Rams/Vikes Vegas odds

[mikey728]

Early odds are Rams by 3.5 .............

 

[Retroram52]

I think we will do well. Seattle draws Green Bay. Green Bay could take that game to put them with an opening loss. Could be very interesting.

 

[mikey728]

I think we will do well. Seattle draws Green Bay. Green Bay could take that game to put them with an opening loss. Could be very interesting.

I was a little surprised to see that the Albatross are favored by 5.5....I thought the spread would be a little closer, even thought they play in Seattle...

 

[RamCub]

A friend of mine is taking the Packers plus the points and the over!

 

[Chilipepper]

This game is gonna be scary. RAMS have a hard time stopping the run. Vikings played well on defense preseason. Rams got a back up QB going.

 

[UnrealTerm04]

Rams will win.

I'm not sure about the Packers-Seahawks game but I'll be watching it! If the Seahawks play like they did in the Super Bowl, then they win.

 

[shopson67]

Rams will win.

I'm not sure about the Packers-Seahawks game but I'll be watching it! If the Seahawks play like they did in the Super Bowl, then they win.

Refs won't allow them to play that way.

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

Yep, just like the refs shouldn't have allowed the Patriot defenders to mug the Ram WRs in the Super Bowl.


The defending champions will almost certainly get the benefit of the doubt from the refs if they don't get outright favoritism. They won that way last year, the league is not going to torpedo their style and now say, "hey, this team isn't really that good" That would hurt the credibility of their SB win. The refs will be a non-factor Shopson.

 

[shopson67]

Yep, just like the refs shouldn't have allowed the Patriot defenders to mug the Ram WRs in the Super Bowl.


The defending champions will almost certainly get the benefit of the doubt from the refs if they don't get outright favoritism. They won that way last year, the league is not going to torpedo their style and now say, "hey, this team isn't really that good" That would hurt the credibility of their SB win. The refs will be a non-factor Shopson.

I guess we'll see. There has been a huge shift on how illegal contact is being called this year, basically to letter of the rule. Remains to be seen how consistent they will be with that in the regular season though.

 

[mikey728]

I guess we'll see. There has been a huge shift on how illegal contact is being called this year, basically to letter of the rule. Remains to be seen how consistent they will be with that in the regular season though.

I was thinking the same thing...The league will not be happy if the average game turns into a 3 1/2 hour flag-a-thon...The longer games would then push almost 4 hours...That's too long for a game that has 1 hour on the clock...

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

Problem is Mikey, the NFL wants offense. Goodell doesn't particularly care about defense because to the casual uneducated fan they don't understand defense anyway---they just want to see scoring. And I also believe that the fantasy football phenomena has a heavy hand in this as well. I personally would like to see the league go back to the rules of the 70s and early 80s when teams could still play defense and it was a team sport, not like today where your QB is far and away the most important player on the team. Team sport = team, not just a few superstars like WRs and QBs.

 

[shopson67]

OK Boss, you've got me confused. First you said the refs wouldn't hold back Seattle's defense, then you said the NFL only cares about offense?

 

[UnrealTerm04]

I like games both ways. If both offenses are scoring on each drive, that makes for a good a game because you do have a high scoring game and at some point, the defense has to make a play. I also like low scoring games where each defense is constantly forcing 3 and out's. Which offense will make the play to win? You can have a good game either way. You also have the games where a team is winning 34-0 and off of a sudden the losing team comes all the way back and wins. Those are good games too.

 

[bluepigpen]

I even think a different way. Yes the NFL wants offense and scoring and the hits on their stars is scorned and the flags fly. I do see the flags on Seattle flying more because it is more important that the NFL have parity and a defending champion winning again doesn't fit their bill. The NFL wants a new winner every year especially if yor playing the Broncos or high offense team. Just my opinion of course.

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

OK Boss, you've got me confused. First you said the refs wouldn't hold back Seattle's defense, then you said the NFL only cares about offense?

You can have both these scenarios exist concurrently Shopson. There is no doubt in anybody's mind the NFL has become an offensive dominated league. All the rules promote passing and scoring. Every year they take something away from the defense so the offense can score more. But they aren't going to undermine their current world champion by making them look bad and start throwing flags all over them now. That would make it look like the refs control far too much of the game (as if they didn't now) Let's just wait and see. I say there are no more flags against Seattle this game than there were last year. And I also say there will be multiple games with the scoring in the 40s. The proof is in the outcome is it not?

 

[jacobarch]

You can have both these scenarios exist concurrently Shopson. There is no doubt in anybody's mind the NFL has become an offensive dominated league. All the rules promote passing and scoring. Every year they take something away from the defense so the offense can score more. But they aren't going to undermine their current world champion by making them look bad and start throwing flags all over them now. That would make it look like the refs control far too much of the game (as if they didn't now) Let's just wait and see. I say there are no more flags against Seattle this game than there were last year. And I also say there will be multiple games with the scoring in the 40s. The proof is in the outcome is it not?

The NFL definitely plays favorites.

 

[mikey728]

I don't want 3-0 games often, but I would prefer that to an arena league clone where NOTHING matters except scoring...If 17-10, 24-21 games aren't enough scoring for the NFL, then I think they are more screwed up than I thought..I sure seems to me that excitement can come in more than one way...And if I ever hear that fantasy football bullshit has an impact on rules in the NFL, it would be very hard for me to take it seriously...I guess the casual fan comment was correc
t to a point..The NHL suffers from the same malady...The casuals find it boring...If you have played the game at all, you understand the flow...

 

[BOSS429Mustang]

I don't want 3-0 games often, but I would prefer that to an arena league clone where NOTHING matters except scoring...If 17-10, 24-21 games aren't enough scoring for the NFL, then I think they are more screwed up than I thought..I sure seems to me that excitement can come in more than one way...And if I ever hear that fantasy football bullshit has an impact on rules in the NFL, it would be very hard for me to take it seriously...I guess the casual fan comment was correc
t to a point..The NHL suffers from the same malady...The casuals find it boring...If you have played the game at all, you understand the flow...

I agree with you Mikey. I just want to see it offense vs defense, not offense vs offense vs mildly impactful defense. You should be able to build a championship team many different ways and to play with many different styles. With more styles and philosophies coming together on the field that to me just adds to the excitement more than non-stop scoring.

I'm afraid the fantasy thing is here to stay though. And since it drives the fans, and the fans drive how the league is run.......more fans = more $$$, which we all know is god to Goofdell.....well you can see where the influence is inevitable.

 

[shopson67]

I doubt it's fantasy related, but more player safety related. It's not like these are new rules; they're just enforcing them. It had gotten progressively worse in terms of letting contact go more and more, and the refs have been instructed to reel that in after the league's best offense was stalled by physical DB play (among other things) in the league's showcase championship game. Offensive fireworks always draw more fans than defensive battles. Would you rather watch a 9-6 game or a 27-24 game?

Defense counts in fantasy as well, especially if you play in a league with IDP (individual defensive players).