Sports betters rule #1
Fear the home dog. like i said i wouldn't bet on the patriots, but i wouldn't bet on the steelers either
other rules include
Make your money on games of no consequence (dont bet on super bowls, championship games, etc)
Always bet on double digit home dogs, no matter what the sport.
When teams of equal defensive strengths meet, bet the over. it covers 90% of the time.
two great offenses meet.. bet the under. Both times spend so much time preparing for the others offense, it might just be their best defensive effort of the season.
Fear the half point, tease it to under a score or two scores.
If you can see a situation arise where a late, meaningless touchdown could bust the spread (spread too high in combination with half points).. stay away from it
Dont bet the spread and the o/u on the same game, odds are you'll end up just losing the vig. but worse things happen more times that good things
make your money on the halves. Odds are in big games, the home team will bust a first half spread, and no matter what the point spread looks like, the second half is generally exactly or as close to half the whole game spread. so use that to your advantage. It is a lot easier to bet having seen half the game...
In a close spread +/- 1 or a pick, bet the money line. If you have enough faith for the team to cover by 2 points or less, might as well get odds
and finally... If you are going to stress when a game gets away from you, or you can see a loss putting you in an uncomfortable spot. Don't gamble
On every bet, you start out as a loser.