Bet on It
By Dalton Del Don
Last year I finished 130-117 ATS, becoming the new “staff picks” champ over at RotoWire. Chris Liss has yet to get over it. Now back to prove it was no fluke, Week 1 seemed easy to pick, which means a poor start is almost surely likely. Seriously, loving all these home dogs.
Redskins +3.5 at Giants
Buccaneers +3.5 at Saints
Rams +7.5 at Eagles
Jets -3 at Dolphins
Chiefs +16.5 at Patriots
Texans +6.5 at Steelers
Bengals -1 at Ravens (best bet)
Lions -3 at Falcons
Seahawks pick ‘em at Bills
Jaguars -3 at Titans
Cowboys -5.5 at Browns
Panthers +9.5 at Chargers
Cardinals -2.5 at 49ers
Bears +9.5 at Colts
Vikings +2.5 at Packers
Broncos -3 at Raiders
September 4th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I like your week, i only disagreed with two of your picks, and i made my list independently yesterday.
I like the bengals to cover, but that was a tough one for me, so I was surprised to see that as your best bet.
I also liked the steelers to cover at home.
my best bet is saints -3.5 at home
September 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
also DDD-
What do you think sit/start this week, playing a limited Antonio Gates, or Owen Daniels in a tough matchup (not ppr)?
September 4th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I agree with pretty much all your picks excepts the Browns. The Cowboys will roll by two TD’s minimum. Bet on that!!!!!!
September 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Chad - I debated b/w like 3-4 other games for my “best bet” and am regretting going with Balt. I still like the bet, but I don’t love the fact a rookie is starting at QB. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Houston beats Pitt outright.
Tough call at TE. Honestly, I think I’d go with Daniels. Just safer. I’d like to see Gates first.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Jewru - Maybe, but that’s a lot of points to lay on the road.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Dallas will be laying 10 on the road soon. Take advantage before the oddsmakers catch up.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Dalton..first of all 130-117 is good…but lets not get carried away..its nothing special..you had a 52.6% winning percentage. You wouldnt have finished in the top 10 in 95 out of 100 pools…2nd you like the falcons and the ravens…picking 2 teams with rookie QB’s in their first game is not the way to defend ur picks championship…not only that…two team with rookie QB’s and first year coaches..the Lions and Bengals win easily…I mean Flacco struggled at Delaware…what makes you think hes going to do well in the NFL..especially his first game? Matt Ryan also was nothing special in college…he was a little above average…the Falcons are terrible..they have 2 good RB’s and that is all…their pas defense is the worst in the league and Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams will abuse them all game long…come on Dalton…wake up
September 5th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Where are Critter’s Picks? Last year he dropped knowledge that we could rely on week in, week out.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Daltonislost aka BestFantasyPlayer - Huh? 130-117 ATS wouldn’t finish top 10 in 95 out of 100 pools? I wonder how Vegas built all those casinos based on that logic. Considering the vig, my record last year wouldn’t have won a ton of money, and I doubt I’ll be able to repeat it, but I didn’t see anyone on the Internet do better. Almost all of the guys who pick ATS every game, every week, usually finish under .500.
Regarding the ATL/BALT picks, there’s more to football than quarterbacks, but it’s the easiest and simplest way to try to predict winners, I suppose.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Walt Weiss - I believe it’s Kritter, not Critter.
September 5th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Daltonislost- Why didn’t you step up to our fantasy league if you like talking trash about the site host?
Because he does us such a great service each week, it’s our duty to defend him. No one who tracks their picks for profitability selects every game each week. Nor did he make any claim on his nationwide ranking as a ATS picker. Dalton obviously is comparing himself to other FANTASY writers, and the purpose of such is to help people with Pick’Em and Survival type pools, and pending whether or not it was a pool with confidence points would also have a large impact on how successful that record would be.
Indeed, people who make a living (or try to) at betting football (which he doesn’t), typically don’t take more than 4-5 bets per week. And if you found someone who had any long term success at picking better than that, they’d be made a rediculous offer by any of the larger sports books in vegas. But for the sake of the readers, Dalton makes his call on each game, and invites us to all include input.
And also he doesn’t end every sentence with (…) one period is sufficient to end a sentence. Even if you had a single valid point (which you didn’t) it would have been lost in your terrible grammar, punctuation, and unorganized ramblings. Also, let’s see some confirmed and documented list of your track record of EVERY game from last year, and I’d be shocked if you broke 45%.
Dalton, don’t worry, we know you got skills. RotoWire, NFL.com, Yahoo.com all have found you worthy, I guess you can withdraw your application to write for daltonislost.com though.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
I find your picks more useful than most because they are a bit against the grain I would usually go with. Would you consider throwing in a few one line blurbs in the future?
September 5th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Bottom line picking games against the spread is for shits and giggles. No one beats the book. Last year I won my pick pool. Two years ago dead last. I bet if you averaged it all out I was at 50%. There is truly no science to it.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Chad - Thanks man.
finite 24 - Yes, I’ll consider throwing a few one line blurbs in the future, but if you ever have any questions regarding a certain game, I encourage you to ask for my reasoning here in the comments. And I hear you about me going against the grain. In order to be successful ATS, you have to go ugly sometimes on just blind faith. For instance, OF COURSE the Bengals and Lions seem like better teams than Atl and Balt., but it’s just not as simple as that. They both might cover this week, but more often than not, the public (the majority) will be wrong, so if you remain consistent, you’ll (hopefully) come out ahead in the end.
The Jewru - I agree.
September 7th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
I won my pool for this week. With two games still remaining I already have 10 correct (3 more than I would have had).
September 7th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
That’s what I like to hear.