Former Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson got revenge on the team that let him go in the best possible way. Benson amassed 189 yards rushing and led his new team, the Cincinnati Bengals, to a 45-10 rout over the visiting Bears on Sunday. Carson Palmer threw for five touchdowns with no interceptions in the blowout victory. Cincinnati improved to 5-2 with the win while Chicago dropped to 3-3 on the NFL season.

The Bengals also made short work of the NFL pointspread, easily covering as +1′ home underdogs. Cincinnati improved to 4-3 against the number while Chicago evened their ATS mark at 3-3. The 55 combined points sailed OVER the posted total of 42′. The Bengals have gone OVER in four of seven games this year while the Bears evened their NFL totals mark at 3-3.

A happy Benson described his feelings after the win:

“Everybody knew it was going to be an emotional day. Everybody knew. What a wonderful day and a wonderful thing, to go out there and strut your stuff.”

Despite the evidence to the contrary, Benson downplayed the motive of revenge:

“I continue to be as graceful as I can be. I’m not shoving anything in anybody’s face. Like I say, it wasn’t a revenge day for me. I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunities.”

He said his biggest problem was trying to keep his emotions in check and play under control:

“There were a few times where I may have gotten a little too hyped up, a little too antsy. A couple of drives, I found myself having to calm myself down and gather my emotions to stay poised. Once I got past that, we were good to go. Keep it rolling.”

Bengals’ receiver Chad Ochocinco had 10 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns. He shared his thoughts postgame:

“I don’t understand why it went this way today and why it didn’t go that way last week or the week before that. The offensive line played unbelievable. For Ced to run the way he did today and for us to be able to throw, we could have done what we wanted to do.”

Chicago gave up more points than in any game all season, a fact that left defensive end Alex Brown looking for answers:

“That was pretty embarrassing. It’s embarrassing to come out and play like that. I tip my hat to their whole team. Cedric ran the ball like crazy. They did whatever they wanted to do.”

The Bengals will enjoy a bye week before hosting the Baltimore Ravens on November 8. They’ll then play two games on the road at Pittsburgh and Oakland. Chicago will try to get back on track this Sunday as they host the Cleveland Browns. The Bears are -13′ home favorites with the total set at 40.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer specializing in casino gambling, entertainment and sports betting. He has appeared on a number of TV and radio programs offering strategies for successful NFL football betting. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a pet llama. He is currently writing a biography of former NFL quarterback Jim McMahon.

The Denver Broncos are for real. The NFL’s most surprising undefeated team certainly answered any remaining doubters on Monday Night Football as they used a fourth quarter surge to put away the San Diego Chargers 34-23. Denver upped their record to 6-0 while San Diego dropped to 2-3. Denver’s special teams also excelled, with Eddie Royal becoming only the 11th player in NFL history to return a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns in the same game.

NFL football sports betting fans that backed the Broncos as +3 road underdogs were rewarded with the outright victory and Denver continued their season opening undefeated run against the pointspread (now 6-0 ATS). The Chargers, meanwhile, have only covered one of their five games this season.

Royal was virtually untouched on both of his kick returns, a first quarter 93 yard kickoff return and a second quarter 71 yard punt return. After the game, he gave credit to his blockers:

“Man, it was a great feeling. The guys did a great job of blocking. I’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They opened up the seams and it was a home run.”

Despite the rarity of his feat, he said he wasn’t surprised that he turned the trick:

“You’ve got to believe it can happen before you do it. I’ve got a lot of faith in the guys in front of me, so I wasn’t surprised.”

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels also praised Royal’s blockers:

“I think our guys did a great job of blocking and giving Eddie a chance to get started.”

While losing coach Norv Turner lamented his team’s poor kick coverage:

“It doesn’t matter who you are playing; you give up two big returns on a punt and a kickoff and it makes it tough”

Chargers’ QB Phillip Rivers talked about the loss and the team’s slow start to the 2009 NFL season:

“It’s going to be tough. We have to get over this one quick or we’ll find ourselves in trouble in Kansas City because it’s a short week.”

Denver will get a week off to enjoy their 6-0 start before returning to action on November 1 at Baltimore. The following week they’ll host the defending Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football before traveling to Washington, DC to face the Redskins. San Diego will play at Kansas City this weekend with the Chargers a -5 road favorite and the total set at 44. They’ll return home to face their hated rivals, the Oakland Raiders, on November 1 before a road game against the New York Giants the following Sunday.

