the Florida State product has 22 catches for 286 yards and three touchdowns.
Brown, who has been sidelined with an ankle injury also suffered against the Ravens, practiced on Wednesday but did not participate Thursday. If Brown is unable to play, Elton Brown gets the nod in his place.
Ravens DE Pryce out for Sunday's game
October 4th, 2007
Owings Mills, MD (Sports Network) - Baltimore Ravens defensive end Trevor Pryce will not play in the Ravens' game against San Francisco on Sunday due to a broken left wrist.
Price is recovering from surgery on the wrist, which he injured during the third quarter of a 20-13 win over the New York Jets in Week 2
Texans' Johnson still questionable for Miami game
October 4th, 2007
Houston, TX (Sports Network) - Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson sat out of practice for the second straight day Thursday, and it remains to be seen whether he will be healed from a knee injury in time for the team's game against the Miami Dolphins Sunday.
Johnson was injured in the fourth quarter of the team's Week 2 win over the Carolina Panthers after taking a hit to the knee from Carolina defensive back Chris Harris, and had missed the two games - both losses - since.
Fellow wide receiver Jerome Mathis also did not participate Wednesday or Thursday because of an injury to his fibula.
Ward, Polamalu among Steelers in doubt for Sunday
October 4th, 2007
Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward missed practice again Thursday, as did a pair of Pro Bowlers on the defensive side of the ball, safety Troy Polamalu and defensive tackle Casey Hampton.
Ward suffered a knee injury in the third quarter of the Steelers' Week 3 victory over the 49ers, and sat out last week's loss to Arizona. Hampton (thigh), Polamalu (abdomen), and cornerback Bryant McFadden (ankle) are also nursing injuries that have prevented them from practicing all week.
The Steelers host the Seattle Seahawks Sunday.
Travis Henry tries to stop NFL from revealing drug test result
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos running back Travis Henry, the league's leading rusher, is trying to prevent the NFL from suspending him over the results of a drug test, Newsday reported Thursday.
Henry was granted a temporary restraining order in Suffolk County (N.Y.) Supreme Court to prevent the league from using a urine specimen against him and to prevent the league from disclosing the test results, but an appellate court vacated the order, according to court papers filed in Brooklyn federal court.
The report on the newspaper's Web site said Henry claims the league violated its substance abuse policy by not allowing his experts to be present for testing of his urine sample, according to court papers.
The league wants the matter transferred to federal court because it involves interpretation of the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, generally covered by federal labor laws.
Pending an appeal, Henry would be subject to a yearlong suspension if he tested positive again. While in Tennessee, Henry was suspended four games in September 2005 by the NFL for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
He signed a five-year, $22.5 million free agent contract with the Broncos that included $12 million in guarantees this offseason after the Titans released him in a cost-cutting move and the Broncos sent last year's starter, Tatum Bell, to Detroit.
The Broncos declined comment Thursday.
''Have to refer you to the League, we have no comment,'' general manager Ted Sundquist told The Associated Press in response to an e-mail inquiry about a Denver TV report that Henry had tested positive for marijuana.
A league spokesman said the NFL had no comment.
Henry, who injured his right knee and right ankle in a loss at Indianapolis on Sunday, has not practiced this week nor has he been available to reporters. His agent, Hadley Engelhard, didn't return messages left by the AP, nor did Henry's lawyer, Robert Dapelo.
Henry, who started his career with the Buffalo Bills, is the centerpiece of Denver's revamped offense.
The Broncos had hoped he could be their first workhorse running back since Clinton Portis in 2003, and he got off to a fantastic start, rushing for 433 yards and one touchdown over the first month. He also caught five passes for 52 yards.
Henry's backup is undrafted rookie Selvin Young out of Texas, who has rushed 15 times for 138 yards and a league-best 9.2-yard average. The Broncos might move second-year pro Mike Bell back to tailback if Henry isn't available. Bell was moved to fullback last month.
Blackmon to miss season after foot injury in practice
October 4, 2007
Associated Press
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Will Blackmon's second NFL season will end just like his first -- on injured reserve.
The Packers' second-year cornerback suffered the fourth significant injury of his 18-month pro career when he broke his right foot in practice. Coach Mike McCarthy revealed the injury following Thursday's practice.
Blackmon, who broke the same foot during a May 2006 minicamp, was covering a receiver during the final 11-on-11 team period of Wednesday's practice when they got their feet tangled up.
