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NFL 2001 Season
Week 4
TMW 2001
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  • Please Note: The GF Report is put together by some of the TMW gamecharters who utilize various pieces of the TwoMinuteWarning data while providing their own analysis and interpretation.

    GameFixers
    Weekly Pro Picks
    NFL 2001 Season
    Week 4
    "Predictions so good...
    you'll think the games were fixed!"

    Welcome to the GAMEFIXERS pro picks page -- thanks for stopping by. We are a group of skilled, veteran NFL Handicappers with sophisticated methods to help give you the edge in your 2001 Pro Football betting. Our philosophy towards sports betting is that we believe in the numbers. While technical and situational analysis has its place, in general our process hinges on getting access to the most accurate statistical data available to assess the games properly. With our well-connected status among top sports gambling information providers, we are able to get our hands on just what we need!

    We are always happy to hear from our clients -- send comments to: Gamefixers@hotmail.com


    Week Four Plays

    As stated in our introduction, we are generally statistically-oriented handicappers. With week four you're getting to the point where the stats matter, but there are still some teams that have only played two games or who have very unbalanced home/away schedules. We'll examine the numbers in detail, and add in a little GF Perspective.


    1) Play-By-Play Ratings


    When looking at NFL stats, you can't get more detailed than looking at the Play-By-Play level, which is what our friends at TwoMinuteWarning.com do in creating their unique Play-By-Play ratings. Let's take a glance at the predicted scores based on these PBP ratings for the week 4 games:

    Data courtesy of TwoMinuteWarning.com
    Match-up
    Predicted
    Score
    TMW
    Line
    Line
    (home)
    Pick
    Line
    Diff
    Tennessee at Baltimore
    BAL 33-3
    -30
    -3.5
    Baltimore
    26.5
    Chicago at Atlanta
    ATL 38-11
    -27
    -3.5
    Atlanta
    23.5
    Arizona at Philadelphia
    PHI 38-7
    -31
    -14.5
    Philadelphia
    16.5
    Green Bay at Tampa Bay
    GB 25-13
    +12
    -2.5
    Green Bay
    14.5
    N.Y. Jets at Buffalo
    NYJ 32-13
    +19
    +4.5
    N.Y. Jets
    14.5
    St. Louis at Detroit
    STL 34-7
    +27
    +13
    St. Louis
    14
    Washington at N.Y. Giants
    NYG 35-8
    -27
    -14
    N.Y. Giants
    13
    New England at Miami
    NE 22-19
    +3
    -9.5
    New England
    12.5
    Jacksonville at Seattle
    JAX 23-8
    +15
    +3.5
    Jacksonville
    11.5
    Minnesota at New Orleans
    NO 25-10
    -15
    -3.5
    New Orleans
    11.5
    Dallas at Oakland
    OAK 32-3
    -29
    -18.5
    Oakland
    10.5
    Kansas City at Denver
    DEN 27-26
    -1
    -10
    Kansas City
    9
    Carolina at San Francisco
    SF 32-17
    -15
    -6.5
    San Francisco
    8.5
    Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
    CIN 16-15
    +1
    -5
    Cincinnati
    6
    San Diego at Cleveland
    SD 18-9
    +9
    +3
    San Diego
    6

    ANALYSIS: Later in the season it's key to go only for those games with a 4+ Line Difference between the play-by-play pick and the real line. In week 4 you still get too many one sided predicted scores. Four of the overlay picks are underdogs, including Green Bay, New England, Kansas City, and Cincinnati. In the additional games where both teams have played three times the picks are San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, New Orleans, Jacksonville, New York Giants, and New York Jets.


    2) Ultimate Prediction Machine


    Another great handicapping tool put out by the TwoMinuteWarning guys is their "Ultimate Prediction Machine". We'll let them describe it:

    "The Ultimate Prediction Machine simulates each NFL matchup two-thousand times using our exclusive TwoMinuteWarning Drive Chart stats. Each simulated score is compared against the line on the game to assess who would have covered and the numbers are compiled to give a confidence value to the chances of each team covering."

