Football is widely considered as the most popular sport to bet on out there today, specifically in the United States. The obvious reason for that though is that the NFL is the most popular sport by a mile. If you’re a sports bettor, then there’s not much better out there than the build up to a Sunday afternoon of football and betting action. Remember though, the NFL has games on both Thursday and Monday as well, meaning that if you’re a football bettor that you are probably getting prepared all week for all of the different bets that are out there for all of the different games. Let’s take a look at some different football bets that are offered, as well as give some football betting strategy that’ll help make the full slate of games much easier to bet.
Popular Types of Football Bets
In football betting there is no more popular bet than the spread. The spread is simply the amount of points that one team is favored over another team by. For example, if a team is -6 against another team, then they have to win by more than 6 in order for you to win your bet. On the other side, if the team is +6 and you bet them, but they lose by anything less than 6 then you’ll win your bet. Spread betting is talked about often, and it’s also one of the toughest bets to call sometimes. You can bet teams on the moneyline if you want, which means just betting a team to win the game, but often times these bets don’t come with the best odds if you are betting a favorite. On the other side though, if you take an underdog then you can get good odds that pay out well if they hit!
A few other types of bets will include total betting, which is probably the second most popular bet, as this is a projected total number of points on a game, and you are betting on either more or less than that projected total. Prop bets and future bets are the final two we’ll mention here, and a prop bet is a bet that relates to either the game or specific players in the game. It may have something to do with how many yards a quarterback will pass for or how many yards a running back will rush for. Future bets are just a bet on something like who will win the Super Bowl, the NFC/AFC Championship, or the MVP Award.
Looking for the Right Angles
Finding the best angles on football bets is big, and that’s the way that you’re going to bring in a consistent profit. Angles that you can look for include how a team does against the specific team they are playing, looking for great offenses that are playing in a game where the two defenses have been struggling, and injuries that could affect the game in some way. There are many times where you’ll find that a player is considered as questionable and may or may not play, and in that situation if you can find information on if that player is playing or not, then it can be an angle that can make you some money without a doubt.
Home Field Advantage
Home field advantage can often be big, and it’s an angle that deserves it’s own section. Some teams just have that extra edge at home that can really put them over the top. Look at teams like the Seattle Seahawks when they won the Super Bowl in 2013, they were so incredible at home, and it set them up very well for the postseason in those big time games. It’s going to be an angle that’ll just get better and better as the season gets later and later since the playoffs will start to get into focus and teams are going to need to win games to continue their push towards the postseason.
Weather for Total Betting
One thing that does need to be mentioned about betting on the total of a football game is to watch for the weather. The weather can be a major determinate of how the total ends up looking. If you find a game where it is snowing and has 30 MPH winds, then you’ll want to avoid betting the over in that game more than likely unless it’s just insanely low and the two teams still have offenses that can put points up on the board.
There are many angles and things to consider when betting on football, but also be sure that you are using two or three sportsbooks so that you can keep track of the lines and possibly take advantage of a big line move or good odds on one site over another. Check out the promotions that the sports betting sites offer for football season as well!