Football Teams

The Green Bay Packers are the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, as they were set up in 1919. The Packers has won more league titles than any other organization, with 13 titles, 4 since the establishment of the Super Bowl. The greatest draft selections by the Packers are Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke and Paul Hornung

No. 3: Paul Hornung, RB, (1957 - 1962 & 1964 - 1966)

Paul Horung was drafted No. 1 overall in the 1957 NFL Draft. Horung was capable of playing safety, placekicker and running back. The Hall of Famer was simply an all-around athlete and was chosen to the Pro Bowl on two different occasions, along with being named league MVP in 1961. The short-yardage specialist stopped his career with 3,711 rushing yards, a 4.2 rush average, 1,480 receiving yards and 72 touchdowns.

No. 2: Ray Nitschke, LB, (1958 - 1972)

Ray Nitschke spent his entire career in the NFL with Green Bay at the linebacker position, having been selected in the 1958 NFL Draft in the third round. He led a defense that went on to win five NFL titles and the first two Super Bowls ever played. The MVP of the 1962 NFL Championship game was a three-time All-Pro and a Pro Bowler in 1964. The hard hitting Hall of Famer finished with 25 interceptions during his career, but will be recollected most for his powerful discipline throughout his career.

No. 1: Bart Starr, QB, (1956 - 1971)

Bart Starr led tGreen Bay to several league championships after been taken in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft. The Hall of Famer was selected as the league MVP in 1966 and was also named a Pro Bowler on 4 occasions. He led the organization in Super Bowl I and II and was named MVP of both Super Bowls. Starr also anchored the Packers to 5 NFL championships prior to the Super Bowl, in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967. He ended his career with 152 touchdowns, 24,718 passing yards and passer rating of 80.5.

Any player who can lead a franchise to a combined 7 titles deserves being held in high esteem. That's more acceptable if the player was taken late in the draft, rather than being a sure-thing top pick. As such, Bart Starr is the best player drafted by the Green Bay Packers. Check out our 2012 NFL mock draft to see who the Packers will be after in the 1st round this year.

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Rumors of the New England Patriots demise are clearly premature. Two weeks after being thoroughly outplayed by the New York Jets, the Pats have won two straight and on Sunday ended the Baltimore Ravens undefeated start to the NFL season with a 27-21 victory. They needed a little luck along the way"usually sure handed receiver Mark Clayton dropped a wide open fourth down pass in the final minute to kill a potential game winning drive deep in New England territory.

The Patriots got the NFL pointspread victory as well, covering as -2 home favorites. It was Baltimore's first ATS setback on the season, while New England evened their pointspread record at 2-2. The 48 points scored barely exceeded the posted total of 45. The Ravens have now gone OVER in three of four games this season, while the Patriots evened their NFL over/under record at 2-2.

After the contest, Clayton didnt make any excuses about his rare miscue:

"Flat out drop. It was a perfect ball. Joe put it on the money. To not come up with it is tough. It cost us the game."

Ravens safety Ed Reed said it should have never gotten to that point, blaming the officials for giving the team bad spots:

"The spots were terrible.

Ray Lewis complained about what he felt were inappropriate roughing the passer penalties:

Without totally going off the wall here, it is embarrassing to the game. Brady is good enough to make his own plays, let him make the play."

Pats running back Sammy Morris was glad to have come out on top of the tough battle:

"We thought we had them down, but they started coming back. It was just one of those tough slugfests."

Pats' coach Bill Belichick shared those sentiments:

"That was quite a finish," . Stop them on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter, that's when you've got to be there. Luckily, we were."

Despite the victory, Pats safety Brandon Meriweather wasnt happy with the performance of the New England defense:

"We gave up too many big plays and couldn't get off the field on third down. We did a lot of things that good defenses don't do."

The Patriots will face another tough challenge from an undefeated team this Sunday as they travel to Denver to face the surprising Broncos. Theyll return home the following week for a game against the Tennessee Titans before traveling to Tampa Bay to face the Bucs on October 25th. The Ravens will host the Cincinnati Bengals this Sunday, with Baltimore a -9 home favorite. The total in the game has been set at 42. Baltimore will travel to Minnesota to face the Vikings the following week before a bye week.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance sports writer and respected authority on MLB free picks. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and NHL free picks sites.

