Sports gambling experts know the importance of backup quarterbacks. Just as World Champion handicapper Joe Duffy explains in that article, the fellow World Champions—in “real life” football, the NY Giants clearly also put the same priority as the best preseason NFL handicappers.

As much as backup quarterback is an overlooked position in New York (in blue anyway), it is an ever-important role.

Rewind to the New York Giants’ 1990 regular season when MVP quarterback Phil Simms went down in Week 15 with a broken right foot. Then-reserve QB, Jeff Hostetler stepped up and owned the part – right through Super Bowl XXV.

Giants fans don’t ponder this as much with Eli Manning under center. Easy E has started in 119 consecutive games – all while taking a pounding during a number of those games. The epitome of his toughness, most will agree, was publicized throughout January’s NFC Championship Game.

Many tend to forget back in 2007, during the Week one game versus the Cowboys when LB Anthony Spencer hit Manning on a 2-point conversion attempt, injuring the quarterback’s left (non-throwing) shoulder. Initially, it was reported that #10 would miss four to eight weeks with a sprained/bruised AC joint; he hasn’t missed a single regular season game since. Every serious football fan knows how the 2007 season ended for Manning and the New York Giants…

Considering the last number of years and all 32 teams’ QB/injury situation, one has to realize how significant that reserve role justly is. The case of Hostetler is rarer than it is reality.

Division rival QBs Tony Romo and Michael Vick both succumbed to injury at some point in the last two years. Collectively, their teams went 9-10 with them in medical bay receiving treatment.

Ask fans from the Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions, Kansas City Chiefs, (even the Oakland Raiders early on in 2012 will chime in) if a capable backup is/was a need for Jay Cutler, Peyton Manning, Matthew Stafford, Matt Cassel, (and then, Jason Campbell). Ernie Accorsi could have told you so too.

“I always said the most important guy on your team is the quarterback and the second most important is the backup,” remembers Ernie Accorsi, retired GM of the New York Giants (and Cleveland Browns). “I wanted (Kurt) Warner as soon as we got (Eli) Manning. In Cleveland in 1988, we had (Bernie) Kosar, (Gary) Danielson and Mike Pagel. Kosar and Danielson got hurt so I picked up (Don) Strock. We had six quarterback injuries. All four got hurt – Kosar twice – and we made the playoffs. You can’t do that today. You can’t afford that.”

There are, of course, stories that aren’t played out so horribly. Matt Schaub went down and then his backup (Matt Leinart) went down – putting rookie T.J. Yates in as the only quarterback to come in under center and have the team continue to play pretty much the same (more due to a fabulous running game that was hitting on all cylinders). Again, as with Hostetler (and Steve Young), it’s rare.

Bear in mind, those teams with no true starter at quarterback or ones with ongoing quarterback controversy aren’t being introduced as part of this equation.

Since no controversy is remotely near this gun-slinger position on the New York Giants, it’s safe to say Eli Manning’s health is a hotter commodity than QB David Carr and QB Ryan Perrilloux. This remains fact since the Giants tend to carry only two quarterbacks on their 53-man roster.

Since Carr has the actual regular season game experience of 11 years, it’s pretty much a lock that the spot is his. However, Carr is 32-years-old and is now signing one-year contracts; this won’t go on forever and at some point, he’ll retire. The Giants will need to secure a reliable backup before that time hits. Question is will they groom him from within or try to grab someone in free agency as they’ve been doing?

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Whether one is a fan of Pinterest sports picks feed or listens to the recommended sports betting podcasts all football handicappers have interest on the Saints bountygate.

The New Orleans Saints’ alleged “bounty” program, which is said to have rewarded certain players who injured opponents with “bounties on their heads”, has been a major headline-generator for the last few days. Three of the players allegedly involved in the “VIP deals”, Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove and Will Smith appeared at the bounty appeal hearing in front of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday. Although Hargrove’s and Smiths legal counsels didn’t make a comment on the hearing, and Jonathan Vilma didn’t even bother to personally attend, it was clear from the comments made by Scott Fujita that nothing has really been settled or solved at the hearing which lasted a little over an hour and which was eventually adjourned on account of some issues brought up by Peter Ginsberg, Vilma’s lawyer.

http://youtu.be/M0Pr9v7lf6s

After the Monday hearing, Fujita sought to reassure members of the media that there wasn’t any evidence that suggested he had indeed been involved in a pay-to-injure setup, and that there would likely never be such evidence produced, simply because he had never ever been involved with anything this vile in nature.

Besides looking to clear his name, Fujita lashed out at the NFL, accusing the organization of tarnishing his reputation and thus forcing him into a position where he’s finding it increasingly difficult to provide for his family.

Even though Fujita may be rightfully outraged at the fact that the NFL never really fully justified the suspension of the above named four players, his statements begs the question: after 10 years of positive conduct on his part, and after 10 years of having earned millions upon millions of dollars, how could he possibly be in a position to not be able to provide for his family, by any measure?

Whether or not Fujita and the other three players are found guilty remains to be seen, his rather vehement attack on the NFL though, which he called careless and irresponsible, doesn’t do a whole lot to prove his innocence at this stage.

OffshoreInsiders.com, the top NFL picks website has handicappers researching the upcoming season. Keeping an eye or some offseason headlines, Roddy White has an interesting Tweet say the official pro gamblers sports betting Twitter feed.

Roddy White of the Atlanta Falcons has never been shy to speak his mind, and he is quite probably one of the most prolific Twitter users within the team. Most of the fans are therefore more than familiar with where he stands on a variety of issues. They know he’s never liked the new labor deal, and that he had vocally opposed it even before it was accepted last summer. He has also spoken up against ex-NFL players suing the league, claiming that they were out to destroy the game, starting a Twitter fight on that issue as well. Now, he decided to pick another fight with the NFL Players’ Association, on the deal the organization had struck with the league.

The igniting factor of White’s latest twitter tirade was Andrew Brandt’s Monday afternoon tweet, which served as a starting point for what would turn out to be a series of tweets patting Roger Goodell on the back, propping him up for having struck a hell of a deal and bashing the NFLPA for having failed its members.

Of course, as it’s usually the case, White’s Twitter rant came complete with a few factual inaccuracies and rather peculiar assumptions. For instance, he said the NFLPA needed to hire the head of the baseball players’ union, as there were never any labor-related issues there, clearly forgetting the reasons why baseball had dipped so far below football on the popularity scale.

Whether the fans are in any way impressed by White’s tweets is difficult to tell. One thing is certain: those responsible for the NFL’s massive revenues care little about how the league and its players divide the spoils. All they want to see is quality action on the field, and as far as White is concerned, some fans noted that he’d be much better off showing up on the field rather than on Twitter.