The NFL Blog: 2009 Betting Lines Season Review

Last Week: Vs. Spread (1-0); Straight Up (0-1).
Playoffs: Vs. Spread (6-5); Straight Up (7-4)
Season: Vs. Spread (126-134-6); Straight Up (176-90).

Playoffs Review: Once again I was a bit disappointed in my playoff performance. I’m glad I was over .500 ATS and straight up again but I still would like to go better than 7-4 picking winners. And this year I didn’t pick the winner of the Super Bowl correctly so that’s a major downer.

Season Review: I can’t say that I’m thrilled with my final records but I’m not exactly ashamed. A .485 percentage ATS isn’t terrible. I still think I can do better than a .662 winning percentage straight up but I’m getting better. I was over .500 ATS and straight up in the playoffs again. I was actually a bit surprised when I went back and discovered that I was only over .500 ATS in 6 weeks during the regular season and I was under .500 ATS in 8 weeks. I went .500 ATS in 3 weeks. During the playoffs I was only over .500 ATS in 1 week but I was never under .500 ATS in the playoffs. I went .500 ATS in 3 of 4 weeks during the playoffs. During the regular season I was over .500 straight up in 15 of 17 weeks; under .500 straight up in 1 week; and I went .500 straight up in 1 week. During the playoffs I was over .500 straight up in 2 weeks; under .500 straight up in 1 week; and at .500 straight up 1 week.

I was shocked and appalled when I realized that I was never over .500 ATS in consecutive weeks during the regular season. My longest streak of weeks under .500 ATS was 3. I was .500 ATS or better in 3 straight weeks at one point. During one stretch I was at .500 or worse for 6 consecutive weeks. My longest stretch without a winning record straight up was 1 week. I was over .500 straight up for 8 consecutive weeks at one point. My best record ATS during the season was 9-5 in week 5; my worst record ATS during the season was 3-10 in week 9. I was 14-2 straight up twice during the season (week 12 and week 17). My worst record straight up was 6-7 in week 9. My best week overall was week 12 when I was 10-6 ATS and 14-2 straight up. My worst week overall was easily week 9 when I was 3-10 ATS and 6-7 straight up. My strangest week was probably week 4 when I was just 6-8 ATS but 11-3 straight up.

To be honest, I really never got on a good roll ATS this season. I never had consecutive weeks over .500 ATS and I had very bad weeks during the beginning of the season, the middle part of the season, and towards the end of the season. But if you’re looking for the point of the season that killed my chances of finishing .500 or better ATS it would have to be during the middle of the season, specifically weeks 6 through 11. During that 6 week stretch I was never over .500, including a 3 week stretch under .500 from week 8 through week 10. In weeks 8 and 9 I had my worst 2 weeks of the season in back to back weeks, going 4-8 and then 3-10.

I was slightly worse this year than I was last year picking ATS. I was 126-134-6 ATS this year (.485) after finishing at exactly .500 last year with a record of 128-128-11. I was a little better straight up this season, going 176-90 (.662) compared to 167-97-1 (.633) last year. I was slightly worse ATS during the playoffs this season (6-5 this year; 7-4 last year) and slightly better straight up during the playoffs (7-4 this year; 6-5 last year).