    Data courtesy of TwoMinuteWarning.com
    Matchup
    Line
    (home)
    Pick
    Cover %
    Arizona at Philadelphia
    -14.5
    Philadelphia
    69 %
    Chicago at Atlanta
    -3.5
    Atlanta
    70 %
    Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
    -5
    Cincinnati
    60 %
    Dallas at Oakland
    -18.5
    Dallas
    65 %
    Green Bay at Tampa Bay
    -2.5
    Green Bay
    85 %
    Jacksonville at Seattle
    +3.5
    Jacksonville
    66 %
    Kansas City at Denver
    -10
    Kansas City
    68 %
    Minnesota at New Orleans
    -3.5
    New Orleans
    62 %
    New England at Miami
    -9.5
    New England
    80 %
    N.Y. Jets at Buffalo
    +4.5
    N.Y. Jets
    60 %
    San Diego at Cleveland
    +3
    Cleveland
    50 %
    Tennessee at Baltimore
    -3.5
    Baltimore
    65 %
    Washington at N.Y. Giants
    -14
    N.Y. Giants
    64 %
    Carolina at San Francisco
    -6.5
    Carolina
    55 %
    St. Louis at Detroit
    +13
    St. Louis
    59 %

    ANALYSIS: Like the Play-By-Play predicted scores, only having two or three games played skews the stats a lot. You won't typically have as many high confidence value picks as we do this week and you won't see an 85% confidence rating in later weeks! Later in the year we fully trust the 60% or better rated picks. For week 4, we'll note them and keep going: Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Green Bay, Jacksonville, Kansas City, New Orleans, New England, New York Jets, Baltimore, and the New York Giants.


    3) Red Zone Predictions

    TwoMinuteWarning just started up a new feature which only uses a team's performance in the red zone to predict their upcoming performance. Whether this approach works well remains to be seen, but here's the first publication of the Red Zone Drive Chart numbers:

    Match-up
    Predicted
    Score
    TMW
    Line
    Line
    (home)
    Pick
    Overlay
    Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
    CIN 26-11
    +15
    -5
    Cincinnati
    20
    Chicago at Atlanta
    ATL 32-9
    -23
    -3.5
    Atlanta
    19.5
    Dallas at Oakland
    OAK 24-21
    -3
    -18.5
    Dallas
    15.5
    New England at Miami
    NE 26-21
    +5
    -9.5
    New England
    14.5
    Washington at N.Y. Giants
    NYG 34-6
    -28
    -14
    N.Y. Giants
    14
    Kansas City at Denver
    KC 23-20
    +3
    -10
    Kansas City
    13
    St. Louis at Detroit
    STL 22-19
    +3
    +13
    Detroit
    10
    Minnesota at New Orleans
    MIN 24-19
    +5
    -3.5
    Minnesota
    8.5
    Green Bay at Tampa Bay
    GB 21-18
    +3
    -2.5
    Green Bay
    5.5
    San Diego at Cleveland
    SD 26-19
    +7
    +3
    San Diego
    4
    Arizona at Philadelphia
    PHI 33-15
    -18
    -14.5
    Philadelphia
    3.5
    Tennessee at Baltimore
    BAL 20-13
    -7
    -3.5
    Baltimore
    3.5
    N.Y. Jets at Buffalo
    NYJ 23-16
    +7
    +4.5
    N.Y. Jets
    2.5
    Jacksonville at Seattle
    JAX 22-17
    +5
    +3.5
    Jacksonville
    1.5
    Carolina at San Francisco
    SF 25-20
    -5
    -6.5
    Carolina
    1.5

    ANALYSIS: These predicted scores look closer to reality, and have a higher proportion of underdogs selected. Among the dogs with 4+ overlays are Cincinnati, Dallas, New England, Kansas City, Detroit, Minnesota, and Green Bay.


    4) Trends

    Tracking how all kinds of stats are doing is a real pain if you are doing it yourself manually. One of the great things about computers is they can spew out all kinds of stuff in seconds that would take hours and days for a person. Let's check in with the week four stat trends:

    The following table lists the six most predictive statistical factors based on the results against the spread when playing the team with the HIGHER numbers in the specific category.

