Tag: cover

Pat Surtain listed as NFL top five cover player

Denver Broncos got a great one in Pat Surtain

Former Alabama star, [autotag]Patrick Surtain[/autotag], is already emerging as one of the NFL’s elite defensive backs after just his rookie season. Surtain started 16 of 17 games for the Denver Broncos where he had 58 tackles and four interceptions.

The NFL has become such a pass-heavy league that having an elite corner that can shut down half the field, such as Surtain, is very rare to come by. Nick Shook, a writer for the NFL, used Next Gen Stats to determine the best players in coverage in the league. Some of the metrics include coverage snaps, targets as a nearest defender,  catch rate allowed, and so many other factors.

Surtain comes in at number four after just one year in the league trailing only Rasul Douglas, J.C. Jackson, and A.J. Terrell. Former Alabama stand-out Levi Wallace is also on the list and comes at No. eight.

Surtain is going to be a stand-out cover defender for the Broncos for years to come.

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A simple scoring error in an Illinois State game is a huge headache for sportsbooks everywhere

The nightmare scenario strikes again

While most bettors on Saturday were sweating out the Army-Navy game or prepping their parlays for Week 14 of NFL action, sportsbooks around the country were focusing in on an otherwise unimportant men’s basketball game between Illinois State and Chicago State.

It wasn’t really the play on the court that caught the attention of gamblers, but instead an extremely bizarre accounting error on the scoreboard. Somehow, a single made free throw by Illinois State with 40 seconds remaining in regulation was not reflected in the final score. That one point likely had bettors going wild as the Redbirds won, 80-71, but failed to cover a 10-point consensus spread.

The line may have shifted depending on sportsbook (Tipico and Caesars were among those offering ISU -9.5), but the impact was all the same. And it left bettors and books asking the same question:

How could this happen?

Video from the game shows Illinois State’s Josiah Strong made both free throws, though only one was recorded. The two teams continued to play, ending the game before the score could be adjusted.

Strong noticed the mishap, too, and probably wants his point back as much as anyone. Whatever led to the mistake had a number of books trying to correct the issue over the weekend.

PointsBet decided to payout all bets on either side of the spread. Caesars did, too.

Fortunately, there was no residual impact on the Over/Under. The over 137.5 cashed easily.

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Let’s hope this courtside fan didn’t follow Rajon Rondo’s mic’d-up gambling advice

Oh no, Rondo.

Some athletes are aware of what Vegas is saying about their team on any given night. Others are very much not.

Rajon Rondo might fall into the latter camp.

Understandably fired up towards the end of a victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers guard chatted with a courtside fan, saying he hoped they put “10 racks” on L.A.

There was just a slight problem with Rondo’s advice: the Lakers didn’t cover the spread.

Heading into the matchup with the Pistons, Los Angeles was favored at -6.5 and -300 on the moneyline, per Tipico Sportsbook. The Lakers won, 121-116, failing to cover by one possession.

The Lakers weren’t even covering at the time Rondo made his comment. The next play saw Los Angeles allow a layup to Jerami Grant, too, all but ensuring the Pistons would beat the spread.

Following the ejection of LeBron James for elbowing Isaiah Stewart in the third quarter — and nearly setting off the NBA’s wildest brawl since, well….you know — the Lakers pulled themselves together to snap a three-game losing streak. That may have boosted their egos a bit. Especially when Detroit led by as much as 17 in the second half after James got tossed.

The reality is the Lakers are 9-9 on the season and a league-worst 6-12 against the spread. Rondo is great at a lot of things, but maybe don’t take betting advice from him.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).

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Lorenzo’s Locks: Titans, Cowboys and Giants lead Week 8 picks

Lorezno explains why he’s grabbing the Giants over the Chiefs are on his bet slip in Week 8

Lorenzo Reyes is back for Week 8 and explaining why in a matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants, he’s rolling with the NFC East club to cover the spread. The Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys look equally ready to tackle the spread.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).

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CFB to be moved to July? One report suggests it as an alternative

Could coronavirus force the college football season to be moved to the summer? One report suggests it as an alternative.

With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world, the future of sports in 2020 is up in the air.

The NCAA has cancelled all spring sports, and that includes spring practices for football. The NBA has suspended its season. MLB opening day came and went with no baseball played.

When this will end, we don’t know. If there will even be a 2020 college football season, we don’t know.

There’s plenty of reason to think college football will be played in the fall, seeing as how we are still 5 months away from that first weekend in September.

But the fears of the virus making a return in cold weather is what is causing a decent amount of that uncertainty, given that much of the college football season is played in the colder weather of late October, November, December and into January., when virus’ like this tend to reappear.

One prominent college football analyst, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, even said he’d be shocked if the NCAA or the NFL went ahead with their 2020 seasons.

With the concern of not being able to play college football in its regular seasonal-slot, one story done by Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal suggests that as an alternative scenario, college football could be played from July-September.

This would only work if the virus does indeed go away come summer months, but even then, does anybody really want college football to be played in the summer?

For starters, it’s too soon. Even if coronavirus and the fear of contracting it has settled, it’s just not enough time for people to feel comfortable sitting in a stadium sandwiched with 93,000 people.

There’s the heat. Imagine playing an SEC game in the middle July. No amount of passion could get me out of my house to endure such a torturing.

And there’s also the possibility that college campuses may not even be open.

Smith of SBJ outlined the potential issues with the summer season:

Would campuses be open and able to properly staff games?

Would media partners be receptive to such a radical idea? Given the pent-up demand for live events by then, perhaps so?

Would fans turn out for football in the summer, especially with temperatures in the 90s? Would they even be permitted inside the stadium?

Could athletic departments recoup some of the revenue they’ve lost by staging a summer season?

How would a season work? It would almost have to be conference games only. Teams could start with a June mini-camp, July training camp and eight or nine games in August and September with no postseason.

Dennis Dodd, CBS’ lead college football analyst, posted to Twitter that he had spoken with a high-ranking college athletics administrator who had never heard of the July kickoff.