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Opening Line Report
 

Las Vegas Sports Consultants senior oddsmaker Mike Seba isn’t a big fan of New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin and his on-the-field coaching strategy.

Seba also knows the Giants have multiple injuries and will be playing their third consecutive road game when they take on the Green Bay Packers Sunday night in the NFC title game.

But he’s surprised the Giants aren’t getting more respect on the betting line. The Packers are seven-point favorites. That’s the number LVSC recommended to its Nevada sportsbook clients. Seba thought the number should be Packers -6.

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“Even with all the injuries they’ve had, they’ve done a great job,” Seba said of the Giants. “It’s too many points for Green Bay to lay in what looks to be a conservative game in cold weather.”

The Giants have won nine road games in a row. The Giants may run out of gas, though. This is their third straight away contest. It’s also their fourth consecutive big-game in a row counting their Week 17 home matchup against New England, which was bidding to become the first team to go 16-0 during the regular season. The Giants gave everything they had in a 38-35 loss.

The early Sunday night forecast in Green Bay is for a high temperature of 12 degrees with a 40 percent chance of snow. The wind chill factor could dip below zero. The ‘over/under’ has come down from an opening of 43 ½ to 42 or 41 ½ depending on the sportsbook.

LVSC’s sent-out number on the San Diego-New England AFC championship game was Patriots -14 and 50 on the total.

The Patriots were as high as -15 on Sunday night, when the championship numbers first came out. By Monday afternoon, though, the Patriots were -14 across the board. The total had dipped from a high of 51 down to 47 ½.

Snow isn’t in the early forecast for Foxboro, however, cold weather is expected. That’s not good for warm-weather San Diego. Neither are its three key skill position players being all banged-up.

LVSC’s opener of Patriots -14 is based on LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers playing. Both are dealing with knee injuries, while Pro Bowl tight end Antonio Gates has a dislocated toe. He was in-and-out of the lineup during Sunday’s victory against the Colts.

Seba believes the Chargers, like the Giants, aren’t getting enough respect on the betting line. He made the line Patriots -13.

“San Diego has looked great,” he said. “The Chargers have won eight in a row. They had a very gusty performance against the Colts.

“The Patriots defense is vulnerable. They haven’t looked like the Patriots of Week 8.”

New England only is 2-7 against the spread during its past nine games.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Patriots closed -13 ½,” Seba said.

Bookmakers traditionally shade the home favorites in championship games. That’s the case again this season.

“You always want to be on the high side of these championship games,” Seba said. “But I just think these lines are inflated. It’s a lot of points to be laying into two hot teams.”

  
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