Be Wary of Losing NFL Teams

I love betting on football. Each week I pour over the stats and make my picks. I then compare them with the information in the Pro Football Handicapping Engine and MrNFL software programs that I use to help me make my final decisions. The software programs are helpful but you have to make some decisions that are not based solely on the stats, such as injuries and the weather. With the NFL season in the home stretch there is another important factor to look at in handicapping the games as well. You have to consider where the teams are in the standings. At this time of year there are several teams that are so far out of playoff contentions that they may have given up.

Now professional football players are supposed to be just that; professional, however they are also human and emotions can affect their performance as can the threat of injury that may have a bearing on their future contracts. A few years back I read The Dark Side of the Game by former NFL player Tim Green. In his 1996 book he admitted that like it or not there were quite a few players on losing teams that did not give their all on Sundays after their teams were eliminated from playoff contention. It is just one more factor to consider when making your picks this time of year.