It was only a few weeks ago that a couple of Las Vegas sports books posted odds on Week 1 of the NFL with great fanfare, not only in Las Vegas, but throughout the country. People just love talking about football and there is no better way to measure how your team may fare this season than looking at the spreads.

Cantor Gaming sports books were one of the first in town to post Week 1 lines, but they upped the ante even more Wednesday morning offering spreads on all 16 weeks which ought to give the bettors enough to chew on until preseason starts in August. Cantor Gaming sports book director Mike Colbert said he posted them a little earlier than in the past because there was an extreme demand this year that forced the move.

“I don’t know what it is about this year, but I’ve never had the amount of requests for the full 16 weeks like we have this year,” said Colbert. “There is a heightened excitement about the upcoming NFL season like I’ve never seen before.”

Advertisement

It could be Peyton Manning returning to action in Denver while in the process sending Tim Tebow to NewYork, or it could simply be that the NFL is in the news every day with something different. The drama from the entire Saints bounty scandal has been in the news daily and everyone has an opinion on it one way or another.

We also have the NFL Network on every day with news, notes and highlight reels. How many times have you been flipping through the channels and eventually get stuck for a half-hour watching a top-10 greatest list or Super Bowl highlights from 1983?

It happens to all of us. The point is we‘ll take anything we can get right now that is associated with the dawning of a new season and 16 weeks of spreads is about the best appetizer a football fan could ask for.

“That’s the power of the NFL,” said Colbert. “It never ceases to amaze me how much people love football.”

Colbert is taking straight bets only on the sides, no totals, parlays or teasers. And in a few weeks he’s got another treat for the public, over-under season wins.

“We have most of our season win numbers set right now, but I’ll watch to see how the numbers move on the games to see if there needs to be any final tweaking before releasing them,” said Colbert.

Using respected bettors wagers as a tool is great way to assist with the season win totals. There are usually a couple bettors the sports book thinks highly of and if they're seen wagering a few individual teams that they perceive as value, it’s a very helpful indicator that perhaps the sports book rating on a team might be off a bit. It doesn’t mean their right or wrong, but it does help set a proper market price.

I asked Colbert about a couple of teams and what he was thinking and he turned the question back around on me.

“What would you make the Colts this season?”

I told him around four wins, and he said, “We’re going higher than that.”

Colbert also indicated that Redskins would be set around 7 ½ or 8 wins.

“They’ll (Redskins) be around .500. I have a number on them of 7.2 this season which will probably have us starting at 7 ½.”

We’ll talk more about those numbers when they come, but for now, enjoy all 16 weeks of spreads courtesy of Cantor Gaming.

Odds from Cantor Gaming for Week 2 through Week 16 on the NFL regular season are listed below.

Week 2

Away Home CHICAGO BEARS GREEN BAY PACKERS (-7 ½) TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS NEW YORK GIANTS (-9) NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (-2 ½) CAROLINA PANTHERS ARIZONA CARDINALS NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (-13) MINNESOTA VIKINGS INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (-2 ½) BALTIMORE RAVENS PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (-3 ½) KANSAS CITY CHIEFS BUFFALO BILLS (-2 ½) OAKLAND RAIDERS MIAMI DOLPHINS (-3 ½) CLEVELAND BROWNS CINCINNATI BENGALS (-7) HOUSTON TEXANS (-5½) JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS DALLAS COWBOYS SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (-1½) WASHINGTON REDSKINS (PK) ST. LOUIS RAMS NEW YORK JETS PITTSBURGH STEELERS (-4 ½) TENNESSEE TITANS SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (-6) DETROIT LIONS SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (-3 ½) DENVER BRONCOS ATLANTA FALCONS (-2 ½)