    Week 4 Stat Comparison results 1991-2000
    (Results expressed as W-L vs the spread)
    Factor
    Home
    W-L
    Home
    W%
    Away
    W-L
    Away
    W%
    Total
    W-L
    Total
    W%
    Rush Yds Last Game
    33 - 31
    51 %
    36 - 20
    64 %
    69 - 51
    57 %
    Pass Yds Last game
    16 - 35
    31 %
    32 - 37
    46 %
    48 - 72
    40 %
    Pass Yds Allowed Last Game
    31 - 27
    53 %
    40 - 22
    64 %
    71 - 49
    59 %
    Sacks OFF L Game
    24 - 23
    51 %
    36 - 22
    62 %
    60 - 45
    57 %
    Punts L Game
    23 - 24
    48 %
    31 - 16
    65 %
    54 - 40
    57 %
    4th Qtr Net L Game
    16 - 39
    29 %
    25 - 31
    44 %
    41 - 70
    36 %

    ANALYSIS: For the data above the factors win light green are positive factors (play the team with the higher numbers), the dark green are negative factors (play the team with the lower numbers).

    As Johnny Carson would say, "that's some really weird stuff"...the rushing yards/passing yards factors make some sense, but messing around with offensive sacks, times punted and 4th quarter net seems a little obscure. The statistic with the most pronounced record was the 4th Q net points, where home teams with better numbers in the previous game have only covered 29% of the time in week four match-ups.

    Rather than plug all the factors in for this week, we'll just note the away teams with worse 4th Q nets: Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Minnesota, San Diego, Tennessee, Washington, and Carolina.


    5) Motivation Analysis

    Our final handicapping tool this week is some motivational analysis:

    • Chicago at Atlanta: Ouch! Falcons lose Jamal Anderson yet again. Last time it happened in 1999 game 2, the Falcons came back in week three and were crushed by St. Louis 35-7. Jamal is the team leader and without him the confidence is shot at least temporarily. Bears quietly building.
      Pick Chicago +3.5
    • Arizona at Philadelphia: Eagles looking great but must keep pace with Giants who get the easier pushover this week. Cardinals playing first road game of the season, traveling 2400 miles to play in front of touch crowd to begin with. No way the Eagles don't crush the Cards here.
      Strong Pick Philadelphia -14.5
    • San Diego at Cleveland: Chargers on a run and no one in the near term can stop them. Traveling a long way for this (2400 miles) but could play in Timbutku right now and win. Cleveland off huge win, probably biggest since franchise resumed play, but can't repeat performance like that this week.
      Pick San Diego -3
    • Carolina at San Francisco: I was wrong about the 49ers on Monday Night. This week I'm with them against the Panthers. Carolina making coast-to-coast trek (2800 miles) after being nervous about going to Atlanta earlier (Seifert wanted to bus there). Then they play on Sunday Night which means the 4th quarter will be about 11pm Carolina time. Panthers have beat Niners badly last couple of years, Mariucci desperate for win and has the team to do it now.
      Strong Pick San Francisco -6.5

    6) FINAL PICKS FOR WEEK FOUR

    2-Unit Plays 1-Unit Plays
    • Green Bay +3 (Harrah's)
    • New England +10 (Mirage)
    • Kansas City +10
    • Cincinnati +6 (Horseshoe)
    • Philadelphia -14
    • Jacksonville -3.5 (Caesars)
    • San Diego -3
    In cases where a line is not commonly available,
    we list the casino at which we found it

    As our good friend Rick Needham says, "bet with your head, not over it!"

    ***

    Season-To-Date Record:
    • 2-unit plays: 6-2 (+7.6 units)
    • 1-unit plays: 1-3 (-2.3 units)
    • All Plays: 7-5 (+5.3 units)
    Archive File: Week 3 GF Report
    Archive File: Week 2 GF Report

    [GameFixers Report for Week 1 was NOT POSTED on TwoMinuteWarning
    and week 1 picks are not included in the season-to-date record]

    To view file see GF Report 0910



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