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About the NFL
NFL meaning
NFL is an abbreviation for ‘National Football League’ and refers to the American football professional league that exists in the United States.
In the United States, American football is called ‘football’ because in the past, American football was a mixture of elements of British rugby and soccer.
Early American football was played by kicking and passing the ball. Even today, scoring by kicking the ball (field goal/safety) remains a common practice.
Then, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, the rules were revised based on rugby rules, and various detailed rules were added and safety regulations were created, gradually leading to the emergence of professional football leagues.
In 1920, a professional football league called the American Professional Football Association (APFA) was founded in Ohio, USA, and the league later changed its name to the current NFL.
Including the era of its predecessor, the APFA, the NFL is a historic American professional sports league with a history of over 100 years .
NFL popularity
The NFL is considered one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States, along with the MLB (baseball), NBA (basketball), and NHL (ice hockey) . It is arguably the most popular of them all.
The American sports market is astronomically large, and the NFL’s status is also incredibly high.
Despite being a sport primarily consumed domestically, NFL teams rank among the most valuable sports clubs worldwide (the undisputed Dallas Cowboys are number one).
In particular, the Super Bowl, the final game to determine the NFL champion of the season, boasts a significant viewership, with 100 million viewers and a 40% viewership rating, and advertising costs for the mid-game alone reach 300 million won per second.
NFL Betting
Because the Super Bowl is so renowned as a sporting event, the NFL craze is currently sweeping the globe, including Korea, and is receiving considerable attention in the domestic betting market .
The Super Bowl sees betting amounts that surpass those of the World Cup, so much so that there are even bets on who will perform during the halftime show rather than the actual game itself.
In fact, the NFL is one of the most intense and strategic sports in all of sports, making it a great environment for immersive betting, and it offers a wide variety of betting options.
Today, we’ll take some time to learn about the basics of the NFL, from the regular season to the postseason including the Super Bowl, as well as betting methods and know-how .
Understanding NFL Basics
Leagues and Structures
Unlike other sports, the NFL is comprised entirely of teams from within the United States, with a total of 32 teams participating.
The NFL league is divided into the AFC (American Football Conference) and the NFC (National Football Conference) , and each conference is divided into four divisions: East, West, South, and North.
AFC (American Football Conference)
- East Division – Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Jets
- Western Division – Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers
- South Division – Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans
- North Division – Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC (National Football Conference)
- East Division – Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Commanders
- Western Division – Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks
- South Division – Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- North Division – Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings
How the season progresses
pre-season
Around August, a pre-season is held, with each team playing about three actual games.
To prevent injuries, backup or squad players are used in place of starting players to play the game, and during this process, tactics are reviewed and the 53-man roster is finalized.
regular season
Teams participating in the NFL play a regular season that begins on the first Thursday of September each year and runs until the last week of December.
Over the course of approximately 17 weeks during the season, each team plays one game per week for a total of 17 games.
- 2 matches (home/away) against teams in the same division: 3X2= 6 matches
- 1 game against 4 teams from a specific division within the same conference: 4 games
- 1 game against a team from the other two divisions in the same conference that finished in the same ranking in the previous season: 2 games
- 1 game against 4 teams from a specific division within another conference: 4 games
- One game against a team from the other three divisions within the other conference that finished in the same division in the previous season.
→Total of 17 games
The NFL has a relatively small number of games due to the intense nature of American football, which requires a lot of physical effort and leads to frequent injuries.
playoffs
At the end of the regular season, seven teams from each conference advance to a playoff tournament based on final standings.
The four division winners from each conference and the three next best teams will qualify as wild cards.
Once the seeds are assigned, the winner of each conference will be determined through a process of Wild Card Round, Divisional Round, and Conference Championship .
Super Bowl
After the winners of each conference are determined through the playoffs, the final game to determine the NFL champion for that season is held around early February, and this game is the famous ‘Super Bowl’ .
Because the champion is decided by a single match, it is the second largest sporting event after the FIFA World Cup final, and it is also a match that attracts a lot of betting money.
The halftime show, featuring some of the biggest pop stars of the day, garnered significant attention worldwide. The game will also be broadcast live in Korea (Monday morning).
NFL Betting Tips (Analysis Methods)
Home/Away Tracking
As with all professional sports, the NFL is one of the most representative leagues where home/away status plays a significant role in the outcome of a game.
Most stadiums used in the NFL have a minimum capacity of 60,000 seats, which is quite large for home teams due to the small number of games and the high sell-out rate.
