How to Successfully Handicap the NFL

The NFL season is always full of surprises. Each year teams that are projected to “win it all” play terribly the entire season, while some teams come out of nowhere to make the playoffs.  High-priced free agents burn out or get injured early in the season, and unknown players emerge and have a huge impact throughout the year. The list goes on.

With this in mind, it can be difficult deciding exactly who to bet on. Thankfully, you don’t have to be psychic to successfully handicap the NFL. In fact, handicapping the NFL is all about playing the odds and making the intelligent plays. Outlined below are some basic strategies to aid the bettor in making a profit during the NFL season. Utilize them throughout the season.

1) Know the stats
Stats are a gambler’s best friend when picking NFL games. Keeping up with a team’s detailed statistics will result in a better understanding of what the team is all about. Similarly, knowing the opposing team’s stats will give you an idea of how the teams match up. For example, if you notice that a team with a stellar ground game is up against a team with poor rushing defense, the team that controls the ground will win the majority of the time.

2) Watch the games
Yes this seems obvious, but it’s critical to successfully handicapping the NFL. Although statistics are very important, they cannot provide the bettor with the same information as actually watching the team play. If watching the games is not an option, catch the highlights. “SportsCenter” or the NFL Network should be on your television as often as possible during the NFL season.

3) Pick the dogs
When betting with the spread, finding undervalued teams is what it’s all about. Although you might believe that a team has a poor chance at defeating the other, the spread the underdog is getting might look pretty good. Pay close attention to how the team actually plays and not its record. For example, a team may have a terrible record but has lost a majority of its games by only a touchdown or less. This means if you see that same team scheduled against an average team and the spread has them as 10-point underdogs, this becomes a viable bet.

4) Know who’s hurt
Keeping up with injuries throughout the season is paramount. Every football fan understands that one injury can have an impact on the entire team for the duration of the season. One injury can turn a great team into an average one. That said, not thoroughly checking the injury list could result in a misplaced bet that could have very easily been avoided.

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