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The NFL couldn’t have scripted a better ending to the first nationally televised Monday Night Football contest of the preseason. New York Giants rookie Tommie Hill returned a fumble 18 yards for a touchdown with 0:00 on the clock to break a deadlocked game and give his team a 24-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers in NFL preseason action at The Meadowlands.

Carolina’s fourth string QB Hunter Cantwell was in a position where he just had to take a knee and run out the clock on first and 10 from his eighteen yard line. Instead, he tried to throw a pass only to have his arm hit forcing a fumble. Hill grabbed the loose ball and headed to the endzone for the shockingly bizarre finish and a Giants victory.

Tommie Hill was in a state of shock as he spoke about his game winning touchdown return:

“I’ve never seen a game end like that, not that way. I’m just a rookie trying to make the team. Anything like that that helps the team win in turn helps me. It was just a fortunate situation and I made the most of it.”

Hill, an undrafted rookie out of Colorado State had already become a favorite of Giants fans due to his tenacious, high impact playmaking. His touchdown”the first hes scored since high school”will only help his efforts to make the NFL roster.

Carolina coach John Fox sounded bemused at his teams unusual loss:

“Kind of an interesting ending. Both sides have a lot of work, but we have time. We have three weeks to do it

Giants QB Eli Manning played only two series before the backups took over. Still, he put a positive spin on his short night of work:

“We ran the ball really well, hit a couple passes and we got a touchdown. That is always the goal. We did a nice job with it, so I thought we were effective as the first group.”

The Panthers will kick off the NFL regular season hosting the Philadelphia Eagles at home on Sunday, September 13th while the Giants will start their NFL campaign with a big divisional grudge match against the Washington Redskins.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and noted authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The Cincinnati Bengals were able to withstand a last minute Green Bay Packers comeback bid, and held on to win their first game of the NFL regular season 31-24. The Packers last drive stalled on the Bengals ten yard line, the victim of a false start penalty in the waning seconds. Both Cincinnati and Denver evened their 2009 record at 1-1. Wide receiver Chad Ochocinco scored the eventual game winning points on a 13 yard pass from Carson Palmer.

NFL football betting devotees who took the Bengals as +9 road underdogs easily cashed their ticket with the outright victory. Both teams are now 1-1 against the spread on the 2009 NFL season. The 55 combined points scored easily went OVER the posted total of 41. Like their ATS performance, both Green Bay and Cincinnati have split their two regular season games, playing in one OVER and one UNDER.

After the game, Ochocinco talked about his Lambeau Leap he performed after the game winning touchdown catch:

“It was fun. I had a little indecision on where to jump at first. I didn’t want to disrespect their tradition, so I was asking as I went along the line. I saw some Bengals fans that said it was OK.”

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis insisted that his team deserved the victory due to their performance:

“We didn’t do enough to win the game last week and you get what you deserve. Today, we were able to make one or two more plays and win the football game and that’s what counts. I think our football team understands that.”

Cedric Benson suggested that the Packers might have been a bit overconfident:

“Maybe a little, but you can’t blame them. They beat a very stout Bears team last week at home and I think they were feeling pretty good. But we’re men on this side of the football as well.”

Bengals QB Palmer gave the defense credit for the victory:

“I kind of felt like it couldn’t happen again. It wasn’t a feeling of ‘here we go again’ at all. I know our defense is too good. They have too much pride and weren’t going to let that happen again.”

The Packers take to the road for their next two games, beginning this Sunday in St. Louis against the Rams. Green Bay is a -6 road favorite in the contest, with the total set at 41. Theyll face the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night the following week, and then enjoy a bye week. The Bengals now face a rough scheduling stretch, beginning with the Pittsburgh Steelers at home on Sunday. The Bengals are a +4 home underdog against the Steelers, with the total set at 37.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer and respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

USC has won their big game against Ohio State twice in back to back years. Its the next game they have problems with. This year, it was the Washington Huskies who pulled the upset. The Huskies defense shut down the powerful Trojans offense, and Erik Folk kicked a 22 yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining to give Washington a 16-13 victory in Seattle. USC has now lost to an unranked team in each of the past four seasons.