The injury is the latest in a string of bad luck for Blackmon, who came back from the foot injury after missing the first five games of last season, only to suffer a broken rib in his fourth game on the active roster and winding up on IR.
Then, Blackmon won the kickoff and punt return jobs in preseason, only to suffer a broken left thumb during the Aug. 23 preseason game against Jacksonville. The injury required casting and cost him the return job, although Blackmon did play as the No. 4 corner in the dime defense.
"I feel terrible for Will. He was coming on strong. We all saw what he did as a returner," McCarthy said. "We felt he and Jarrett Bush were right there neck-and-neck as the No. 3 corner. It's a shame. He was contributing on special teams and was really making a move."
Niners LT Jennings out indefinitely
October 4, 2007
Associated Press
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- Left tackle Jonas Jennings will be out of the San Francisco 49ers' lineup indefinitely while dealing with a "private matter," coach Mike Nolan said Thursday.
The oft-injured Jennings is healthy, but Nolan wouldn't disclose the reason for the seventh-year pro's absence, which could extend through the 49ers' bye next week -- though Nolan said Jennings will return to the team this season.
"As always, our most important interest is in the well-being of our players," Nolan said.
Jennings was at the 49ers' training complex Thursday, but didn't practice. After the morning walkthrough, Jennings consulted with Nolan and team chaplain Earl Smith outside the team's locker room.
Third-year backup Adam Snyder will start in place of Jennings, who started 13 games last season. Jennings won't go back to his offseason home in Atlanta, Nolan said.
Jennings played just three games in his first campaign with San Francisco in 2005, missing most of the year with a shoulder injury. His absence is another blow to the 49ers' already struggling offense, which is last in the NFL in total yards.
Quarterback Alex Smith will miss Sunday's game against Baltimore with a shoulder injury, while tight end Vernon Davis will be out at least one more game with a knee injury.
San Francisco has a bye week after facing the Ravens, but Nolan wasn't certain Jennings would be back for the 49ers' road game against the New York Giants on Oct. 21.
The oddmakers’ take on the NFL’s new starters
Covers.com
It’s only four games into the season and several teams have already had to hand the ball to their backup quarterback.
Several of these new starters have spent large chunks of the past few seasons warming the bench, making it difficult for bettors to know what to expect. We spoke to two of the top oddsmakers in Las Vegas about what they made of these backup-turned-starting quarterbacks.
Bob Scucci is the director of race and sportsbook at the Coast Hotels, while Pete Korner heads up Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Brian Griese (Chicago Bears)
Griese replaced Rex Grossman last Sunday, but it was hard to tell the difference. Griese threw three interceptions in a 37-27 loss to Detroit that dropped the club to 1-3. He’s expected to start Sunday’s game against Green Bay.
Scucci: “While Griese hasn’t played in a lot of big games in his career so far, he is still a good NFL quarterback with a lot of experience. He got that one game he needed under his belt against the Detroit Lions last week and I think he could kick off from that and have a good season.”
Korner: “He’s experienced, but he’s just not a winner. As far as backups go, he’s going to come in and perform. In comparison to Rex Grossman, he might actually exceed the starter he is replacing. He’s on a very good team, with a particularly good defense, and if he can just cut out the INTs this could be good for both the Bears and bettors.”
Gus Frerotte (St. Louis Rams)
Rams coach Scott Linehan will bench Marc Bulger in favor of Gus Frerotte for this Sunday’s game against Arizona, according to reports. Playing with three broken ribs, Bulger has compiled a 64.9 rating so far this season, throwing for 765 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions.
Frerotte threw for 2,996 yards, 18 TDs and 13 picks as a starter with Miami in the 2005-2006 season.
Scucci: “Another former starter who has a lot of experience, but I think his career is on the down slope at the moment. Frerotte’s best days are well and truly behind him and I wouldn’t be too eager to put my money on him to be honest.”
Korner: “Frerotte has got both experience and success on his side. While he is capable of coming in and doing well, he is not as good a starter as (Marc) Bulger, so there is a bit of a dropoff here. But most bettors know that and will approach the next few Rams games a bit more cautiously.”
Trent Edwards (Buffalo Bills)
To be a successful athlete in any sport you have to take your chances when they come. That’s what Trent Edwards seems to have done at Buffalo. With J.P. Losman out, the rookie QB came in and led the Bills to their first win of the season.
Edwards threw for 331 yards and a touchdown in a 17-14 win over the Jets last Sunday and is tipped to start this Monday night against Dallas.
