A year after Ray Rice violently cold-cocked his then-fiance, now-wife Janay Palmer-Rice in an elevator inside the since-shuttered Revel Hotel & Casino, another NFL player has figured into another incident inside a casino.

This time around, the unwitting participant is Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive back Adam “Pacman” Jones and not surprisingly, TMZ was the first to report on the incident, much like it did with the Ray Rice scandal. Seems like a case of deja vu for Roger Goodell and the NFL.

According to TMZ, Jones was kicked out of the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana because of an incident that began at the casino cage where Jones reportedly got into an argument with an employee involving casino chips. Jones was then escorted out of the casino where video footage showed Jones having a heated discussion with police officers, claiming that he didn’t do anything wrong.

A lot of the parties involved, including the casino, the officers on the scene, and prosecutors have yet to release any comments surrounding the incident, but Jones himself has already come out to air his side, telling WLWT News 5 in Cincinnati that the casino asked him to leave because “I had dip.”

“There wasn’t an arrest because there was no crime committed, and I left on my own,” Jones added.

The incident is currently under investigation by the Lawrenceburg police.

This episode is the latest in a string of headaches the NFL is already dealing with in the offseason. The fact that it hasn’t even been two weeks since Super Bowl XLIX was played and you get a clear idea of how much of a mess the league is in right now. This incident could amount to anything, or there could be something there that sends another controversy into the NFL’s lap.

I just realized something. For the first time since September 2014, my Sundays wouldn’t be dominated by the NFL. No Saturday night research on the week’s games. No teasers and parlays to bet. No fantasy sports teams to set up. So there I was, sitting in my couch thinking about what I was going to do to pass time. That’s when I realized, “damn, it’s going to be like this for another eight months.”

NFL fans like me get so geeked up in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, but as the days count down to the game, there’s also a feeling of quiet dread lurking in the back of our heads, becoming more and more pronounced as the days wind down. We can’t shake the feeling off, at least not in the same manner as a Beast Mode stiff arm. It lingers throughout Super Bowl week. Then once the game is done, it just hits us.

What do we do now? Turns out, not a lot.

The worst part about the NFL off-season is getting cut-off on the weekly tradition of betting on games. It’s like somebody telling me that I can’t have cigarettes for the next eight moments. Wait, what?. Are you telling me that I can’t even have a puff or a hit here and there? I don’t want to live like this until September!! I need my cigs, even though I know that it’s probably going to kill me.

Not being able to scratch that NFL betting itch is can be daunting for some. Sure, there’s still the NBA, the NFL, and European football is in the middle of all the domestic leagues. But none of those things still compare to betting on the NFL. Besides, it’s not like I can just jump from one sport to another and assume I’ll be as good on the spread as I am in the NFL (I wasn’t this season, but let’s pretend I was).

If you’re in the same boat as I am – if you’ve read this far then you probably are – I do have some glass half-full suggestions that may or may not cheer you up. First of all, the NFL really doesn’t go away. At one point or another, something’s going to happen in the next eight months that puts the spotlight back in the league and I’m willing to bet NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will somehow find himself involved in it.

Remember what happened last year when the first Ray Rice video came out? This year, we’re already waiting for the long drawn out report on DeflateGate. Oh, and all of this talk surrounding NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s softening stance on sport gambling? Don’t think for one second that his NFL counterpart won’t be bombarded with that question in the next few months. He can save himself from answering any of them, but that would probably involve getting tangled into another controversy, like say, a murder trial of a player who once played for the team that just won the Super Bowl. Oh, there you are, Aaron Hernandez!

So here we are. This time tomorrow, we’ll have a Super Bowl champion. At this point, it’s probably safe to ask if you’ve already made your Super Bowl bets. I’ve locked down mine and I even threw in a few more props for good measure. So as we count down the final hours leading up to Super Bowl XLIX, let’s take a look at some of the bets and props that I bet on. The objective here, as always, is to impart my betting wisdom – or lack thereof – on everyone with the hope that it can give you some insight on my thought process heading into the game.

 Who’s going to win?

I initially planned to put this article up yesterday, and then I figured that with the spread being as low as it is, late betting action could drive that number haywire. Turns out, I was right. Depending on your sportsbook, the spread for the game has become a hot mess. Some books still have the New England Patriots as -1 favorites, the spread that has been in place for the better part of the past two weeks. But other books now have the game as a pick ‘em, and even more interesting, others have taken to flipping the roles and putting the Seattle Seahawks as -1 favorites.

Unless the game somehow ends up as a one-point affair, I doubt that we’ll get a significant bump in juice for any of these spreads. There’s going to be a some given the switching lines, but the overlying action here remains on who you think is going to win, regardless of the spread. If you think the Pats win, take the money line on books where they’re the underdogs. If you think the Seahawks win, do the same.