College football betting enthusiasts who took the Huskies as a whopping +19 home underdog were rewarded with the outright victory. The pointspread triumph also went against Washington’s dismal ATS form in recent years”the Huskies were 8-19 ATS overall and 3-15 ATS in Pac 10 games over the past three seasons. The 29 combined points scored went well UNDER the posted total of 52. USC has now gone UNDER in 20 of their last 28 games overall, as well as 15 of their last 18 conference games.

USC was undone by a rare display of sloppy, undisciplined play much to the chagrin of coach Pete Carroll:

“We didn’t get any better from last week. I’m not doing a good enough job of making the points of how we win. We didn’t throw the ball very well today. It was obvious. We couldn’t get the ball down the field very much. We’ve rarely been in that situation.”

The Trojans played without QB Matt Barkley, who engineered the game winning drive against Ohio State last week. His backup, Aaron Corp, was held to 111 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Corp, a sophomore making his first career start, gave this glum assessment of his performance:

“I felt I was prepared. I just didn’t execute.

After the contest running back Joe McNight, who ran for 100 yards and scored the Trojans only touchdown, observed that superior talent can be beaten by hard work:

“Washington wasn’t the better team. They just outplayed us. Clearly, we have superior athletes. But hard work beats athleticism any day.”

The Huskies are trying to clean up the mess left by Tyrone Willingham, and this was a step in the right direction for the program. Off of the Pac 10s first 0-12 season a year ago, the team is now under the mentorship of former BYU QB and USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian who was elated with the victory:

“It’s unbelievable. It’s a great moment for our program and hopefully sends a message of where we’re headed.”

Washington running back Jake Locker, who ran for a touchdown early in the game, was in a state of near disbelief:

“I can’t really describe it. It’s an amazing feeling to go through what all of us have gone through and to experience what everyone wants to experience when they play college football.”

USC will try to get back on the winning track at home against Washington State next week. They’ll then head up to Northern California for a tough rivalry game against the University of California on October 3rd and then enjoy a bye week before taking to the road again to play Notre Dame. Washington will play at Stanford next weekend.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and NFL football handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and deep sea diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

The English Premier League season is only a couple of weeks old, but newly promoted Burnley has already pulled off what may be the biggest upset of the season in all of European soccer. In their first home game at the top level of English soccer in 33 years, Robbie Blake scored early in the game and Burnley held on to upset reigning league champions Manchester United before 20,000 jubilant fans at their Turf Moor home pitch.

The Clarets were putting good pressure on Man U goaltender Ben Foster early in the game, and Blake made their effort pay at the 18 minute mark when he scored on a near post volley. Man U would hold a 19-9 shots on goal advantage for the game, and hold a lopsided 67%/33% time of possession edge.

Still, Burnley would hold the advantage on the big scoreboard at the end of the game thanks to the steady play of their netminder Brian Jensen who withstood the Man U onslaught to preserve the historic victory. Jensens biggest save came on a penalty shot by Michael Carrick just before halftime. Man U also had an apparent equalizer by Michael Owen ruled offside to add to the frustration of the afternoon. Afterwards, Burnley manager Owen Coyle commended Man U general Sir Alex Ferguson with his graciousness in defeat:

“Sir Alex dealt with defeat in the gracious manner I would expect of someone like that. He is the best manager in world football and I still expect Manchester United to be champions.”

Burnley has been the favorite to be relegated back to the Champions League, and they looked like they didnt belong after a 2-0 opening game loss to Stoke City. Coyle spoke of the teams naysayers in his postgame comments:

“One or two have already written us off. I am not surprised about that. When you look at the financial side, we will have to produce every week. Outside this club, everybody looked at our first five games and expected we would be on zero points. We were disappointed on Saturday and we needed to be brave this time. Now we have a massive game on Sunday against Everton, although whatever happens we are three points better off than we were at this stage in the Championship last season.”

Sir Alex Ferguson conceded that his team didnt play well, but wasnt about to minimize Burnleys first English Premier League victory since 1976:

“It was a bad performance considering the chances and possession we had. Maybe if we had got the penalty just before half time it would have made a difference but in saying that we were too frivolous with the chances we had. It has been a long time out of the top flight for them and you cannot deny them their victory.”

