by Micah Roberts, Gaming Today
Jimmy Vaccaro and his crew at Lucky’s sports books across Nevada have opened up odds to win each NFL division for the 2010 season. After a few free agent signings, the NFL draft and key league suspensions handed down, Lucky’s odds are up and ready for action.
Each division has only four teams and it’s likely that many of the listed favorites will get there, but the fun of the entire exercise is attempting to find that one juicy nugget of a team that could surprise. Who is going to be that surprise division winner this season like the Bengals and Vikings were last season?
Lucky’s has six of the eight divisions listed with a double digit underdog. It’s hard to imagine teams like the Lions (15-1), Buccaneers (13-1), Browns (10-1) or Rams (13-1) winning their division at this stage of their rebuilding process, but it’s conceivable to believe the possibilities that lie within the Bills (12-1) and Jaguars (10-1).
The addition of C.J. Spiller to an already fairly competitive team creates an interesting look for Buffalo this season. The Jaguars spent their first four draft picks on defense, an area of dire need. They already have a good nucleus on offense with Maurice Jones-Drew, one of the most dynamic running backs in the league, and a seasoned NFL quarterback in David Garrard, and aren’t too removed from the 2007 team that competed for the division title with the Colts.
The Redskins are the longest shot to win the NFC East at 5 to 1, but it’s hard to ignore the impact that Mike Shanahan could immediately have as the new head coach. He already has picked up the best offensive lineman of the draft in Trent Williams with the fourth overall pick and addressed the team’s main concern at quarterback. The addition of Donovan McNabb, while keeping him within the division playing against defenses he knows very well, should make the Redskins a serious contender to beat out the Cowboys (13-10) and Giants (12-5) for the division.
Along with the Redskins, top picks to win the division that aren’t favorites would be the Jets (3-2) and the Falcons (8-5). There is nothing written that says a Super Bowl Champion can’t go back-to-back, but it’s only happened once in 10 years. Of the last 10 Super Bowl winners, only five have made the playoffs the following year. It’s hard to fathom the Saints falling off so drastically at this juncture before training camp has even started, but other than the 2000 Broncos, it was a shock to see those other four teams miss out. Getting plus money with a quality team like the Falcons to go along with history sounds pretty tempting.
The Jets have the tough task of trying to take down the Patriots (13-10), but it looks like these two teams are headed in opposite directions. The Jets have the nastiest defense in football, a great offensive line, fresh legs at running back and a rising star in quarterback Mark Sanchez who was brilliant in the playoffs leading the Jets to the AFC title game.
The Jets are such a strong contender to have a great season that they warrant future book wagering consideration to win the AFC Championship and Super Bowl. Lucky’s sports books have the Jets 8 to 1 to win the conference and 12 to 1 to win it all, some of the highest odds in town. In fact, the theoretic hold on all Lucky’s NFL futures are some of the lowest in the city which will somewhat guarantee that you’ll get the fairest prices on whatever team you’re looking to wager on by making a visit.