As for me, I started this season on record that the Pats would be in the Super Bowl. I initially had them losing to the New Orleans Saints, but we all know how that turned out. Think go me as being stubborn, but I just can’t see the Patriots losing three of their last Super Bowl games.

I’m scared silly of the Seattle Seahawks defense, but I like the Pats to uncork some of their patented in-game trickery to get the job done here.

 Prediction: Patriots 23, Seahawks 20

Super Bowl XLIX is less than a week away and slowly but surely, betting action is also gaining some steam. That’s to be expected, although it’s safe to say that the vast majority of bets for the game aren’t expected to come in until this weekend. That’s when things really pick up and could sometimes cause the spread to fluctuate in a matter of hours. For now, though, action is progressing along nicely leading up to the game.

Right now, most sportsbooks still have the New England Patriots as the -1 favorites. Clearly, all the drama surrounding the deflated footballs haven’t had a bigger effect on the spread than most people thought. Some books have even had to move the number to -1.5, but for the most part, the spread has remained where it is since the early reversal after the conference championship games. This isn’t to say that we’re following a similar path to last year’s Super Bowl when everybody and their grandmas we’re riding with the Denver Broncos. In fact, action on the Seattle Seahawks has increased in the past few days, but it’s still not enough to move the spread back in their favor.

There has been some movement on the totals. Since opening at 48.5, the number has dropped to 48 for some books while others have even pushed it back down to 47.5. It’s a surprising twist since the public usually sides on the over in these types of games, but as it turns out, bettors are justifiably afraid of the Seattle Seahawks’ defense clamping down on the Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. Early action on the under seems to back up this position, and that has compelled some books to drive the number down a little bit to see whether it can get some action on the other side.

As far as where the action is relative to Las Vegas sportsbooks’ record haul of $119 million in betting handle, Vegas books seem to be a little concerned that bets coming in aren’t happening as feverishly compared to last year. While it’s still early to suggest that it’s going to fall short of last year’s record handle, the early signs do point to this year’s handle falling a little short of what books made last year.

Things could still change, though, so don’t put that in writing just yet. Betting on Super Bowl XLIX is just getting started and over the next few days, you can be sure that business will definitely pick up.

We can talk as much as we want about the Rob Gronkowski, Marshawn Lynch, the Legion of Boom, or even DeflateGate. But Super Bowl XLIX will eventually go down to discussions between the two most important players on both teams.

That would be the two quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Russell Wilson.

It’s not surprising that both Brady and Wilson have the most prop bets attached to their names. That’s the cache that comes with playing the most important position in the game. You only need to look at Super Bowl XLIX MVP odds to recognize how important Brady and Wilson are.

If you don’t have the prices in front of you, here’s how it breaks down. Brady and Wilson are the clear favorites to win Super Bowl XLIX MVP honors with both getting 9/4 odds. The two closest on that list? Marconi Lynch at 5/1 odds and Rob Gronkowski at 12/1 odds.

Success in the NFL is still largely dependent on how the quarterback plays and player prop betting on the game suggests as much. In fact, Brady and Wilson have a whole lot of props to their names.

Care to bet on how many completions Brady will have? The number on that is 23.5 with both sides getting 10/11 odds. Wilson’s number is a lot lower at 17.5 completions at the same odds. How about we talk about pass attempts? Brady’s number is at 36.5 whereas Wilson’s number is eight passes lower at 28.5.

The over/under on pass attempts and completions are two unique props to both QBs. But they’re not the only ones, either. Both Brady and Wilson also have a prop for passing yards.

We need a new set of props if we are going to bet the Super Bowl.

I’ve already established that betting on prop bets at the Super Bowl is pretty fun. But every year, it seems that the same type of props are being offered. Some involve the national anthem and the halftime show. Others involve the color of the Gatorade, the coin toss, and the first scoring play of the game.

All these props are cool, but they’ve been offered so many times that they’ve lost a little bit of originality. That’s where I come into the picture.

In the second part of my prop series on Super Bowl XLIX, I’m taking a short detour and present a handful of props that I want to see get offered, even though sportsbooks are unlikely to take that course of action, for one reason or another.

Who knows, maybe a sportsbook gets to read this and decides to offer them. Just give a hat tip if you do.

If Richard Sherman wins Super Bowl MVP, will he ignore Commissioner Roger Goodell and instead shake the hand of and/or talk to Cardboard Cut-Out Roger Goodell?

Given the manner by which Sherman and Doug Baldwin mocked the NFL a few months ago with that pre-meditated press conference, this one could get interesting if Sherman somehow wins Super Bowl MVP and has to stand on the podium next to Goodell for the trophy presentation. Normally, a handshake between the MVP and the Commish happens in these moments, but wouldn’t be the ultimate slap in the face of Goodell if Sherman refuses to shake his hand and/or talk to him, instead bringing out a cardboard cut-out of Goodell and then shaking the hand of said cardboard and talking to him…or it.

