The Importance of the Offensive line, Kicking and Coaching in Sports Betting

In the NFL, matchups are important and there are certain matchups that in a close game or a game that you perceive as being close can make or break a team, making you either a winner or loser in the sports betting arena. In this article, we’re going to focus on three areas that are often overlooked by beginning sports bettors. Each one should be carefully considered prior to your making your wager.

Offensive Line

Although the glitz and glamour of football starts at quarterback and the running backs and receivers most often score the points, the success of the offense rests squarely on the shoulder-to-shoulder play of the offensive line. The O-line is responsible for protecting the quarterback, creating holes for the ground game and keeping the opponent’s defensive line off-balance.

It’s important to monitor some key stats when it comes to the offensive line including number of sacks allowed, number of tackles for a loss given up and total offensive yards on the ground. Taken together, these will give you a good sense of how the line is doing.

You also want to check for any injuries to key players and to consider the age of the line as the season goes on. In other words, at the start of the season a team’s O-line may be functioning great, but partway through the season, due to wear-and-tear, they may start to fall apart. Replacing someone on the offensive line is not like putting in a new receiver or running back. This group functions as a unit and their success is partly due to their ability to work together as one. Understanding this is key if you want to succeed in sports betting.

Kicking

Kickers have ruined more weekends for those engaged in sports betting than any other category of NFL player and yet even some veteran bettors negate their contribution. If you’re wagering on a contest that has a point spread of around three, you’d better pay attention to the placekicker. Also, if a team has a tough time making touchdowns but often gets into the red zone, then weigh the placekicker’s abilities more heavily than you normally would.

Important regular season games, playoff contests and Super Bowls have been won and lost on the legs of these guys. Check out kicking stats prior to making your bet, taking into consideration a kicker’s accuracy, distance and overall reliability. How is their health and how have they been doing recently? Have they shown improvement or has their performance diminished over the past three to four games?

Punting is important too. For each punter look at how many punts they’ve made, their average length and the percentage of kicks landing within the 20-yard line. Also consider the strength of the opposing team’s return game and if they might take advantage of any miscue by the punter. How many punts has he had blocked? With punters you are looking for consistency in performance. A bad punter can set up scoring chances for opponents and just about hand them a touchdown, while a solid boot can make it tough for opposing offenses to get beyond their own 20-yard line.

Coaching

In no other sport is coaching as important as it is in football. NFL coaches and their coordinators with their schemes, the immediate decisions they must make and their ability to manage the clock have a huge impact on the outcome of a game. Great coaches can make average teams into winners and a bad coach can squander the best talent in the league.

Thus, coaches have a lot to do with your success in sports betting. That means that you must know each NFL coach as well as you know his players. In studying matchups, you need to carefully analyze each head coach and how their style matchups against the other.

As part of your sports betting process, consider how successful the coach has been, the manner in which he operates and whether or not the team has bought into his system. How has he done in close games, is he able to read other offenses and defenses and what’s his relationship with management?

Sports Betting and Analysis

Sports betting is really all about analysis and in order to consistently win your NFL bets, you must focus on each and every aspect of the game. Keep current on what’s happening with each team, focus on matchups and be sure to pay attention to the three areas discussed in this article. None are very sexy, but they are all important when it comes to a team’s success.