Last season sportsbooks in press and internet sites complained loudly about the fact 58% of the time the favorites won in the NFL, allowing the “Joe Public” of sports wagering to have a potentially very good year betting on favorites. Low and behold the very first game of the long awaited NFL season leaves the very same sportsbooks in a discomforting position.

The Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers opened as 4.5-points favorites against the up and coming Miami Dolphins, who believe they are positioned to make a run at being the first true home team to play in the big game. The entire dynamic of this opening contest changed when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger underwent an emergency appendectomy on Sunday, just four days before the start of the regular season. Since that announcement the line on this lid-lifter has moved faster then inside information from the old days, when wild swings were more prevalent. Every spokesperson for every sportsbook has had the same mantra this week “We are being buried with Miami bets at present.”

The latest numbers show the contest has moved to a Pick, leaving a wide chasm for early bettors to middle this game on the magic number of 3 and others in tight game. For those not familiar with the ways of finding a good middle, the absolutely best number in football is three. More games end on three then any other numbers. In today’s world, most oddsmakers will increase the juice to stay on a number like three in hopes of not having to come off it. With the deluge of Dolphins dough, the exposure now shows the sportsbooks vulnerable to the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4.

To a lesser degree the same is also true on the Totals picture. The game opened at 37.5 at wagering outlets like BetUS.com. Now this number has also fallen to 34.5.

Pittsburgh could be without or have the limited services of WR Hines Ward who has a hamstring problem. With back-up Charlie Batch having a much weaker arm then Roethlisberger, Miami will dare Pittsburgh to throw with the so-called defensive box filled with Fish. What becomes of note here is the pride of the Super Bowl champions. Normally the first home game is a celebration for the fans and the players, now with a deliberated leader; the burden falls to the rest of the team. Pittsburgh is all about pride with strong-willed Bill Cowher calling the shots. For years the defending champions were failures to start the next season. In the last five years the Super Bowls winners are 12-3 SU and 10-4-1 ATS the first three games of the season. With the adjusted Total, Miami falls into a trend that shows them at 1-8 ATS in all games where the total is 35 or less over the last 3 seasons.

NBC paid for the rights to show this game, with Al Michaels and John Madden now working for the peacock network.