Ross Everett is a consulting handicapper for Sports-1 Sportsbook as well as a freelance writer specializing in MMA, boxing and how to bet on NFL football. He is a well known authority on Internet sports betting, fine dining and fencing. He lives in southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a pet wallaby.

The Miami Dolphins unveiled their version of the wildcat single wing offense for the first time in the NFL preseason and it worked like a charm. Starting QB Chad Pennington went 8 of 11 for 105 yards and a touchdown pass as the Dolphins first team offense played well in a 27-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers. The Dolphins improved to 2-0 in the NFL preseason while the Panthers dropped to 0-2.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said that there werent any big secrets with his teams unique offensive set:

“There are really no secrets there, but it’s good homework for us — a chance to see what people have been studying during their offseason, and how they want to defend this.

Pennington was also pleased with the effectiveness of the offense:

“The wildcat went well. Anything we can do to get an edge, I’m all for it.”

Ronnie Brown caught Penningtons TD pass and joined in the chorus of positive comments:

“We made some strides. We’re going in the right direction.”

Carolina coach John Fox sounded nonplussed, a tone suggesting that his team might be keeping a lot of their schemes under wraps in the preseason:

“Our first unit looked a little sharper. We’re not there yet, but I thought it was an improvement.”

Defensive end Julius Peppers sounded a similar tone:

“We’ve got to work on everything. That’s what the preseason is for.”

After a rough opening week, Panthers starting QB Jake Delhomme was also upbeat after the game:

“We did better things tonight. It’s a process, but we’re doing all right.”

The Panthers will begin the NFL regular season on Sunday, September 13th at home against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Dolphins will face the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome to get their regular season slate underway.

Ross Everett is a staff handicapper for Sports-1 and an authority on Internet sports betting . He’s a published expert on sports handicapping theory, as well as financial investment strategy. He contributes to a number of websites providing insight on how to bet on NFL football, soccer and boxing.

What’s your favorite sports apparel? Oh, c’mon, you probably have a lucky BoSox hat or maybe an LA jersey that is your absolute favorite. Most people do.

Whether it is the colors or team spirit that is influencing the buying patterns, we may never know, but sportswear is still “in.” Remember back in the day when it was primarily hats/caps that were worn? Not anymore! There are shirts, tee-shirts, jerseys, caps, hats, and even accessories to go along with every sports team you can think of.

From coast to coast there is a wide variety of followers for any given team. You might see people with Chicago hats in Florida or you might see a Kansas NCAA cap in South Carolina. What it all boils down to is a combination of popular style and team spirit. There are plenty that fall into either category.

One sport that has always made a regular appearance in the apparel scene is soccer. There are millions of people following the top level teams and consider themselves die-hard fans that will always be up to date with the latest apparel. These people will eat, live, die, drink and breathe the sport.

It isn’t just the big league teams getting the attention either. You can find NCAA apparel everywhere now days. That is especially true in places like Florida, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado and other places that have loyal fan bases.

The NFL has a following too and believe me, there is sports apparel for their fans too! The most popular item for the NFL fanatics seems to be the jerseys. MLB, hats and jerseys are the most popular items. Oh, and of course there are the shoes. Reebok’s has branched into a lot more sports lines. Jackets are pretty popular too.

One thing that is fairly new is having the logos of the teams but not the colors. Maybe they did it to attract more women to wearing sports wear but there are a lot of pink shirts and hats out there with every licensed logo you can think of. Also, for a while, New York had this pale blue color on a lot of the clothing. Hats and tee shirts especially. That threw some folks for a while. The logo and the colors didn’t add up but somehow it all worked out.

What is important is that what the people want is sports apparel and that is exactly what they are getting. Whether your taste is more toward the traditional or the modern there is no need to worry because you will be able to find it.

Team spirit? Logo loyalty? Color craze? Who knows, but its working! The people are happy, the stores are happy and the sports franchises are happy. You even see the gear from teams you never used to see before, like the Tigers. Yes, they have been around for a long time, but you just didn’t used to see so many people wearing their clothing. Perhaps there will be more of that in the future. Athletic teams who have gotten little exposure before will suddenly be seen in all of the sportswear shops. How refreshing.