Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Playing fantasy football more often can help your NFL betting skills. Or is it the other way around? Actually, it’s both as hobbyists of both fields already know – and don’t want you to know.
Direct application of knowledge from the fantasy game to real-life football betting are in “Head-to-head” props common at online sportsbooks. If you’re watching Tom Brady because he’s the starting quarterback on your fantasy team, surely you’ll have some insight into whether he’ll rack up more passing yardage on Sunday than, say, Peyton Manning.
Also important to both games is the concept of the “sleeper” who bursts forth with eye-popping statistics seemingly from out of nowhere. While you can assuredly depend on these guys (and their real-life NFL offenses) in the early going to win you points and make you money, a close watch on a sleeper will also reveal when defenses are beginning to adapt. If your sleeper represents the sole weapon on a dog of a team, you’ll also notice that once he’s shut down, so is his club – making for easy pointspread betting and over/under propositions.
Finally, though defense (alternatively “defense/special teams” or “DST”) gets less than its proper share of importance in the fantasy football game, you’ll have to study up on two to three defenses per week (i.e. your own one or two plus your opponent’s) and thus can gain new insight at the online sportsbook, particularly in over/unders.
Along the same lines, cause for benching a fantasy football is valuable information as well. After all, why else would you sit your no. 2 running back? Does Team X completely stuff the run? Additionally, is Team Y one-dimensional enough so that taking away the run game essentially takes away the offense? This can be good stuff – and potentially even winnings – when speculating on NFL Football betting.