Scucci: “Edwards is unproven. There’s nothing you can look at that says ‘Hey, this guy can handle himself in the big situations.’ I think this is more guesswork and desperation on the part of the Bills and I would wait to see how he does under pressure as the season goes on.”
Korner: “Losman simply hasn’t performed and Edwards took his chance and provided a badly needed win. Edwards is filling in – or replacing – a quarterback who just hasn’t done the business, so there is no real drop in value. But it still remains to be seen how much success he can bring to Buffalo. Bettors and oddsmakers don’t know a whole lot about him, but he’s still an improvement on Losman.”
Daunte Culpepper (Oakland Raiders)
Revenge can be sweet and Culpepper exacted it in a big way last Sunday. He was handed his first start for Oakland when Josh McCown was ruled out with a broken toe. Culpepper ran for three touchdowns and passed for two in a 35-17 win against his former team, the Miami Dolphins.
The Raiders have a bye week this week but with McCown still struggling, Culpepper should make his second start of the season against San Diego on Oct. 14.
Scucci: “In the past few years I haven’t liked Culpepper in any role, for Minnesota, Miami or Oakland. Basically, he hasn’t had a good season in about four years and he is another guy that I wouldn’t trust in pressure situations.”
Korner: “His first game back he had a big incentive to win against Miami and I’m not sure if he will produce a performance like that again. This guy could – and should – have been a superstar and as far as backups go, there probably isn’t a better one out there. Bettors know this and will act accordingly.”
Five NFL teams still unbeaten (vs. spread)
By DAVE TULEY
LAS VEGAS – It's hard to believe the NFL regular season is already a quarter of the way over as all but the four teams that had a bye last week have played four of their 16 games.
So now is a good time to look at how teams are faring not only in the standings but also against the oddsmakers' lines. The accompanying chart ranks each team by its record against the spread ("ATS" in the middle column). While four games is a short sample, it can give bettors some clues as to what teams the oddsmakers have yet to make the proper adjustments on when setting the lines.
As most people know, the Patriots, Cowboys, and Packers are all 4-0 both straight up and against the spread. But what most casual observers probably don't know is that the Cardinals, despite a 2-2 overall record, are also 4-0 against the spread, and the Titans are undefeated ATS at 3-0. Of course, oddsmakers are adjusting on these teams as we speak and the Patriots are a whopping -16 vs. the Browns this week, the Cowboys are -10 vs. the Bills, and the Packers are -3 vs. the Bears (just three weeks ago in advance lines available at the Las Vegas Hilton, the Bears were -3 in this game). Even the Cardinals are -3 1/2 vs. the Rams.
The Colts are 4-0 straight up, but only in the middle of the pack at 2-2 against the spread as they failed to cover in their wins over the Titans and Texans. The latter line was -6 at a lot of books and resulted in a push for a lot of bettors, but for the sake of consistency, I'm using the closing lines at the Hilton, where the Colts-Texans line closed at 6 1/2.
The Rams, Bears, Broncos, and Ravens have all disappointed bettors every week and are all 0-4 against the spread, with the Saints at 0-3. The Dolphins have also yet to cover, but they do have two pushes.
The final column in the chart shows each team's record with the over/under, and even though they're not listed in order, we can see that the Browns and Raiders, two teams that were expected to have decent defenses and woeful offenses, are both 4-0 with the over. Don't you wish you had known this back in Week 3 when the two teams met with a total of 41 and the Raiders won 26-24? The Raiders are idle this week, but the Browns are playing the Patriots - who are in a group at 3-1 with the over - with a total of 48.
The Rams, who were expected to have a high-scoring offense and swiss-cheese defense, are 4-0 with the under. The Redskins and Titans are 3-0 with the under while the Vikings are 3-0-1 after pushing last week. The Vikings are idle this week, but the Rams-Cardinals game has a total of 40, the Lions-Redskins is 46 (but beware the Lions are 3-1 with the over) and the Titans-Falcons is 40 1/2.
NFL-wide betting trends
Underdogs have been barking through the first four weeks at 35-22-5 against the spread (61 percent), and that's especially impressive since they were 6-9-1 in the first week. Home dogs have been especially potent as they are not only 14-7 against the spread (67 percent) but also have won 11 of those 21 games straight up, many at juicy money-line prices. After offering nine home dogs last week (the public went 6-3 both straight up and against the spread), the schedule has only four home dogs this week - the Chiefs +2 1/2 vs. the Jaguars, Rams +3 1/2 vs. the Cardinals, 49ers +3 1/2 vs. the Ravens, and the Bills +10 vs. the Cowboys.