Burnley will host Everton this weekend and Manchester United will hit the road to face Wigan at DW Stadium.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Brett Favre has been a significant part of the Minnesota Vikings undefeated start the NFL regular season, and on Monday night he finally beat his old team, the Green Bay Packers. Favre passed for 271 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings prevailed by a 30-23 final score. The Vikings improved to 4-0, while the Packers dropped to 2-2.

The Vikings rewarded NFL betting enthusiasts by covering the spread as -4 home favorites. Minnesota is now 3-1 against the number, while the Packers loss evened their ATS record on the season at 2-2. The 53 points scored went OVER the posted total of 46.

Afterwards , Favre said that he didnt have any unusual emotions playing against his old team:

“I don’t know how to explain it. I felt right, but I guess I never thought I’d be in that situation.”

He had gone out of his way to downplay the significance of the matchup:

“My statement has been what I’ve done over my career. One game does not define my career good or bad. I know what I’ve done. I’m proud of what I’ve done. I know I can play. I wanted to do what it takes to win.”

Favres teammate Adrian Peterson said that the team understood the games importance:

“I definitely wanted to get this win for Brett. He downplayed it all week, but I just knew it meant a lot to him. I could see it in his eyes.”

Packers cornerback Charles Woodson gave credit to Favre, but then admitted that his team didnt help themselves with their effort:

“I don’t think there was any question what he could do when he came back. But you know, we didn’t do ourselves any justice.”

Favres replacement under center in Green Bay, Aaron Rodgers, had a rough night. He was sacked eight times and threw an interception and after the game was critical of his performance:

“Below my expectations, definitely. To have three possessions where you’re in their territory and come away with zero points, two of them are directly related to mistakes by myself, that’s disappointing.”

Vikings coach Brad Childress was impressed with Favre’s poise in the face of all the media focus on playing his former team:

“You don’t want quarterback crying coming out of the locker room. He was great.”

The Vikings will your head to St. Louis to play one of the NFLs worst teams this weekend, the St. Louis Rams. Minnesota has been installed as a -10 favorite with the total set at 39. The Packers will take this weekend off before hosting the Detroit Lions on October 18th. They’ll play at Cleveland the following Sunday before a return date with the Vikings at Lambeau Field on November 1st.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

The Baltimore Ravens are clearly responding to first year defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. In Mattison’s debut as an NFL coordinator the Ravens obliterated their regional rivals the Washington Redskins, completing a shutout by a final score of 23-0.

There had been some concern about the Ravens lack of depth at wide receiver, but on this night at least that wasn’t an issue. 15 different players caught passes and after the game backup QB Troy Smith said that Ravens signal callers had been instructed to get as many players involved in the offense as possible:

“It’s been drilled into both our heads to spread the ball around, to not have tunnel vision. The sky’s the limit for us.”

Starting QB Joe Flacco was positive in his comments:

“As an offense, everything felt really good. I was happy with the way our receivers and running backs were moving. Our line did a heck of a job for being their first time out. I didn’t have to do anything but sit in the pocket and make throws.”

The Ravens defense, meanwhile, was simply stifling. Washington never got closer than the Baltimore 30 yardline, and 9 of their 12 drives failed to reach midfield. For that reason, new coordinator Mattison was awarded the game ball in his first NFL assignment. Head coach John Harbaugh joked about that fact afterwards:

“I don’t know how he’s going to do it, but he said he’s going to divide it up for every one of the 80 guys on the team.

Redskins coach Jim Zorn sounded a positive note despite the decisive loss:

“This is a tremendous tool for us to use. We look for these things, these learning situations.”

The Redskins will open the NFL regular season with a big divisional tilt against the New York Giants at The Meadowlands on Sunday, September 13 while Baltimore will host the Kansas City Chiefs.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and highly respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Despite the early struggles of starting QB Kerry Collins, who threw two interceptions, the Tennessee Titans managed to prevail over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday by a 27-20 score. The victory ran Tennessee’s record to 2-0 in the NFL preseason, while the Bucs dropped their first exhibition contest. The Titans rallied behind the play of backup QB Vince Young, who threw for 131 yards and the game winning touchdown.