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After an erratic start to the 2009 NFL regular season, the New England Patriots have finally found some balance to their offense. Tom Brady had carried all of the weight in the Pats first two regular season games due to their one dimensional offense, but on Sunday he received some long overdue help from running back Fred Taylor who ran for 105 yards. As a result, the Patriots dominated the time of possession battle holding onto the ball for nearly 40 minutes en route to a 26-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. Both teams are now 2-1 on the season.

NFL betting enthusiasts who backed the Patriots as -4 home favorites cashed their tickets with the 16 point victory. It was New Englands first ATS triumph of the season, while Atlanta lost to the money for the first time in the 2009 campaign. The 36 combined points scored went UNDER the total of 45. Both teams have played two of their three games UNDER the total so far this season.

Rushing star Taylor talked about the importance of a balanced offense:

"You want to be balanced going into games, but some situations don't allow for it. You want to establish that momentum and look over across the ball and see the frustration in the defensive guys' eyes."

New England was also very effective on defense, holding the Falcons Tony Gonzalez to one catch early in the fourth quarter. An obviously frustrated Gonzalez talked about the Patriots defensive scheme:

"They did the same thing they always do to me, 'bracket coverage. If I get single coverage I am going to make them pay for it eventually."

New England safety Brandon McGowan joked that the plan was to hold Gonzalez without any catches:

"The plan was for him to not have any catches and he had one so obviously the plan failed."

Patriots running back Sammy Morris said it was simply a matter of making plays:

"We were making plays in the second half we weren't making in the previous weeks. It was directly related to making the third-and-shorts and fourth-and-shorts. The offense is able to stay on the field and you're able to get more things accomplished."

The Falcons will enjoy a bye weekend before returning to action on the road against the San Francisco 49ers on October 11th. Theyll host the Chicago Bears the following Sunday before playing the Cowboys at Dallas. New England will host the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday. New England will play at Denver the following weekend before returning home to take on the Tennessee Titans.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on MLB free picks. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and NHL free picks sites.

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In a matchup between two of the worst offenses in the NFL, someone had to win. Despite producing only 9 first downs and'3 yards of total offense, the Cleveland Browns got a late game field goal from Billy Cundiff to defeat the Buffalo Bills 6-3 and win their first game of the season. The Bills had the more productive afternoon statistically, with- first downs and 288 yards of offense but were undone by three costly turnovers. Both teams are now 1-4 on the 2009 NFL season. Neither team appears to be headed anywhere but down in the NFL standings.

To successfully bet on the NFL, one needs to find opportunities to play underdogs"this is particularly true in games where neither team is expected to put many points on the board. Such was the case here, as Cleveland easily covered the pointspread as +6 road underdogs. Both teams are now 2-3 against the number on the season. The Browns have now won and covered the last three head to head matchups between the teams. The 9 points scored came nowhere near the total of 41 for an easy UNDER.

It was a game without many highlights. The Browns got on the board first with a 24 yard Cundiff field goal in the second quarter, and took that 3-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. Buffalo would tie the score in third on a Rian Lindell 36 yard field goal. That would set the stage for Cundiff to nail the game winner from' yards out with: 23 left to play. Despite todays victory, Cleveland is averaging a woeful 11 points per game this season.

The real loser in Sundays contest may have been Buffalo head coach Dick Jauron. Many were surprised that he was retained after the Bills third straight 7-9 season last year and things have gone from bad to worse so far in the 2009 NFL season. Buffalo has lost to winless teams in back to back weeks, part of a three game losing streak. Overall, the Bills have wound up losers in 12 of their last 15 games. Not that Cleveland has done much better--the win today ended a 10 game losing streak, one short of the all time franchise record. There are at least a few signs of hope in Cleveland, the same can't be said for Buffalo.

Cleveland will have a tough road assignment next Sunday, heading to Pittsburgh to face the World Champion Steelers. Theyll return home for a game against the Green Bay Packers on October 25th before playing the Chicago Bears in The Windy City the following week. Buffalo will play the next two on the road, heading to the Meadowlands next Sunday for a game against the New York Jets followed by a trip to Charlotte, NC to take on the Carolina Panthers. Theyll return home on November 1st to face the Houston Texans.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and respected authority on MLB free picks. His writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and NHL free picks sites.