* Another favorite subset of mine in the NFL is double-digit underdogs, but they haven't fared as well in the early going as they are only 1-4 against the spread with the Chiefs' win over the Chargers last week being the first one to cash. But double-digit dogs will get a chance to rebound this week with the Browns +16 vs. the Patriots, the Buccaneers +10 vs. the Colts, and Bills +10 vs. the Cowboys. Even though the big dogs haven't had much bite, mid-range dogs - which I define as those more than a touchdown and less than double digits - or from +7 1/2 to +9 1/2 underdogs - are 5-2 against the spread. This week's only mid-range dog is the Falcons +8 vs. the Titans, though the Colts-Bucs might fall into this category as some books have moved to 9 1/2.
o Conventional wisdom says the AFC is far superior to the NFC, but the NFC has been holding its own in interleague play as the games have been split 8-8 overall and the NFC holding a slight edge of 7-6-3 against the spread. But an argument can be made that the AFC hasn't shown its dominance yet as the Patriots have yet to play an NFC team and the Colts are just 1-0 with the win over the Saints. An interesting thing to note is that the AFC teams that are over .500 in the standings (Colts, Patriots, Steelers, Jaguars, and Titans) are a combined 4-1 against the NFC while the teams under .500 (Bengals, Jets, Bills, Chargers, and Dolphins) are a combined 1-4. The six teams that are 2-2 overall are a combined 3-3 vs. the NFC. So, if you still think the AFC is superior and the cream will rise to the top, there would be six interconference plays this week: The Titans -8 vs. the Falcons, Steelers -6 vs. the Seahawks, Jets +3 1/2 vs. the Giants, Colts -10 vs. the Buccaneers, the Ravens -3 1/2 vs. the 49ers, and Bills +10 vs. the Cowboys. Personally, I'll back the NFC with the Falcons, Seahawks, and Bucs.
* On a side note to the AFC/NFC debate, the line on the Super Bowl that is up at many Vegas sports books. It was around AFC -5 during the summer and is now around -8 and as high as -9 (at the Wynn Las Vegas) with the Cowboys' impressive start probably the only thing keeping it from being double digits.
o One last betting note, the Wynn has a proposition wager that asks if any NFL teams will go either undefeated or winless. It opened at -1500 on the "no" with +1000 on the "yes" and was adjusted this past weekend to -1700 on the "no" and +1100 on the "yes" after the Falcons and Bills got off the schnied last week. The undefeated teams are the Patriots, Colts, Cowboys, and Packers, though there are some elimination games as the Pats play both the Colts and the Cowboys. Among the winless teams (the Dolphins, Saints, and Rams), the Saints and Rams also play each other.
NFL Betting Standings
Team (record) ATS O/U
Patriots (4-0) 4-0 3-1
Cowboys (4-0) 4-0 3-1
Packers (4-0) 4-0 1-2-1
Cardinals (2-2) 4-0 2-2
Titans (2-1) 3-0 0-3
Steelers (3-1) 3-1 2-2
Buccaneers (3-1) 3-1 1-3
Browns (2-2) 3-1 4-0
Texans (2-2) 3-1 3-1
Lions (3-1) 2-1-1 3-1
Seahawks (3-1) 2-1-1 1-3
Chiefs (2-2) 2-1-1 1-3
Vikings (1-3) 1-1-2 0-3-1
Redskins (2-1) 1-1-1 0-3
Colts (4-0) 2-2 2-2
Raiders (2-2) 2-2 4-0
Panthers (2-2) 2-2 2-2
Giants (2-2) 2-2 1-3
Falcons (1-3) 2-2 2-2
Bills (1-3) 2-2 1-3
Jaguars (2-1) 1-2 1-2
Jets (1-3) 1-2-1 2-2
Bengals (1-3) 1-2-1 2-2
49ers (2-2) 1-3 1-3
Chargers (1-3) 1-3 3-1
Eagles (1-3) 1-3 1-3
Dolphins (0-4) 0-2-2 3-1
Saints (0-3) 0-3 1-2
Ravens (2-2) 0-4 3-1
Broncos (2-2) 0-4 3-1
Bears (1-3) 0-4 2-2
Rams (0-4) 0-4 0-4
SU – straight-up record; ATS – against the spread; O/U – over/under; records based on closing lines at Las Vegas Hilton
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