Titans coach Jeff Fisher wasn’t happy with his teams performance despite winning the game:

“We just really didn’t get in synch like we would’ve like to.”

Tampa Bays new head coach Rahim Morris was fairly upbeat after his NFL coaching debut:

“Not a bad start though, not a bad start.

Tennessee QB Collins didn’t have much to say about his poor outing:

“We had too many turnovers, and that can’t happen. We know we have a lot to improve on.”

Young, meanwhile, related how he had taken the advice of the Titans offensive coordinator and used his legs to keep a play alive:

“And that’s basically what I did. I saw the free safety relax and he was in the Cover Two, and Kenny adjusted his route and did what he was supposed to do. I just got the ball to him.

Luke McCown started for Tampa Bay, though wasnt able to do much on offense either. He had little comment about his performance in postgame interviews:

“We have some things to clean up. We will look at the tapes and get better at it on Monday”

The Bucs other QBs, Byron Leftwich and Josh Freeman didnt do much better, though Leftwich did throw a touchdown pass. After the game head coach Morris indicated that Leftwich will start Tampa Bays next NFL preseason game, with McCown coming on in relief.

Tampa Bay will make the short trip to Jacksonville next Saturday to face the Jaguars, who will be playing their first NFL preseason contest of the year on Monday night. Theyll then host Floridas other NFL team, the Miami Dolphins, the following week. The Titans will head to Dallas for a game against the Cowboys next Friday night.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

Redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels threw for three touchdowns and the South Florida Bulls used a tenacious defensive effort to upset visiting West Virginia 30-19 on Friday night. Daniels threw for 232 yards and rushed for 104, compiling more yardage individually than West Virginia amassed as a team. The Bulls have had the Mountaineers’ number in recent years, and this was the third victory in four seasons for the Big East Conference upstarts. Both teams are now 6-2 on the season.

College football betting aficionados who took the Bulls as +3 home underdogs cashed their tickets with the outright victory. Despite their 6-2 record, West Virginia dropped to 2-5 against the spread in their lined games this season while South Florida evened their college football pointspread record at 3-3 in their lined contests. The 49 combined points barely managed to go OVER the posted total of 47′.

Daniels had this rebuke for his team’s doubters after the victory:

“I guess a lot of people doubted us and thought we were going to go down the same patch we did the last two years. That was a lot of garbage that our team didn’t listen to.”

The Bulls’ defense limited West Virginia running back Noel Devine to just 42 yards-well under his-0 per game average. South Florida coach Jim Leavitt talked about his team’s priority of stopping Devine:

“We talked a lot about him. We didn’t want to let him get outside — we wanted to keep him hemmed up inside. … He’s such a great back. If he gets out, he’s gone.”

West Virginia coach Bill Stewart didn’t fault his team’s effort in the loss:

“There’s some young hurting guys in there, both physically and mentally. And they should be. That was a hard-fought game. I cannot fault our effort.”

West Virginia safety Robert Sands suggested that no one that the team had faced this season prepared them for the fast and athletic Daniels:

“We haven’t seen a guy like that this year, but at the same time that’s no excuse for our defense. We’ve still got to go out there and make plays. He broke contain too many times, and he burned us.”

South Florida will now have a bye week before playing at Rutgers on Thursday, November 12. They’ll return home to host Louisville and Miami the following two Saturdays. West Virginia will host Louisville next Saturday before playing at Cincinnati the following Friday.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Most NFL head coaches place a priority on naming a starting QB before the regular season begins. Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini hasn’t named his starting QB yet. Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson will find out if they’re the starting QB in the next couple of days, but the first public confirmation their coach will give is when they trot out on the field after the NFL regular season begins.

Mangini stressed that he’d already made his choice, and that hell meet with both Quinn and Anderson individually to inform them of his decision:

“In terms of announcing it publicly, that’s not something I plan to do. It will be internal. I understand everybody has a different opinion on it. I respect that. I understand the excitement in relationship to that and I respect that as well. But that will be something that will be internal.”

