2005 Denver Broncos NFL Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

The Denver Broncos first reaffirmed in the 2004 preseason how meaningless exhibition game results are when sports handicapping regular season games. Denver went 2-3 both straight up and against the sports betting odds in their exhibitions.

Denver at home has been amongst the most popular pro football picks that are routinely made be sports betting players and in week one it paid off again as the Broncos busted Kansas City 34-24 as 3-point favorites. The very next week, however, demonstrated to observant sports betting players the many weaknesses and potential problems that the Broncos would have all season, particularly on offense, in their 7-6 loss at Jacksonville as 2.5-point chalks. Inconsistent offense and quarterbacking would be a popular topic at online sports betting blogs regarding Denver all season. Many sports betting players would quickly become leery of Denver because of their inconsistent offense and overall play. Still, it took a while for the sports betting odds makers to adjust their prices as Denver was, at that point, still more of a “public” team than not.

Those sophisticated and observant sports betting players that left Denver off of their list of football picks against the sports betting odds were rewarded as the Broncos failed to cover 6 of their next 7 games after that opening win against KC. This set up a perfect bounce back scenario, however, for sports betting players with a sense of timing.

In week 9 Denver hosted the surprising and surging Houston Texans and was installed as a 7-point favorite by the sports betting odds makers. Many online sports betting blogs showed that a lot of sports betting players had been sucked into a trap. These bettors vowed to leave Denver off of their football picks list the rest of the NFL season as they touted the legitimate merits of Houston, who had won 4 of their last 5 games both straight up and against the sports betting odds entering this game. Denver quarterback Jake Plummer was catching blistering heat from the media, fans, and online sports betting bloggers. Few could see Denver recovering or beating Houston and yet that is exactly what they did with a stunning 31-13 win, wiping out many sports betting players that ignored Denver’s traditionally strong home field edge and track record against the sports betting line. This game illustrates the sports handicapping skill of finding traps, avoiding them, and getting on the other side of them.