Betting on NFL games is big business and becoming bigger as sports betting becomes legal in more and more states. Yet winning money betting on NFL games is difficult due to the unpredictable "Any Given Sunday" element to games and NFL odds and NFL point spreads meant to make every bet a 50/50 proposition. Bets are also typically an 11 to make 10 situation.
Our goal is to make betting on NFL games a little bit easier by providing data on historical games to help guide the individual bettor. Doing thorough research is the key to maximizing the probability of winning, and we have done extensive analysis of every game in the 2022 NFL regular season. All of the results are available on our web site at NFL Statistics 2022 (and we will continue to add more) but here are some of the highlights:
Average Number of Points Scored in an NFL Game
Home Team: 22.9
Away Team: 20.9
Total Both Teams: 43.8 (For Over/Under Bets)
Common perception is that the home team gets 3 point towards the NFL odds point spread, but we found the correct number to be 2.
Average Number of Points Scored in an NFL Game by Day and Time
The common perception here is that Thursday night games are bad and low scoring. While we found this to be somewhat true, the variations are not great. All times below are ET.
Sunday 1 PM: Home 23.6 Away 20.4 Total 44.0 Spread: 3.2
Sunday 4 PM: Home 23.1 Away 21.8 Total 44.9 Spread 1.3
Sunday Night: Home 23.3 Away 19.8 Total 43.1 Spread 3.5
Sunday Morn: Home: 21.3 Away: 23.0 Total 44.3 Spread (-1.7)
Mon Night: Home: 19.7 Away: 20.5 Total 40.2 Spread (-0.8)
Thurs Night: Home 18.9 Away: 22.1 Total 41.0 Spread (-3.2)
Notes:
Sunday 4 PM includes 4:05 and 4:25 games
Sunday AM is only 4 international games and home teams are not really at "home."
Average Number of Points Scored in an NFL Game the Week After One Team Has a Bye
This is another area where we found the common perception to be somewhat inaccurate. One would assume that teams with a bye would come back strong the next week after an extra week of rest to heal minor nagging injuries.
Team With a Bye Previous Week: 21.9
Other Team: 21.2
Total Both Teams: 43.1 (For Over/Under Bets)
Teams with a Bye only outscored opponents the next week by 0.7 points.
However here the home and road split is significant:
Team at Home With Bye Week Before: 22.9 Opponent: 18.3 Total: 41.2 Spread: 4.6
Team Away With Bye Week Before: 20.2 Opponent: 26.1 Total: 46.3 Spread (-5.9)
Teams with a bye had a bigger than average advantage the next week at home but did very poorly on the road.
Wins and Losses in the NFL by Home and Away Teams
Home/Away Wins Winning Percentage
Home 151 56%
Away 118 44%
There is a huge home field advantage in the NFL. Despite the average number of points varying by only 2 between home and away teams, home teams won 56% of games, 27% more than road teams. There were 2 ties.
If there are some statistics you would like to see, please use the "Contact Us" form or leave a comment.