Bovada: Vikings only -4 vs Saints, Eagles +3!!

[purplefaithful]

• NE -13 1/2 vs Titans
• Pitt - 7 1/2 vs Jags
• Eagles +3 vs Falcons

Not much love for Keenum or Fowles me thinks. 

https://sports.bovada.lv/football

[Guest]

Oddsmaker says Vikings fans should be rooting for CarolinaJace FrederickJanuary 6, 2018 at 4:58 pm


One oddsmaker thinks it’s obvious who Vikings fans should root for this weekend: Atlanta and Carolina.
If the Falcons upset the Rams on Saturday, and the Panthers upset the Saints on Sunday, Minnesota would face Carolina in next Sunday’s divisional round of the NFC playoffs, instead of Los Angeles or New Orleans.
“To me, personally, I’d want to play the Panthers,” said Kevin Bradley, the SportsBook manager at Bovada.LV. “I just think that the Vikings overall are a better team. The Panthers, yeah, they’ve had some big wins, but to me they can come out very flat sometimes.”
Bradley said the Vikings likely would be favored by about 6.5 points to beat Carolina, but would only be favored to beat the Saints by about four points and the Rams by about three points. He also noted the points spreads are hypothetical, and could change after these weekend’s results, based on potential injuries and how teams look.
Of the Vikings’ three potential divisional opponents, Carolina is the only non-division champion, but finished with the same record (11-5) as the Rams and Saints and is the only one of the three to beat the Vikings this season. Minnesota handled Los Angeles and New Orleans at home. So why is Minnesota’s best match-up against Carolina? Bradley just thinks the Rams, Saints and Vikings are all simply better than the Panthers.
The Vikings get about three points in any match-up from oddsmakers for being the home team, meaning Bradley sees Minnesota as pretty evenly-matched with Los Angeles and New Orleans
“Any of those teams could come out of there,” Bradley said. “There’s a reason it is so close. Whoever (the Vikings) play in their next match-up is not going to be easy. If you look at the other side (in the AFC), there’s some weaker teams potentially. This one, I think it’s pretty wide open.”
Bradley said the entire NFC playoffs are “wide open” this season.
“Even the Eagles, they’ve still been playing well even without (quarterback Carson) Wentz,” Bradley said. “They’re right there. You’ve got the Falcons, who could upset the Rams. To me, it’s really, really tight.”
The reason Bradley thinks the Vikings would be favored by slightly more to beat the Saints than the Rams is he thinks Los Angeles is “marginally” better than New Orleans. Betting patterns, team rankings, stats, match-ups and more play into all spreads.
“Obviously, these (Rams and Saints) teams have really impressed, and if you look at them, they’re kind of the same team,” Bradley said. “They have a good mix of passing and running, both good running games. I would say they’re sort of on par, but I would just say maybe the Rams have a little bit of an edge. I’m also looking at how I would say we would get bet. And, based on our information, I think people would be easier to back the Rams than the Saints.”
VIKINGS NOT GETTING MUCH MONEY Bovada.LV currently lists the Vikings at 4-1 to win the Super Bowl. That trails only New England, which currently is listed at 5-2.
“We have the Vikings as a favorite (in the NFC), based on the fact that they’re home next week, the Super Bowl is there, all that sort of stuff,” Bradley said. “But right now, even at their low odds, we’re not seeing too much money on them.”
Bradley doesn’t think that’s a signal for a lack of confidence in Minnesota as much as people trying to get a bigger return on investment. A $5 bet on the Vikings to win the Super Bowl would only currently net someone $20.
“I just think it’s because their odds are pretty low,” Bradley said. “I think people missed the boat at the beginning of the year. You could’ve got them around 25-1. That was good. But as the season went on and they kept winning, their odds went down. So right now they’re not really a popular bet, I guess, because people are looking for a bigger payout.”
He has seen far more money lately put on teams such as Atlanta (around 16-1 to win the Super Bowl) and Jacksonville (18-1).
“Teams like that people are more likely to put money on at this point in the season,” Bradley said.


https://www.twincities.com/2018/01/05/od...-carolina/

[Guest]

I get that the media is all over the Saints now and love them, but the Panthers could have won this game. The NFC is a strong group of playoff teams. 

[Guest]

@"StickyBun" said:
I get that the media is all over the Saints now and love them, but the Panthers could have won this game. The NFC is a strong group of playoff teams. 

I actually think that helps the Vikimgs.  Let the media be all over the Saints and let that stick in the Vikings craw.

[Guest]

Definitely a week where Zimm can play the "no respect" card

[Guest]

We've been saying it for weeks.  The one team that could give us the most trouble is the Drew led Saints.  We are 2 evenly matched teams and this game should be a pickem'.  High powered O vs. the #1 D.  It may very well come down to our fans rocking the hell out of Valhalla, in the last 2 minutes, to help decide the winner.  I think our goal should be to keep NO to 17 points or less and own time of possession by 5 minutes or more.  We do that, I think we win.

[Guest]

Close game and right down to the wire I what I expect.  Even if we were to get two scores up on them towards the end of the game.  It is like Rodgers and the Packers, they are never out until the final second is off the clock.

[Guest]

I was hoping that Carolina could have pulled it out, but I'm also really happy to see Cam eliminated.  Just seeing him dancing and prancing around in pregame and after wins makes me sick, and somewhat hostile.  It always pleases me greatly when I get to watch his pouty press conferences after losses while I laugh at his ridiculous outfits.  The only problem is now we have to watch the arrogant pricks from New Orleans.  It's like a "go figure" that the season the Vikings get to this point again the Saints are back from three seasons of garbage football.

[Guest]

I predicted a Vikings -4 line and it opened -3.5 and went up.   It's about right, take out 3 for home field and I'd make the Vikings a 1 point favorite on a neutral.   The Saints are arguably one of the 4 best teams in the NFL with Pitt, New England and Minnesota.  

[Guest]

i think the Vikes on a neutral site are 3 to 4 points better,  make this a home game and they should be about a TD better.  Brees is good,  our D is better.