Sports books need underdog Dolphins to cover spread at Panthers
The Miami Dolphins are playing their third straight prime-time game on “Monday Night Football” at the Carolina Panthers. Lucky us.
The unappealing matchup between two of the NFL’s lowest-scoring teams hasn’t generated much betting action at Las Vegas sports books.
“They’re not fun teams to watch, really,” CG Technology sports book director Jason Simbal said.
The Panthers are favored between 8½ and 9 points and the total is between 38 and 39 points.
“The straight bets are on the Dolphins but there are a lot of live parlays that have the Panthers on it so we’re going to need the Dolphins at plus-9,” Simbal said. “If they win outright, that would be even better.”
Miami, led by much-maligned quarterback Jay Cutler, is the lowest-scoring team in the league with 14.5 points per game. Carolina, led by quarterback Cam Newton, isn’t much better with 18.7 ppg but has the NFL’s third-best scoring defense (17.7 ppg).
The Dolphins were blown out 40-0 by the Baltimore Ravens on Oct. 26 on “Thursday Night Football.” Miami is coming off a 27-24 loss to the Oakland Raiders on “Sunday Night Football” in which it rallied for a backdoor cover or push, depending on when the bet was made. Cutler threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns.
The Panthers (6-3) are coming off a 20-17 comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons in which they rushed for 201 yards.
The Dolphins are on a 0-7 slide against the spread on “Monday Night Football.”
The over is 7-2 in Miami’s last nine Monday night games. The under is 5-2-1 in Carolina’s last eight home games.
Simbal said his book needs the over.
“They’re betting the under, but very small,” he said.
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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
