I Like Those Odds...Or Do I?

Check this out - BetUs.com released the Steelers betting odds for this season yesterday, and to my surprise, they seem to think "The NFL odds are seriously stacked against the Steelers because of their major personnel losses this season." These "Major" Personnel loses mentioned were obviously Cowher and Joey Porter.

Now I don't know much about odds-making myself, and I'm not a gamblin' man particularly, but this seems like a pretty weak basis for the deck being stacked AGAINST the Steelers. I suppose you have to look at it as if it were any team with a new head coach and not a team who chooses their head coaches with the utmost scrutiny and as infrequently as John Madden ponders the meaning of life. Still, seems a little off to me.

That point aside, here are the Steelers odds for this season:

• +3000 to win Super Bowl XLII
• +250 to win AFC North
• +450 NFL Odds to win Wildcard Playoff spot

So, can anyone help me explain how it seems like we have a better chance at winning the AFC North than winning a Wild Card spot? I guess maybe because they pretty definitively think that the Steelers will win the North? I tried to find the odds on the Ravens or Bengals winning the North (not the Browns of course, no need) but it doesn't look like those have been calculated just yet.

Anyways, here's some more of their rationale below:

So what is to hope for in Steel Town, with the Bengals becoming stronger and the Ravens improving so much?

Not much. Well, not much until we all see what Mike Tomlin can do. He has the weapons. Roethlisberger continues to improve as a passer, and has Fast Willie Parker in the backfield to take pressure off him. Parker can change games in a split second with his breakaway speed, but has a nasty habit of losing yards in an attempt to bust the big one instead of running north-south.

The receiving corps is potent as well. Hines Ward is one of the best all-around talents at wide receiver and Heath Miller is establishing himself as a threat at tight end. The Steelers will need big production out of Santonio Holmes this year to be successful.

The draft also boosted the Steelers tremendously as they grabbed Lawrence Timmons at line-backer from FSU. Timmons is a hard hitting truck that was coveted by the Steelers. He will have to be effective almost immediately.

There is no breathing room in the AFC North. You must get off to a good start to have a chance, and the Steelers have too many big questions to answer. The biggest question being, of course, “How good is Mike Tomlin?”

But the million dollar question is - who is most favored to win Super Bowl XLII? Well according to BetUs.com, that would be Indianapolis (+550), followed closely by San Diego (+600) and New England (+750).

The net of all this - I will never understand this betting thing...

Oh yeah, and just in case you were wondering, we are only favored by 4 points over the Browns in our first regular season game (as of now that is).