NFL announces 2007 schedule

Football Betting Lines

04/11/2007 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NFL has announced its 17-week, 256-game regular-season schedule for 2007 and it will kick off on Thursday, September 6 when the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts host the New Orleans Saints.

Kickoff weekend also features 13 Sunday games, highlighted by the prime-time matchup of NFC East rivals Dallas and the New York Giants at Texas Stadium. The Giants will play the Sunday night opener for the second straight season after last year's Manning Bowl against the Colts.

Sunday's action also includes a pair of big division rivalries. The New England Patriots visit the New York Jets in a playoff rematch from last season and the Cleveland Browns host the Pittsburgh Steelers. Another featured game on the opening Sunday has NFC champion Chicago at San Diego.

For the second straight season, the opening Monday night has a doubleheader with Baltimore visiting Cincinnati and San Francisco hosting Arizona.

In addition to the season-opener, the Colts will be featured at least twice more on prime-time, as they are also slated to play at AFC South rival Jacksonville on Monday, October 22 and at Atlanta on Thanksgiving night.

The New England Patriots, Indy's chief rivals of late, are scheduled for a visit to the RCA Dome on November 4. The Colts, who beat the Patriots for the AFC crown last season, will follow that game with a trip to San Diego to face last season's top regular-season team.

Flexible scheduling is also back for a second straight year, ensuring that Sunday night games feature quality matchups. The Colts, or a surprise team, could be late-season additions to the prime-time schedule on NBC for Weeks 11 through 17.

The league has tentatively scheduled Sunday night games this season, a switch from last year when the game was not revealed until 12 days before the scheduled contest. The 12-day window to make a change in the prime-time NBC game for the last seven weeks -- six days for the final week -- is again an option if the league and network so desire.

A playoff rematch between San Diego and New England, this time at Foxboro, is the highlight of the Week 2 schedule for Sunday night.

Byes begin on the season's fourth weekend, which also features a number of potential top matchups. That Sunday, September 30 includes a pair of AFC heavyweight tilts with Denver at Indianapolis and Kansas City at San Diego, while the Sunday night game pits Philadelphia at the New York Giants and the Monday night matchup has Cincinnati hosting New England.

A rematch of Super Bowl XL between Seattle and Pittsburgh is set for the Steel City on October 7 and the following Monday night has Dallas and new coach Wade Phillips visiting Buffalo, Phillips' old team.

October 28 includes the first NFL regular-season game in Europe, as the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants meet in London.

The last two NFC champions meet on Sunday night, November 18 when the Seahawks host the Bears. That weekend is the first for flexible scheduling.

Thanksgiving features the traditional games hosted by Detroit and Dallas. The Lions will welcome NFC North rival Green Bay, while the New York Jets visit the Cowboys. That weekend's Sunday night matchup is scheduled to be a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX when Philadelphia visits New England, and the Monday night contest features Miami linebacker Joey Porter against his old team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The last Sunday of the regular season includes an NFC Championship Game rematch when the New Orleans Saints again visit the Chicago Bears, while the tentative Sunday nighter has Kansas City Chiefs head coach Herman Edwards visiting his old team, the New York Jets.

Wild card weekend is set for January 5-6, with the Divisional playoffs the following weekend. The AFC and NFC championship games will be played Sunday, January 20 and the Super Bowl, which will be carried by FOX this season, is scheduled for February 3 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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