Presence of Tebow among headlines in Broncos-Jags tilt
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09/10/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Had the 2010 NFL schedule not been released days before the Draft, you could have made a case that Roger Goodell's fingerprints were all over this.
A moribund NFL franchise that's fallen off from playoff contention and faced recent issues with simply filling seats for Sunday home games welcomes a hometown Messiah - albeit in a visitor's uniform - to open a fiscally pivotal 2010 season.
Said hometown hero - who went to college just 71 miles down the road and racked up two national championships, a Heisman Trophy and the shameless devotion of millions - draws crowds from across the region, triggers thousands of jersey sales, and, while he's at it, creates just enough of buzz about the local squad that it remains economically healthy and viable all season long.
In the northeast Florida diocese of Tim Tebow, nothing is impossible.
And in the big NFL offices in New York City, it might have amounted to a master scheduling plan.
Except, that is ... if Tebow's just a third-string quarterback novelty act at this point.
In that case, sorry Jacksonville, it's just another home opener.
Kyle Orton handing the ball to Georgia alum Knowshon Moreno may not possess the local sexiness of a clipboard-clinging Tebow, but it might be more indicative - to Denver fans at least - of the prospective 2010 prowess of a team raft with fits and starts last season.
Young coach Josh McDaniels seemed on the verge of making people forget Mike Shanahan with a 6-0 start and lead-dog status in the AFC West, only to have it crumble into eight losses in the subsequent 10 weeks en route to a second-place finish behind San Diego.
The Broncos curiously drafted Tebow in the first round (25th overall) to join the passing morass already created by Orton and Cleveland castoff Brady Quinn, but the man whose jersey leads the league in total sales is nonetheless No. 3 on the depth chart entering Week 1.
Perhaps he can lay hands on a MASH unit of injured comrades in his down time.
Sack machine Elvis Dumervil (17 in 2009) will be absent for the entire year thanks to a torn pectoral muscle that landed him on injured reserve on Sept. 4. Also lost is LenDale White, who was brought in to team with Moreno but instead will watch from the sidelines courtesy of a season-ending Achilles surgery.
Moreno himself limps toward the initial game with a balky hamstring, but did participate fully in Wednesday's practice. And caustic wide receiver Brandon Marshall (101 catches in 2009) is also gone, courtesy of a McDaniels-engineered offseason trade with Miami.
"The Broncos could go anywhere from 4-12 (to) 8-8 and no one in the national media would blink," said Rich Kurtzman, a featured Broncos columnist on BleacherReport.com. "Realistically, 8-8 should be a mark Denver can get to once again, and if a multitude of things go correctly, the Broncos could even go 10-6 and make the playoffs for the first time in five years."
As for the Jaguars, much of the chatter around them this week centers on whether fans will view Sunday's game as a spotlight on whether the team misfired by not drafting Tebow with its own pick - 15 slots before Denver's - in the opening round.
Columnist Gene Frenette of Jacksonville.com, however, cautioned that such an approach isn't valid.
"A lot of people want to make this game a Tebow referendum," he said. "As if the outcome, Tebow's role in it, or the number of No. 15 jerseys in the stands will determine if the attendance-starved Jaguars made the right call by not drafting the popular quarterback.
"Folks, nobody has a crystal ball on this stuff. You can scream, rant or rave about Tebow until your voice gives out, but it doesn't change the fact that he's an uncut diamond. This is the smallest of steps on his NFL journey."
Not helping matters in Camp Jacksonville is a difficult schedule, ranked fifth- hardest for 2010 in the league. The Jaguars' upcoming foes combined for a 137-119 record (.535 win percentage) in 2009, with 11 of 16 reaching .500 and five of 16 making the playoffs.
SERIES HISTORY
The Jaguars lead the all-time regular season series with the Broncos, 4-3, breaking a deadlock in the series with a 24-17 win when they visited Denver during the 2008 season. The Broncos are 0-2 since beating the Jaguars by a 20-7 count in Jacksonville during the 2005 season. The Jags' last home win over the Broncos came in 7-6 fashion in 2004. The road team has won the last three matchups in the series.
The clubs have also split two postseason matchups, with Jacksonville scoring a 30-27 road victory in a 1996 AFC Divisional Playoff and Denver returning the favor with a 42-17 home victory in an AFC Divisional Playoff the following season.
Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio is 3-1 as a head coach against Denver, while the Broncos' McDaniels will be meeting both Del Rio and Jacksonville for the first time as a head man.
