Brady, Taylor each sharp as Pats down Falcons

Football Betting Lines

08/19/2010 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Brady completed 10-of-12 passes for 85 yards with a touchdown and the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons, 28-10, in an exhibition game at Georgia Dome.

Fred Taylor rushed 11 times for 54 yards with a touchdown and Sammy Morris gained 52 yards on six carries with a TD for New England, which has won both its preseason games. Randy Moss had two catches for 24 yards, while Aaron Hernandez caught a TD pass in the victory.

Matt Ryan finished 8-for-13 for 76 yards through the air for the Falcons, who won their preseason opener last week but watched their offense struggle in this one. Michael Turner gained 32 yards on eight carries in the loss.

John Parker Wilson also saw action under center for the Falcons and completed 14-of-25 passing attempts for 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Matt Bryant's 46-yard field goal 5 1/2 minutes into the game gave the Falcons the lead, but the Pats answered on the ensuing possession. Brady and Taylor combined to engineer an 11-play scoring drive capped by Taylor's 28-yard TD run.

In the second quarter, with Brady still the signal-caller, New England found the end zone again. The 10-play drive started with a 14-yard connection to Moss but eventually stalled after a fumble. Stephen Gostkowski's 41-yard field goal attempt was no good, but a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Pats a first down at the 11-yard line. Brady found Hernandez for a 4-yard TD on third down.

In the third quarter, Sammy Morris's 20-yard touchdown run made it 21-3. Morris started up the middle, but cut outside and raced down along the left sideline and into the corner of the end zone.

The Pats scored again in the fourth quarter via a 24-yard TD pass from Brian Hoyer to rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski. Hoyer finished 8-for-15 with 94 yards passing.

The scoring was capped by Wilson's 19-yard touchdown pass to Troy Bergeron.

Foxaports Football Betting News

<< Montreal pulls away from Winnipeg; Calvillo leaves early
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - S.J. Green scored touchdowns on two of his three receptions to lead the Montreal Alouettes to a 39-17 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at McGill Stadium. Running back Brandon Whitaker, filling

<< ChiSox unleash a 21-hit barrage, clobber Twins
Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Buehrle hurled seven scoreless innings and the White Sox knocked around Carl Pavano and Twins to cruise to an 11-0 victory in the finale of their three-game series against the American League

<< Lee's home run lifts Astros over Mets
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Lee's titantic three-run home run proved to be the difference, as Houston edged New York, 3-2, to split a four- game set at Minute Maid Park. Lee's round-tripper made a loser of Pat Misch (0-2),

<< Spiller, Evans score Bills outlast Colts
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie first-round running back C.J. Spiller rushed for 54 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, as the Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts, 34-21, in a preseason game from the Rogers Centre in Toronto

<< Angels finally solve Red Sox
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hideki Matsui slugged a three-run homer and drove in four as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim snapped a nine-game losing streak to Boston with a 7-2 victory in the finale of a three-game set at Fenway P

Spiller, Evans help Bills outlast Colts >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie first-round running back C.J. Spiller rushed for 54 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, as the Buffalo Bills beat the Indianapolis Colts, 34-21, in a preseason game from the Rogers Centre in Toronto

Raiders QB Frye headed to IR >>
Napa Valley, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Raiders are expected to place quarterback Charlie Frye on injured reserve, forcing him to miss the entire 2010 season. Frye underwent surgery on his right wrist on Wednesday and is expected

Indians overcome five errors to defeat Royals in KC >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Travis Hafner's infield single drove home the final run in a five-run eighth inning, as the Cleveland Indians overcame shoddy defense to rally past Kansas City, 7-3, in the finale of a three-game series

Clijsters, Wozniacki into QFs; Dementieva upended in Montreal >>
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters was an easy third-round victor, while defending Rogers Cup champ Elena Dementieva was an upset victim Thursday at this $2 million Canadian event, a U.S. Open tune-up. The

Cahill stars as Athletics edge Rays >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cliff Pennington's two-run double in the bottom of the sixth was the difference, as the Oakland Athletics edged Tampa Bay, 4-3, in the opener of a four-game series at the Coliseum. Kurt Suzuki and Rajai D

NFL ODDSTop Football Betting Free Agents to Change Teams

NFL Betting

It’s time to see how the biggest NFL free agent signings will perform for their news teams. Some will work out and could be the difference that makes a difference in the win column.

We look at the best off-season signings and if they should influence your NFL betting this season. Julius Peppers – Peppers was the biggest prize available on the 2010 NFL free agent market and the Chicago Bears opened the bank to bring his talents to the south side.

Peppers is explosive, he can get around blockers and cause quarterbacks to lose their minds. We all remember the classic Peppers game last year against the Vikings where he hounded Brett Favre into his worst game of the season. Peppers joining the Bears could be the reason Favre retired for good Tuesday morning. In addition to Peppers, the Bears added Chester Taylor to back up Matt Forte, Forte didn’t have the same intensity in 2009 compared to 2008 and bringing in Taylor will challenge Forte to bring it every game or he’ll risk losing carries to Taylor.

Betting on the Bears is a good option this season because of Julius Peppers and to a lesser extent Taylor. Antonio Bryant and Terrell Owens – The Cincinnati Bengals signed two former number one wide receivers to line up with Chad Ocho Cinco. Antonio Bryant had a huge season in 2008 catching 83 passes for over 1200 yards but regressed last season. Playing for the Tampa Bay Bucs last season was a large part of the regression, everyone was bad in TB last season.

Bryant should have a bounce back season if he can win the number two spot from Terrell Owens. If Bryant wins the number 2 WR spot, it will open up a completely new set of problems for the Bengals. If Owens is forced to the bench in favor of Bryant, his attitude will create trouble for Carson Palmer and head coach Marv Lewis. If Owens is the number two receiver, it means Bryant can’t live up to his past numbers and the Bengals are still limited in the passing game. NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. 2010 football betting lines for this can be found at this top online sportsbook. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense.

NFL bettors should be wary of laying their money down on what could potentially be the biggest gong show in the league in 2010. Karlos Danby – The Miami Dolphins have a great running back tandem in Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, a good young QB in Chad Henne and now the Bill Parcells regime is building a solid defense. They signed away the Arizona Cardinals top linebacker Karlos Danby. In the past two seasons, Danby has totaled 228 tackles, 5 sacks, 3 interceptions and 3 forced fumbles. The Dolphins are the forgotten team of the AFC East with the second longest odds to win the division but with the addition of Karlos Danby and a trade for WR Brandon Marshall makes the Miami Dolphins legitimate contenders in the AFC East and in the NFL’s Eastern Conference.

The Dolphins will make NFL wagering fans a lot of money this season, get in early and enjoy the cash.

NFL Wagering

To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.