Lions welcome Roughriders to Empire Field

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07/07/2010 - Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Having avenged their difficult loss to Montreal in last year's Grey Cup meeting, the Saskatchewan Roughriders now turn their attention to the British Columbia Lions for the lone contest between undefeated programs in the second week of the CFL's 2010 campaign at Empire Field.

Saskatchewan, which suffered a painful 28-27 loss to the Alouettes in the 2009 title game, came out on the winning side of a thrilling 54-51 final in this year's opener versus Montreal. In a game that was the highest-scoring opening day game of all-time and was the third-highest scoring contest in league history overall, the Roughriders nearly cost themselves the game yet again when they were flagged for too many men on the field. However, this time around Saskatchewan did not go away quietly as Darian Durant's three-yard pass to Weston Dressler in overtime proved to be the game winner after the Roughriders defense held Montreal to a field goal in the second OT.

Durant, who has his team atop the power rankings entering the second week of the campaign, connected on 30-of-44 passes for an astounding 478 yards and five touchdowns and just as importantly, did not throw a single interception. Dressler, appearing in his first game since suffering a broken leg last season, reeled in 10 balls for a game-high 154 yards. Rob Bagg stretched his four catches into another 121 yards and a score, while Andy Fantuz had two TD catches as he set up the Roughriders for a shot at overtime and then hit the end zone first in the bonus frame. Running back Wes Cates tacked on a game- high 112 yards rushing, his effort alone topping that of the entire Montreal contingent. Add to that another 52 yards on five carries for Durant and it was easy to see how Saskatchewan finished with an astounding 641 yards of total offense.

Even though the Saskatchewan defense gave up 417 yards of offense and allowed Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo to connect on four touchdowns, in the end the Roughriders played big when it meant the most.

As for the Lions, it was their defense that came ready to play versus Edmonton on the road last Sunday as they limited Ricky Ray to just 229 yards passing and sacked the quarterback a total of five times in order to keep him off balance. The offense for British Columbia didn't exactly shine, but at least the squad could lean on kicker Paul McCallum who knocked through all six of his field goal attempts and his lone extra point as he alone outscored the Eskimos in their 25-10 decision. Running back Jamal Robertson carried the ball just 11 times for the program, yet still finished with a game-high 168 yards and a score for BC. Robertson added three pass receptions as well, yet those he stretched for just two net yards. Last season Robertson was a solid performer in the league as he gained not only 1,031 yards rushing but another 482 yards on 59 receptions as well.

Casey Printers, one of several players to handle some of the quarterbacking duties for the Lions last season, completed 20-of-34 pass attempts for 218 yards in an effort to keep the ball moving for the British Columbia offense. An overlooked source of offense for a number of years now, Printers has thrown a total of just 18 touchdowns since his standout year of 2004 when he threw for more than 5,000 yards and 35 scores.

With the offense in somewhat of disarray in 2009, the Lions had to settle for just under 24 ppg, which had them placed sixth in the league ahead of only Winnipeg and Toronto, two teams which finished a combined 10-26. Unfortunately for the Lions this season they will have to find a replacement for Martell Mallett who, after placing fourth in the league in rushing with 1,240 yards and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie of the Year in 2009, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL.

Last season, Durant placed second in the league in passing touchdowns for the Roughriders with a total of 24, but he was also charged with a season-high 21 interceptions and that is an area that he'll have to guard against this year as defenses aim to put him in challenging positions.

These teams met a total of four times last season, with each taking a pair of meetings at home. The Roughriders logged a couple of close calls (28-24 and 33-30 in overtime) on their field, and the Lions put up a 35-20 triumph in early August and then followed that up with a 19-16 victory the first week of October. As a result of the split, Saskatchewan leads the series by a count of 88-76-4, accounting for regular season matchups dating back to 1954.

Assuming that the offensive outburst by the Roughriders was no fluke and that the team can come back with the same sort of intensity it showed in the second half of its win over Montreal, expect to see Saskatchewan come away with the convincing win, even on the road, this weekend.

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NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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