NFL Audit – Season Has Played Largely To Form

By Mike Wilkening, Sporting News	@TheLinemakers


We’re down to six days until Super Bowl 48 — and seven days until there’s no pro football until next summer. With this in mind, here are a few thoughts on the Broncos and Seahawks, as well as observations and trends of note from the 2013 season — a campaign almost completely in the books: 1. The Seahawks’ point spread performance over the last two seasons is something else. Since the beginning of calendar year 2012, the Seahawks are 33-11 against the spread. This includes a perfect 8-0 mark in the preseason. Yes, we’re including the preseason. Seattle generally beats expectations no matter the circumstances. 2. Now for a few words on the point spread and Peyton Manning. Including Super Bowl 48, the Broncos have been favored in 30 straight games with Manning at quarterback. When the Broncos gave Manning a five-year, $96 million contract in March 2012, they didn’t do so with the goal of being aw-shucks, happy-to-be-here underdogs. The stat sheet and standings paint a picture of how Manning has performed for Denver. The point spread, in its own special way, does something of the same. 3. The teams expected to be the NFL’s very best played to form. At the LVH SuperBook, four teams had win totals of 10.5 or higher as of early September: Denver (11.5), San Francisco (11.5), Seattle (10.5) and New England (10.5). All four clubs exceeded those win totals, and all four clubs made the conference championship round. These are just three of Mike Wilkening's 10 observations in this week's version of NFL Audit. To read the full article, head over to The Linemakers on Sporting News.