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While the St. Louis Rams aren't the toughest opponents the NFL can offer, the Seattle Seahawks played well on both offense and defense en route to a 28-0 opening game victory. Jim Mora made a successful debut as Seahawks coach and Matt Hasselbeck played his first regular season game since last Thanksgiving.

The Seahawks easily covered the spread as -7 home favorites. The ATS victory improved the Seahawks to 18-15 against the number in the past three years. The Rams dropped to a dismal 11-22 ATS in the past three years with a 9-20 mark as an underdog. The 28 points scored went UNDER the total of 41.

Mora is a native of the Seattle and once worked as a visiting locker room attendant for the Seahawks. The homecoming made the victory all the more enjoyable as he recounted afterwards:

"It was especially emotional for me, because there is some significance to it. I'd be lying if I told you there wasn't. It was kind of a surreal experience."

It was also the Seahawks first shutout in over two seasons. Linebacker Aaron Curry commented after the game that defensive tenacity and toughness are goals for the new look Seattle team:

"The whole offseason, they said our team was soft. We've got to change our image."

While the Seahawks looked to be much improved over last year, the Rams looked to be the same pitiful team that stumbled to a 2-14 record in 2008. You know things are bad when players point to personal fouls as a positive, as Steven Jackson did in his postgame interviews:

"Would you rather us just get our tail kicked and walk back to the huddle? You saw some fight in this team."

The Rams looked sloppy and undisciplined throughout, amassing 10 penalties for 85 yards and having their only touchdown of the game negated due to too many men on the field.

The schedule wont get any easier for St. Louis, as they hit the road again this week to face the Washington Redskins. The Rams are a +10 road underdog in that contest with the total set at 36. Theyll open their home season the following week against Green Bay before playing another road contest on October 4th against the San Francisco 49ers. Seattle will also play away from home this Sunday, heading down the coast to meet the resurgent San Francisco 49ers. The Niners are a -1 home favorite with the total set at 39. The Seahawks will host the Chicago Bears the following Sunday before a road game at Indianapolis on October 4th.

Ross Everett is a widely published well known writer specializing in price per head, horse racing, travel and fencing. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is in charge of providing daily how to become a bookie to a number of websites and broadcast media outlets. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a wombat.

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With three NFL preseason wins under their belt there was every reason to think that the San Francisco 49ers would phone in their final exhibition game against the San Diego Chargers. And thats exactly what they did, with the Chargers reserves easily securing a 26-7 home victory. San Francisco would settle for a 3-1 mark in NFL preseason play, while the Chargers wrapped up their exhibition slate with a 2-2 record.

San Diego's 19 point margin of victory allowed them to easily cover the pointspread as -3 home favorites. The 33 combined points the two teams put on the board went UNDER the posted total of 36.

The game was such an exercise in irrelevance that Chargers coach Norv Turner called for an onside kick to open the contest in order that his team could practice the situation in real world game conditions. San Diego would recover the kick, and then score on a 39 yard touchdown pass from Billy Volek to Kassim Osgood. Afterwards, Turner explained the unusual play call:

"It's something we may need in a game. It's something you've got to practice. I would hate for a critical situation to be the first time we did it in the regular season. We got a chance to work on it."

The Niners starting offense"including QB Shaun Hill"got to play for one series before turning things over to the backups. Hill said that even the minimal bit of playing time was important:

"We moved the ball a little bit. We weren't able to get any points, but it was good to at least get out there and run some plays and get things started out there. I was happy that I got the opportunity and I think the whole offense felt that way. We think it was important to get some work tonight. We've got a long weekend off, so we were excited about it."

The backup offense score the Niners only points of the game, as reserve QB Nate Davis found Jason Hill for a 21 yard touchdown pass. In addition to their opening drive score, the Chargers got a late game touchdown pass from former Clemson University QB Charlie Whitehurst to go with four Nate Kaeding field goals.

The Chargers will start their regular season next Monday night on the road against their hated rivals the Oakland Raiders with San Diego installed as a -9 road favorite. The Niners will get their 2009 season underway on the road against the Arizona Cardinals. The Niners are a +6 road underdog in that contest, with the total set at 46.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer specializing in price per head, wombat racing, travel and fencing. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is in charge of providing daily how to become a bookie to a number of websites and broadcast media outlets. He lives in Las Vegas with three dogs and a wombat.

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