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Buffalo Bills: B
The Bills concentrated their draft efforts on shoring up an extremely porous defense. Seven of their nine picks were on defense, including first round defensive lineman Marcell Dareus from Alabama. He should start immediately and provide a major boost to the team’s 32nd ranked rush defense. Offensive tackle remains a question after they waited until the 4th round to address the position. Ryan Fitzpatrick remains the starter at quarterback after the team didn’t draft one.

27) Atlanta Falcons – Adrian Clayborn, Defensive End, Iowa

A first team All-Big Ten selection, Clayborn is a powerful defensive end that can add a boost to the Falcons pass rush. He didn’t produce in his senior year like he did when he was a junior and had 11 sacks, but he is good value at this point in the draft.

28) New England Patriots – Gabe Carimi, Offensive Tackle, Wisconsin

The rich get richer as the Patriots grab another player with a ton of talent that can start right away. Matt Light may not return and the Pats would need a replacement for him. A mountain of a man at 6’7, he was the Outland award winner for best offensive lineman.

16) Jacksonville Jaguars – Ryan Kerrigan, Defensive End, Purdue

The Jaguars greatly improved the inside of their defensive line in last year’s draft and will look to fix the edges this year. Kerrigan was a three year starter and an Academic All-American who was very productive on the field. Jacksonville managed almost no pass rush down the stretch and Aaron Kampman is coming off his second ACL tear in two years.

17) New England Patriots – Aldon Smith, Defensive End/Outside Linebacker, Missouri

The first milestone in the NFL offseason calendar is the draft so, to satisfy our thirst for something football-related to talk about, we look to the AFC East draft needs.

Buffalo Bills: Buffalo has so many needs, it is impossible to list them all. The team was last in the league at stopping the run, so the defensive line definitely needs help. Offensive tackle is another major weakness, with no true starters in place. Quarterback may be the biggest concern, but the coaching staff may stick with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the time being. When they pick third, the Bills could go in several different directions.

We did the splits in the NFL Wild Card Round going 2-2, correctly calling the upsets by the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers, but failing badly with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Saints vs. Seahawks ‘under’. We now look to improve on that record with our Divisional Round plays.

Saturday, January 15th

Baltimore Ravens (13-4) at Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) 4:30 ET CBS

Now that the NFL Playoffs are here, it is time to dissect the Super Bowl Future odds to see where the value lies.

The key to playing futures is to find a team that is undervalued at double-digit odds, as that always leaves open the possibility of hedging your wager down the line if you so desire, provided you are correct and your team exceeds expectations.

Well, we did not have to look far to find such a team, so here is our one and only Super Bowl future selection for 2010.

The New England Patriots (7-2) are coming off of an authoritative road win at Pittsburgh last Sunday night while the Indianapolis Colts (6-3) were rather fortunate to escape with a six-point home win over a Cincinnati team that committed five turnovers.

The NFL latest line for this contest is New England –4 and a total of 50.5.

The Indianapolis Colts did not commit any turnovers of their own last week, so with a +5 turnover differential, you would expect much better than a 23-17 win. In fact, Carson Palmer had considerably more passing yards (292) for the Bengals than Peyton Manning did (185) for Indianapolis.

We are getting in to the home-stretch of the NFL season where the teams that can truly win under pressure separate themselves from the talented teams that can’t function under pressure (ahem, Dallas). With that said, if you are going to bet on Super Bowl futures, you can get some pretty good deals if you think you know which teams have the right make up to win in high-pressure situations.

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots visit the Cleveland Browns this weekend in what could potentially be a more treacherous spot than many people think.

The latest NFL betting line for this contest is New England -4½ on the road, with the betting total set at 41.

Do not look now, but while the New York Jets have already been anointed AFC Champions by the media and have been constantly referred to as the best team in football, the New England Patriots now own sole possession of first place in the AFC East!

The San Diego Chargers are suddenly in a do-or-die situation, as they must win this game to avoid getting off to an incredulous 2-5 start. Given that, they could not have asked for a tougher opponent than Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, especially with the San Diego receiving corps rather depleted.

The NFL football odds list San Diego as -2½ at odds of -115 at home, with the betting total set at 47.