Minnesota, which simply needed to beat Chicago at home to make the playoffs, closed as a 5½-point favorite but played dead in a 24-10 loss.
Betting
Raiders coach Jon Gruden told his team after Monday’s victory over Denver: “Fellas, we’ve got one game left. It’s against the team we hate the most — the Kansas City Chiefs. They hate us, too, so it should be a heckuva game.”
The Eagles, Browns and Patriots covered their opening lines but didn’t cover the closing lines Sunday.
A Caesars bettor lost a mid five-figure money-line wager on the Packers, who closed as 10-1 ML favorites over the Cardinals at Lambeau Field.
JT Daniels’ TD pass with 48 seconds left for the Trojans made it 24-17 and caused more than $2 million in wagers on Notre Dame to swing from bettors to the books.
It was that type of NFL Sunday for the betting public, which saw underdogs go 6-3-2 ATS with four outright upsets.
Underdogs were 7-4-1 ATS on Sunday with outright upsets by the Titans, Browns, Bills, Redskins and Cowboys.
The unlikely ending resulted in a swing of more than $1 million in favor of bettors at Las Vegas sports books: mid six figures at MGM Resorts and William Hill, six figures at the Westgate and just shy of six figures at Caesars Entertainment.
Dubbed by some in the media as the Duffel Bag Bettor or Duffel Bag Boy, the unidentified gambler won well into six figures last weekend on an unlikely cover by Central Florida.
Technically, Ravens bettors didn’t suffer a bad beat in Sunday’s 24-23 loss to the Saints. That’s because even if Baltimore had tied the game in the final seconds, there was no guarantee it would’ve won and/or covered as a 2½- or 3-point favorite.
Two weeks before the first College Football Playoff rankings are released, let’s take a look at four matchups of teams in the AP Top 25 poll, which is often at odds with Las Vegas power ratings.
While there is unquestionably a growing appetite for the NFL in parts of the United Kingdom, the idea of placing one’s hard earned pounds on the outcome of a Sunday game still seems more rubbish than anything to many making bets.
Home underdogs are 16-6 ATS, including 4-0 ATS on Sunday with three outright upsets.
Buffalo, which closed as a 17-point underdog, whipped Minnesota 27-6.
FanDuel spun a potential public relations nightmare into positive publicity Thursday when it agreed to pay a New Jersey bettor his full $82,000 payout on a disputed $110 live wager at 750-1 odds.