WHEN THE BRONCOS HAVE THE BALL
The Broncos are an AFC-best 32-17-1 on opening weekend, having won 16 of their last 21 openers, and are 3-0 in September under McDaniels. The underappreciated Orton was important in that quick start last year and ended the season with career-bests in completion percentage (62.1), passing yards (3,802), touchdowns (21) and passer rating (86.8) in '09. In one start against Jacksonville with the Bears in 2008, he threw two TDs and had a 85.3 passer rating. Moreno was the top rookie running back in 2009 with 947 rush yards, 1,160 yards from scrimmage and nine TDs. His running mate, former Eagle Correll Buckhalter averaged 5.4 yards per carry (120 carries, 642 yards) last season. On the outside, wide receiver Jabar Gaffney posted a career-high 732 receiving yards on 45 catches and will be leaned on more heavily in Marshall's absence.
The man chosen over Tebow, defensive tackle Tyson Alualu, will make his pro debut for the Jaguars alongside another first-timer in a Jacksonville uniform, former Green Bay sack master Aaron Kampman. Since 2006, Kampman is tied for fifth in the league with 40.5 sacks and he had 3.5 with the Packers last season. Incoming middle linebacker Kirk Morrison (ex-Raiders) will line up alongside Daryl Smith, who led the team with 150 tackles last season. Second- year man Derek Cox is back after topping the team with four interceptions at cornerback. Fellow CB Rashean Mathis is the top player in franchise history with 28 interceptions. Statistically, Jacksonville allowed 352.3 yards per game last season but was an overall plus-2 in turnover ratio.
WHEN THE JAGUARS HAVE THE BALL
Regardless of allegiance, absolutely no one should mistake David Garrard for Tebow - after all, he's two inches shorter and has thrown for 13,269 more yards in the NFL. In two career starts against Denver, he is 2-0 and has connected on 39-of-54 passes (72.2 pct.) for 430 yards, two touchdowns and a 107.8 passer rating. In Jacksonville in 2009, Garrard registered 12 TDs vs. five interceptions and a 90.9 rating. Power runner Maurice Jones-Drew, who's reportedly suffering meniscus issues, had a career-high 1,391 yards last season with 16 TDs. Last time out against the Broncos in 2008, he ran for 125 yards and scored twice. The Jaguars are 8-4 (.667) when Jones-Drew has goes for 100 or more in a game. As for Garrard's aerial options, wideout Mike Sims-Walker had a career-best 869 receiving yards in 2009, best by a Jaguars receiver since 2005. He had six of a team-high seven receiving touchdowns at home. Lastly, tight end Marcedes Lewis had 518 receiving yards (career high) and caught two TD passes.
The loss of Dumervil and his pass rush is huge, especially considering the next-best returnee (linebacker D.J. Williams) had just 3.5 sacks. Still, Williams is an important overall member of the unit after recording a team-best 122 tackles in 2009. Up front, massive tackle Jamal Williams makes his Denver debut after 12 seasons elsewhere in the AFC West with the San Diego Chargers. In the backfield, two veterans, Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey, return for another season. Dawkins, a hard-hitting safety, was selected to his seventh Pro Bowl last season. And since 1999, Bailey, long considered one of the league's best cover cornerbacks, leads all corners with 46 interceptions. As a unit last season, the Broncos allowed 315 yards per game and had a plus-7 turnover margin that was third in the AFC.
FANTASY FOCUS
A lot of familiar names, but not so many for fantasy owners to get excited about. Orton has a favorable matchup against a weak pass defense, but none of the receivers who'd be on "must-play" pedestals. And on the ground, Moreno's legs may not be ready for a prime effort. For the Jaguars, Maurice Jones-Drew was a draft darling last year, but enters this year with similar questions about legs. If a defense must be picked, give the host Jacksonville unit a nod.
OVERALL ANALYSIS
Going into last season, the Broncos with Dumervil and Marshall would have been a favorite in a Week 1 matchup. Without those two, however, and with Moreno anything less than 100 percent, the playing field is leveled. Expect a grinding game with the occasional big play and a raucous ovation from the locals if Tebow does see the field in any competitive capacity. As for results, the home- field advantage tips the scales.
Sportsbook Betting Lines Predicted Outcome: Jaguars 17, Broncos 13
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2007 online football betting Preview
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
2007 College Football Betting Preview
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
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The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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