The NFL has consumed sports culture in America. There are many ways to watch football and feel more a part of all the action, but fantasy football has been the biggest thing to capture NFL viewer's attention. While it is fun to play it does not always require a strong football mind to be successful. Injuries and/or surprise performances can change the course of a league in a heartbeat. There is, however another way to challenge yourselves and your friends in the realm of football.
My good friend Smitty and I have chosen over/unders for games each week, including playoffs, for the past couple seasons. First, my disclaimer is that we never bet money when doing this which translates to fun for any type of person. It is a football knowledge game and a test of who has a good feel for teams and the surrounding influences that determine wins from week to week in the NFL. With that said, why is picking the over/unders more fun and interesting than any other form of extracurricular NFL activity?
Unlike any fantasy game, you are forced to look at more than just a handful of players. NFL games are more than fantasy points. There are small battles all around the field that determine the outcome of a game. QB's are the most popular players in fantasy games. On the field QB's are extremely important, but they can or cannot be successful without their offensive line performing, skill players making plays, and the defense shutting down the other team. Example: Alex Smith is not a popular QB in fantasy football. Many fans do not think highly of him as a real life QB. However, you must factor in him managing a game well and protecting the ball while allowing other parts of the 49ers to win games. This gives you completely different aspects to examine when you talk about Alex Smith and the Niners when choosing the winner of an NFL game. The other side of this is a player like Adrian Peterson before he was hurt last season. He is consistently a great fantasy play because he is a one man wrecking crew. But, when you have to look at the Vikings as a team you see many holes on their team. Perhaps those holes are not a worry on a certain week while the next week they are left exposed and being blown out, all while AP has a big week regardless. Picking the over/unders challenges you to look at more than a player. You have to look at all players on both teams, how they match up, and what other variable may lead to one team losing but maybe still covering to give a betting man the win.
Speaking of the betting man, choosing over/unders opens up a whole new way to look at matchups each week. You may feel confident that the game featuring the Texans and Dolphins is going to be an easy win for Houston. But how easy do you really think it will be? If someone tells you the Texans are favored by 13.5, do you feel a little better about the Dolphins chances? You should! The NFL is known for parity with many games remaining close enough that spreads are almost always in play. If you are so confident to take Houston, think about it like this. They must have at least 2 scoring possessions more than Miami. If the Texans can't get in the endzone because of a tough opening night for Matt Schaub, it may take five scoring drives more! This makes any game so much more interesting. You may have games that you KNOW who the winner will be, yet you can lose because of a late garbage TD for the losing team or even a missed extra point for the winning team. You can find interest in every game now that even a terrible team has an opportunity to cover the spread.
If you are an avid NFL fan try a new way to look at games. Each week I will post my picks for all Sunday and Monday games. If there happens to be more than one game that does not fall on those two days (Thanksgiving football), I will post those as well. I will post by Saturday afternoon so that everyone can see the lines and make their own picks. Throw them up in the blog comments and see how you do each week. You can also register in Pick 'em games with many websites (ESPN, NFL, CBS, FOX, Yahoo) and challenge yourself against a larger audience. Remember, if you pick correctly just 51 percent of the time for the season, you would be winning money in Vegas and probably beating most people you play with.
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