Sports Interaction betting analyst Frank Doyle rubs his hands in gleeful anticipation at the release of next year’s NFL schedule.

NFL 2012 starts with a visit by the Dallas Cowboys to the New York Giants. Every year since Tony Romo arrived in Dallas people say that this could be the Cowboys’ year. In that time, the Giants have won two Super Bowls. What does that tell you?

And despite these facts known to all, you can expect the line on the Giants to be -3.5, -4, but no more once they’re posted – which will be very soon, by the way. The reason for that is because the Cowboys in the NFL and the Yankees in baseball are the two most public sports betting teams of all time. No matter what their price, they’ll always get action because of their huge reputations – reputations that don’t always match the current reality. The Giants don’t get no respect. I guess they only have those big, fat rings to make up for it.

The game everyone is talking about is Peyton Manning’s first regular season outing as a Bronco. It’ll be Sunday Night in Denver against the team that was sensationally knocked out of the playoffs by the Broncos when Denver had That Other Guy under center.

Pittsburgh at Denver is a really tough game to handicap. Denver’s odds to win the Super Bowl were slashed when Peyton announced that he’d be joining the team and we can expect the same trend on the Bronco action until he actually plays. Once Manning plays – and it might only take a few series, rather than a few games – it’ll be much easier for handicappers to assess how Peyton is compared to how he was. Pittsburgh is a tough opener, but the Broncos have a winning record against the Steelers down through the years. It’ll be must-see TV.

The other standout game of the first weekend is San Francisco’s visit to Green Bay. Both those teams sat at home while the team that beat them in the playoffs went on to win the Super Bowl. Does that make them feel better or worse?

The Niners will feel the most pressure. Everybody expected Green Bay to be good last year but the Niners’ season caught the world by surprise. The Niners finished 12-4-0 ATS last year. Not only did they win, they consistently covered as well. Very few teams do that.

Question is, can they do it again? The Niners have a problem at quarterback – they gave Alex Smith a new contract after his playoff heroics against New Orleans, but not before they made an attempt to land Peyton Manning. How did that make Alex Smith feel?

As for the Packers, it always stings when you don’t follow a 15-1 season with a Super Bowl. They’ll be feeling mean and vengeful at Lambeau, and eager to correct some perceptions. The Niners couldn’t have asked for a tougher opener.