RG3 can’t make up for lackluster day

On paper, it shaped up as a brown-suit, brown-shoe Sunday. Few of the matchups appeared exciting. One exception featured Robert Griffin III, the flashy rookie quarterback who nearly rallied the Washington Redskins to a giant upset.

But he didn't win the game, and he didn't save a forgettable day.

"The handle is down due to the poor schedule," LVH sports book director Jay Kornegay said.

Moments earlier, in a book sparsely populated by bettors who were paralyzed by boredom, a smattering of applause interrupted the silence. There was something to get excited about, finally, because the Dallas Cowboys had made their fourth field goal.

Wait, there's more. The Tennessee-Buffalo game was going to the wire. Cleveland was threatening to pull off a minor upset in Indianapolis. Arizona was driving late for a point-spread push at Minnesota.

Wake me when we get to Week 8. The NFL is capable of serving up highly entertaining weekend schedules, but this was not one of them.

Tony Romo threw a touchdown pass early in the third quarter, and the Cowboys, 2½-point favorites, won and covered their snail race at Carolina, 19-14. Winning ugly is always better than losing money, so I won't complain too much.

But I lost a couple of bets, too, and left the book breaking even and bored. Favorites went 6-4-1 against the spread and only one underdog won outright.

It was nothing remarkable. It was sort of a regression-to-the-mean Sunday. Underdogs went into the day 58-32-2 for the season and came out of it on the short end. Some hot handicappers who have been riding the 'dogs, myself included, got cooled off.

The upside was the betting public seemed to be on the brink of a big day after the eight morning games. The public cashed with Dallas, Green Bay and New Orleans.

"Our two biggest losses by far were the Cowboys and Packers," Kornegay said. "That's all public money and parlays. The sharps are just kind of splitting games."

Kornegay was fearing a "real bad scenario" developing in the afternoon and evening. The books needed the New York Jets to cover in the afternoon and the Cincinnati Bengals to win the late game.

The Jets, getting 11 points as the day's biggest underdogs, fought back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit before falling at New England 29-26 in overtime. The Bengals, 1-point home underdogs, got roughed up 24-17 by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The bettors beat the books by knockout Saturday, cleaning up across the board on college football, and won a split decision on the NFL. "The public had a good weekend," Kornegay said, "but it was not a heavily bet weekend with a lot of marquee matchups."

The so-called sharps tend to side with ugly teams, and Cleveland was one fitting that description. The Browns, 1-point road underdogs, were undone by a dropped pass and gutless call by coach Pat Shurmur in a 17-13 loss to the Colts.

One play after Josh Gordon dropped a perfect pass from Brandon Weeden in the end zone, the Browns faced fourth-and-1 at the Indianapolis 41. Trailing by four points with 6½ minutes remaining, what would you do?

"You've got to go for it," said professional bettor Steve Fezzik of LVASports.com. "These coaches are so conservative and stupid."

Shurmur went conservative, sent in the punter, and Cleveland fell to 1-6. The Browns have a new owner, and he's probably considering hiring a new coach.

The ugliest matchup of the day on paper, Jacksonville at Oakland, turned out somewhat entertaining. The Jaguars raced to a 17-3 lead and recovered a second-quarter onside kick that stunned the Raiders. I like a coach who's willing to gamble in the right spots.

"Unexpected onside kicks always work. If it doesn't work, the coach gets annihilated by the media," Fezzik said, ripping second-guessing media members who influence conservative coaches. "The more you fake stuff and do trickery, the more it puts other teams on their heels."

The Jaguars' trickery didn't result in a win, but they did cover in a 26-23 overtime loss. The Raiders were bet from 4- to 6-point favorites, and if you laid more than a field goal with the Raiders, I've got some prime ocean-front property in South Dakota to sell you at a bargain price.

I almost forgot to mention Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens, but no more harping on the boring and negative. On the bright side, Griffin was electric in the Redskins' 27-23 loss to the New York Giants. He passed for two touchdowns, ran wild and accounted for 347 total yards in a thrilling underdog cover.

But the remarkable rookie was upstaged by Eli Manning in the one memorable moment from a mostly dull and forgettable Sunday.

Contact sports betting columnist Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts "The Las Vegas Sportsline" weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM, 98.9 FM). Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.