Familiarity with the stadium is a huge advantage, but at crucial moments, the cheering of the home fans can be a huge energy boost for the home team and a huge burden for the away team.
Also, because the United States is a very large country, the physical burden of traveling to the stadium is increased due to long flight times and jet lag .
Over the past 20 years, 23 out of 32 NFL teams have recorded a home winning percentage of over 50%, and in the case of the New England Patriots, where Tom Brady played, and the Green Bay Packers, a prestigious team known for its overwhelming home atmosphere, we can see that they have a home winning percentage of over 70%.
Therefore, it is important to check the schedule to find out where the matches will be played and how far the away team will have to travel .
Please refer to the NFL’s official website for general schedule and game information .
View NFL schedule and game information
Recent record analysis is X
In most sports betting situations, analysis of opponent records is essential, and this can significantly influence your betting decisions.
For example, in soccer, even if a match is between Team A, which is in the top tier of the league, and Team B, which is in the middle tier, comparing the actual head-to-head records, you can come to the conclusion that it is more advantageous to bet on Team B, regardless of the ranking, due to compatibility issues such as differences in tactics.
But in the NFL, analyzing opposing teams’ records doesn’t have that much of an impact on current betting.
This is easy to understand when you consider the number of NFL games. Due to the intensity of the sport, the NFL only plays one game per week, resulting in a very small sample size.
Again, if they are in the same division, they will play two games during the season, but if they are playing against a team from a different division or conference, the head-to-head record data becomes much less meaningful.
The photo above is pre-game information for the 13th week of the 2024 NFL season, between the Green Bay Packers of the NFC and the Miami Dolphins of the AFC.
If you look at the Last Meeting below, you can see that the last head-to-head match was two years ago .
Even then, the game was played at Miami’s home stadium, while this time, the game is being played at Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers, so the head-to-head record is meaningless data.
Because there is a gap of ‘years’ between the ‘Team A of District G’ and the ‘Team B of District N’ playing once and then facing each other again, it is difficult to reflect the changes in team composition and coaches that occur during that time in the current game .
Therefore, when betting on the NFL, it is safe to say that there is no need to pay much attention to the opponent’s record unless the game is within the same division .
Check injury information
American football, a sport that requires constant collisions and extreme physical exertion, is naturally a sport with frequent injuries .
The active roster capacity for NFL regular season players is 46 (out of 53), which is also intended to replace starting players who are injured.
The reason it’s important to check the injury list before placing a bet is because the risk to a team’s performance varies depending on the position of the injured player .
For example, in the NFL, if the quarterback (QB) , who is considered the most important position and leads the game and plays a key role in the offense, or the receiver (WB), who receives passes from the quarterback and scores, were to leave, it would be the same as losing more than 50% of the team’s strength .
As you can see in the photo above, San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a shoulder injury in Week 13, which resulted in a very high odds of 3.55 for the Week 14 game against the Buffalo Bills, even considering the home team and the difference in skill level.
The analysis that the quarterback, who is required to throw quick and accurate passes to receivers, suffered a shoulder injury and that even if he is able to play, his performance will be significantly affected appears to have had a strong impact.
Of course, all positions are important, but the positions mentioned above are difficult to replace, so it is recommended to check the injury history and condition of these key players before betting .
Player injury information (Injury Report) can be found on the official NFL website as well as various sports media outlets such as ESPN , CBS Sports , and Yahoo Sports .
Take advantage of a variety of betting options
Since all American football leagues, including the NFL, divide games into four quarters, it is a good idea to utilize live betting or other betting options to develop a strategy .
Since there are no restrictions on substitutions in the NFL , substitution cards can be actively used depending on the situation, such as the offensive/defensive situation or an injury, and so the flow of the game tends to change quite significantly in real time .
Therefore, it can be a good option to develop a betting strategy by quarter (15 minutes) or bet on the game results by half (1st and 2nd quarter) through live betting.
A summary of the betting options available in the NFL (American Football).
- Moneyline (win/loss)
- Point Spread Betting (Handicap)
- Score Under/Over Betting
- Quarter-by-quarter betting (1st-4th quarter)
- Half-by-half betting (first half – 1st and 2nd quarters, second half – 3rd and 4th quarters)
- Both teams score
- Touchdown betting (over/under)
Rather than just predicting the game results, strategic NFL betting involves analyzing the scoring power of both teams’ offenses and devising your own plan, such as over/under betting and continuous betting using quarters and halves.
See the post about the differences between American football and rugby.
