Moreno returns to Broncos practice

Football Betting Lines

09/01/2010 -

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - The Denver Broncos' injured backfield is beginning to get healthy.

Knowshon Moreno was back at practice Tuesday, one month after the starting running back hurt his right hamstring on the opening live drill of training camp.

Moreno said he was ``80-some percent'' healed.

``I think I'll be over it,'' said Moreno, who couldn't guarantee his availability for the Sept. 12 regular-season opener in Jacksonville. ``At the same time, you never know with a hamstring.''

Moreno likely won't play in the Broncos' preseason finale at Minnesota on Thursday night, a game in which Denver's starters are expected to play some, if not most, of the first quarter.

Still, it's significant that the Broncos' projected top three tailbacks - Moreno, Correll Buckhalter and LenDale White - are practicing together for the first time.

``In order to have a good season it all starts in practice,'' Buckhalter said. ``So we're all happy to be out here.''

Buckhalter returned to practice Aug. 24 and, at the time, was far away from the point where he could confidently say he was ready to initiate and take contact. But that week of work has done him good, and his anticipated role in the preseason finale now is welcomed.

``I'm definitely excited about the opportunity to go out there and play and establish that relationship with my linemen and get all of us on one accord so we can have a successful season,'' Buckhalter said.

White won't be around when the regular season starts because he's suspended four games by the NFL under its substance-abuse policy. So the Vikings game will be his last chance to play until October.

Less definitive is Moreno's status.

It's the second straight season he's missed most of August with a significant injury. He sprained his left medial collateral ligament in the 2009 preseason opener then carried the ball eight times in Week 1.

Moreno wasn't getting into specifics about his injury Tuesday and would only say he ``feels good'' and that his priority is regaining his stamina.

``I don't want to call it a setback. It was just an adversity he's got to push through and he's had to push through,'' coach Josh McDaniels said. ``He's handled it the best he could and he's eager to get out there. I think that's where he is mentally.''

Moreno was wearing an orange jersey at practice, alerting players to lay off on contact. He's been studying his playbook and attending meetings in addition to receiving treatment.

``He missed the same period of time last year in training camp so he's gone through this before. He started the season off and really hadn't played much in the preseason. We're kind of in the same boat,'' McDaniels said. ``Hopefully we can start faster with him this year once we start playing the regular season, as soon as he's healthy.''

In addition to Buckhalter's debut, the key to watch in the Vikings game is the continuing competition between rookie Tim Tebow and Brady Quinn for the backup quarterback job.

Quinn, acquired in the offseason, hasn't pulled away for the job and McDaniels called it a ``competitive situation.''

``Both players have done some good things. Both players have turned it over,'' McDaniels said. ``Both players have been able to function in the 2-minute offense. And both players have plenty of room to improve. From that standpoint, I think this game will probably help us determine kind of where we see everything.

``But certainly I don't think either one of them has done so much that either guy has removed himself from the competition at all.''

Quinn remains listed as the backup on the team's depth chart. But he's completed only 51.4 percent of his passes and has yet to throw a TD pass. His 55.1 rating is the worst on the team.

Tebow has been marginally better at 56.5 percent with a scoring toss to Eric Decker against Pittsburgh on Sunday night, along with an interception that led to a Steelers touchdown.

Quinn was asked afterward whether he felt he'd done enough to clinch the No. 2 job.

``It's honestly something I'm not focusing on, I think, until that situation presents itself,'' he said.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

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