As of Sunday, both quarterbacks had no idea if they’d be the starting QB. Derek Anderson said he didnt have a clue:

“I know as much as you guys know.

While Quinn suggested that it wasnt a big concern for him”at least not as big as it is for the media:

“I’m not worried about it. You guys are more worried about it than I am.”

Mangini may be trying to gain a strategic advantage over the Browns opponents in their opening game:

“It is more difficult to plan for two quarterbacks than it is to plan for one. I’m not saying that’s going to be the difference or not the difference, but I know that there is time allotted to that and you can’t put the same amount of time into focusing on one player.”

On the other hand, Vikings coach Brad Childress said that it really didnt make a difference in how hed approach preparing his gameplan:

“Just schematically, you’re going to go back and look at tape and see what you’ve seen. And then I know, as do our guys, that there will be unscouted looks. They certainly haven’t showed their whole hand, offensively and defensively. So you’re just going back and looking at formation-wise where they’re putting people and what kind of players they are. It will be more about us deploying to what they do.”

The Browns coach concluded his comments by emphasizing that hes happy with the play of both quarterbacks:

“I have been happy with the progress that both guys made. I’m happy with the way they’ve worked. I’m happy with the way they approached this competition, and it’s not always easy to approach a competition in a team fashion, and I respect the way they’ve handled it.”

After hosting the Vikings in their opening game of the 2009 NFL regular season, Cleveland will hit the road for their second game as they take on the Broncos at Denver.

Ross Everett is a experienced freelance writer who covers travel, poker and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, falconry and deep sea diving. He lives in Las Vegas with four dogs and a pet coyote.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow shook off the effects of a concussion suffered against Kentucky two weeks ago and returned to lead the #1 ranked Gators to a hard fought 13-3 victory over #4 ranked LSU. Tebow got a good deal of help from a nasty Florida defense, and the largest crowd in LSU history (93,129) left disappointed as the Bayou Bengals offense was almost completely shut down.

College football betting enthusiasts who backed Florida as a -9 road favorite weren’t able to breathe easy until the final whistle, but eventually enjoyed a payday with the narrowest of pointspread covers. The Gators improved their ATS record over the past three years to a glossy 22-7 and they’ve covered 8 of their last 9 on the road. The combined 16 points scored went well UNDER the posted total of 45. The Gators have played UNDER in 2 of their 3 games with a posted total this season, while LSU has gone UNDER in 3 of 5.

After the game, Tebow characteristically explained that he tried to play smart but without fear:

“I tried to play smart. I told him, I said, when we were talking to Coach [Urban] Meyer, I said, ‘I’m not going to go out there and play tentative or scared. That’s not me.’ I did try to play smart but I wasn’t scared or timid at all.”

Tebow was also not the least bit intimidated by the huge crowd of LSU partisans:

“This place is one of my favorite stadiums to play in. It just gets your adrenaline going, then to play against a great defense like that.”

Tebow returned to practice earlier this week, but wasn’t medically cleared to play until a few hours before gametime. Even then, he was listed as a game time decision. Coach Urban Meyer talked about the difficult decision he had to make:

“It was a tough deal and I kept saying, ‘Would I play my son?’ You know Tim,” Meyer said. “It was, ‘Let me play. Let me play.’ Nonstop.”

Gators safety Will Hill said that the defense knew that they’d have to play well regardless of their quarterbacks status:

We knew Tim would suit up but we didn’t know if he would play, but we didn’t care. The defense knew what we had to do to come out and win this game.”

LSU receiver Brandon LaFell blamed his teams mistakes for the loss:

Those guys have a pretty good defense. We had a ton of chances, then we would get a mistake … Too many mistakes.”

Florida will try to keep their 15 game winning streak going next weekend as they host the University of Arkansas. They’ll be on the road at Mississippi State the following weekend before they face Georgia in the game fondly known as The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” on October 31. LSU will take a bye weekend before returning to action against Auburn on October 24.

Ross Everett is a widely published widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on World Cup betting. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and sportsbook directory sites. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and an emu. He is currently working on an autobiography of former interior secretary James Watt.

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