As the top sports betting niche in North America, it seems like everyday a new system is being created to handicap the NFL. Since the merger in 1970, there has been a plethora of bookie software statistics created for fans new and sharper to utilize, in order to hold an edge of the sportsbooks. However, as luck would have it, the sportsbook always ends up on top. Nevertheless, here is a guide to some of the best stats to handicap football with.

Average yards per attempt, is a major stat used by plenty of bettors. As the name suggests, the stat analyzes a players value based on how many yards they can put up on average per offensive attempt. Meaning to say, if a team’s offense is based specifically around the run game, you may take this stat into account when looking at both the offense and defense. For example, if Adrian Peterson averages five and a half yards per attempt, and the Buffalo Bills defense limits the rush to three and a half yards per attempt, you may want to lay your money with the Bills instead of Peterson’s Vikings.

Another major stat used is called the first half scoring trend. In this scenario, you are looking at which NFL teams provide the most average value for scoring in the first half. While plenty of good team’s start off strong, others notoriously start slow, and enjoy playing catch up before coming away with a victory. A great team, will establish itself early, and go for the crushing blow to start off the second half. For this reason, you may need to handicap a string of games, prior to fully assessing which team is the best at scoring first half points.