If that happens, forget about the game itself. That would be what everyone will be talking about for years to come.

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t bet on the Super Bowl since the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV. Actually, let me rephrase that. I haven’t bet on the Super Bowl game itself since the Saints beat the Colts.

So what have I been betting on the past four Super Bowls? Prop bets, baby!

Yep! It’s that time of the year again, ladies and gentlemen. Prop betting has become as important to the Super Bowl as chips and tacos. These types of bets have really taken a life of their own, sometimes generating more interest and publicity than the actual spread for the game.

Remember when an actual prop bet came out with an over/under on the time of the post-game handshake between the two Harbaugh brothers in Super Bowl XLVII? Maybe you’ll also remember the prop bet involving Aaron Rodgers’ “Discount Double-Check” celebration back in Super Bowl XLV.

These are the kinds of bets you can make on the Super Bowl. They range from the meta to the mundane, often times falling somewhere in-between.

This year promises to be no different as the first wave of prop bets have been released. As I have done over the past few years, I’m going to spend several days highlighting some of the most notable prop bets being offered ahead of Super Bowl XLIX. So let’s begin with a pair of props involving two people who aren’t even playing in the game: Idina Menzel and Katy Perry.

If you didn’t know by now, Idina Menzel is scheduled to sing the National Anthem at the game and Katy Perry will be performing the halftime.

After suffering through a debilitating NFL Divisional Round weekend, the public got some measure of revenge on the sportsbooks when the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Oregon Ducks to win the college football National Championship game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Sportsbooks had determined early on that the worst case scenario on this game would’ve been an Ohio State outright win, even though action on the game was less than initially expected. Still, the public came out putting money on the Buckeyes, which entered the game as touchdown underdogs against the Ducks.

The game started of quickly for the Ducks when the team scored a touchdown on its opening drive. But that was about it for Oregon, which saw Ohio State comeback to score 21 straight points. Oregon managed to pull within one, 21-20, in the third quarter, but the Buckeyes quickly shut down any possibility of an Oregon comeback with three straight touchdowns to seal the deal.

The result wasn’t as surprising as some people would like to believe, even if the Buckeyes opened as 7-point underdogs. Evidently, the public sensed something was amiss with the spread, pounding the Buckeyes and forcing sportsbooks to hunker down and thrown on their Oregon jerseys. Unfortunately, all that “quacking” couldn’t help Oregon, giving the public the kind of salvage victory it needed after getting pummeled in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs a few days earlier.

The only respite books can cling to was that action wasn’t as heavy as a lot of people expected. That could partly be due to scheduling quirks that forced the National Championship game to be played on a Monday night, instead of Saturday or Sunday night where there would’ve undoubtedly been more action on both sides. The books could also take solace in the fact that a lot of futures bets tied to the Oregon Ducks ended up on the losing side.

The college football National Championship is the closest thing to a dress rehearsal books will have leading up to the Super Bowl, which is scheduled to be played in a few week’s time. If given a choice, books would tell you that they’d prefer to lose out on the National Championship game than the Super Bowl. Only time will tell if this scenario proves to be the case. For now, it’s back to the drawing board in preparation for the NFL’s Conference Championship games this weekend.

If you picked the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs to bet big on Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, then I really have nothing more to say than “tough luck.” Really, I feel bad about it. I mean, even I thought the Broncos would win and cover the game. I didn’t bet on it, which in hindsight was a stroke of genius. But I was close to, that much I’ll admit.

Sportsbooks, though, aren’t as sympathetic, especially when you consider that just about everybody had the Broncos in some kind of singles action, teasers, parlays, and all three in some cases. That was the trend heading into the weekend’s games and a lot of books pretty much had their weekends tied to the game. A Broncos cover would be bad news and a Colts cover would be the best case scenario. No in-between.

As it turned out, sportsbooks walked away with huge smiles on their faces when the Colts turned the tables on the Broncos, winning on the road, 24-13, and sending Peyton Manning to a one-and-done playoff appearance. Some bettors walked out huge after betting on the Colts to win outright, but for the most part, the action was heavily on the side of Denver.

With the loss, books likely enjoyed the sight of one teaser bet after another drown in a public tears. If that wasn’t enough, the books also walked away on the winning side of the New England Patriots’ 35-31 victory over the Baltimore Ravens and the Green Bay Packers’ controversial 26-21 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Both favorites won the game but failed to cover, which was the best-case scenario for the sportsbooks. The Seattle Seahawks’ convincing 31-17 win over the Carolina Panthers was the only game that saw the underdog (barely) cover the spread, but even the action on that game wasn’t as big as the other three games.

All in all, it was a very positive week for the books and a disastrous one for the public. With the season down to its penultimate week, you can expect more action to come heading into the Championship round. If recent trends are any indication, you can expect the public to come out swinging this weekend because quite frankly, they probably wouldn’t have it any other way.