Tactical Surprise in the NFL
Last football season, the Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons got to the playoffs with a combination of a rookie coach and a rookie quarterback. This year, three other teams will try to follow in their footsteps: the Lions, the Jets, and the Buccaneers.
Last season of NFL betting, the Baltimore Ravens and the Atlanta Falcons surprised thousands of fans by lasting deep into the postseason after a formula that usually doesn’t bring about immediate results: a rookie for a quarterback and a rookie coach.
This NFL betting season, three teams could copy their innovative method: the Detroit Lions, the New York Jets, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Atlanta Falcons were missing a leader for their offense after the famous Michael Vick was incarcerated leaving the Falcons to only win 4 games in all of 2007. The chosen one was Matt Ryan, who they selected 3rd in the draft. As a coach, they bet on the Jaguar defensive coordinator, Mike Smith.
Atlanta revived itself with the duo alter having a record of 11-5 and Ryan throwing for 3440 yards with 16 touchdowns. They lost against Arizona in the wild card game, 30-24.
The Ravens followed in the same footsteps. After only qualifying for the playoffs three times in the past eight years, they changed coaches. John Harbaugh, up until this season, worked with the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense. They then drafted Joe Flacco.
Baltimore finished the NFL betting season with a record of 11-5, and their quarterback put together 2971 yards and 14 touchdowns. He became the first rookie quarterback to win a postseason game. They reached the finals for the AFC where they lost against the Pittsburgh Steelers, 13-6.
Both teams in the NFL will look to demonstrate this year that it was more than just luck or coincidence, while other teams will be looking to match their success.
Detroit was a complete disaster back in 2008 as they were the first team in NFL betting history to EVER finish with a 0-16 record. To change things up, they signed defensive coordinator from Tennessee Jim Schwartz as their head coach, and with the first draft picks they chose young Matt Stafford.
The team now has to make the decision whether or not to give the starting position to the rookie, or leave him on the bench learning the offensive moves of the NFL betting veteran Daunte Culpepper.
In the preseason, Stafford has completed 12 passes out of 27 attempts, for 148 yards and one touchdown.
After the failure of Brett Favre with the Jets, the player that cost Eric Mangini his place, the New Yorkers need to make some changes as well. They Opted for Rex Ryan, who worked with Harbaugh in 2008, and they did everything possible to get Mark Sanchez.
For the moment, he’s not putting up very impressive numbers. He has, however, shown much character and a will to learn from his mistakes. In the clash on Monday night, he suffered facing a solid Baltimore defense, and as his first pass debuting in the NFL odds, he threw an interception. Later on, though, he’d get even by launching a touchdown pass.
Tampa Bay also has a fresh batch of rookies in their NFL odds, featuring Coach Raheem Morris and quarterback Josh Freeman, but it still appears here that Byron Leftwich will be the starter, or at least up until he gets injured.
