A guy named Bill Simmons writing in "Grantland" -- I have never heard of this guy or site but I'm glad I found it. I've linked both of his pieces on the NFL playoffs including the following excerpt from part one:
With the Colts becoming a game-day home dog, then covering, playoff home dogs are a jaw-dropping 23-12-1 since 1990. Guess what else? If you ranked every playoff team just by Jeff Sagarin's strength-of-schedule rankings, the team that played a harder schedule is 36-12 straight-up and 36-12 against the spread since 2002. When you narrow those numbers to teams that finished at least 10 SOS spots higher than their opponent, they improve to a staggering 23-3 straight-up and 22-3-1 against the spread (including New Orleans, Indy and San Francisco last weekend). FILE THIS SHIT AWAY FOR 2015, FELLOW GAMBLING JUNKIES!!!7
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10273137/nfl-lessons-learned
Part two pertains exclusively to this weekend's matchups. I hope you find all of his stuff as enjoyable and thought-provoking as I did:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10273137/page/2/bill-simmons-nfl-playoffs
:toast:
With the Colts becoming a game-day home dog, then covering, playoff home dogs are a jaw-dropping 23-12-1 since 1990. Guess what else? If you ranked every playoff team just by Jeff Sagarin's strength-of-schedule rankings, the team that played a harder schedule is 36-12 straight-up and 36-12 against the spread since 2002. When you narrow those numbers to teams that finished at least 10 SOS spots higher than their opponent, they improve to a staggering 23-3 straight-up and 22-3-1 against the spread (including New Orleans, Indy and San Francisco last weekend). FILE THIS SHIT AWAY FOR 2015, FELLOW GAMBLING JUNKIES!!!7
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10273137/nfl-lessons-learned
Part two pertains exclusively to this weekend's matchups. I hope you find all of his stuff as enjoyable and thought-provoking as I did:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10273137/page/2/bill-simmons-nfl-playoffs
:toast:
