Big Tuna’s Impact on NFL Betting Odds

Bill Parcells, aka The Big Tuna, made a splash in his first year with the Miami Dolphins but the best could be yet to come. Miami is the host city for Super Bowl XLIV and while oddsmakers are giving them little chance of making an appearance. History shows it may not be as an unlikely as you think.

At the start of the 2007 NFL season online sportsbook had odds on the Miami Dolphins to win Super Bowl XLII listed somewhere between slim and none. Offensive-minded Cam Cameron was brought in; the club’s fourth head coach in as many years, to try and infuse an offense whose scoring had sunk to the depths of the league.

Those odds attracted very few bettors and as the Fish stumbled out of the gate, losing 13-straight games, the figures became a moot point.

Bill Parcells, aka The Big Tuna, was signed near the end of the season and began his rebuilding project by axing both Cameron and Randy Mueller, the club’s general manager.

Among other front office moves, Parcells hired Tony Sparano as the team’s new head coach. The two had worked together in Dallas but this was Sparano’s first head coaching post at the pro level.

Super Bowl Future Odds: When bookmakers listed odds to win Super Bowl XLIII at the start of the 2008 season, even after including the Tuna-factor, Miami was still listed at 125-to-1, tied with Kansas City for last in the league.

No Super Bowl for Miami but an 11-5 SU record on the heels of that 1-15 SU season in 2007 shows what kind of affect a football mind like Parcells’ can have. Big Tuna is not the first NFL super-coach to make the shift into the front office. Other notables include Paul Brown, Bill Walsh and Al Davis.

- Brown, Cincinnati: 213-104-9 SU (.672) all-time record as a HC; took control of the Bengals and led them to two Super Bowls as the team’s owner.

- Walsh, San Francisco: 102-63-1 SU (.618) as HC; became the GM and the 49ers continued to improve for each of the next three years.

- Al Davis, Oakland: 23-16-3 SU (.590) as a HC and has led the Raiders to three Super Bowl wins as owner. (But what have you done for me lately?)

Super Bowl XLIV is being played in Miami at the end of the 2009 season and the Dolphins odds of winning are 40-to-1. To win the AFC the Dolphins are getting 20-to-1 while the Eastern division title is paying a paltry 8-to-1.

Any success hinges on Miami’s ability to handle Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots juggernaut. But if you had to pick one guy that could do it...

Check SPORTSBETTING.com for futures online betting odds on every NFL team to win Super Bowl XLIV.

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