Romo, Cowboys nearly save day for sports books

All of the Tony Romo critics had been quieted. All of the betting tickets on the New York Giants were about to be shredded. It doesn't get any better - or worse - than this.

The most important result on the board Sunday had come down to a dramatic ending that seemed unimaginable. The Dallas Cowboys had dug out of a 23-0 hole to stun the Giants and everyone who wagered on the game. Or so it seemed for a few heart-stopping seconds.

In the NFL, no play is official until the replay confirms it or the replacement referees screw it up. It seemed the Giants had screwed up a sure thing.

But Romo's 37-yard touchdown pass to Dez Bryant, and the premature celebration by the Cowboys that followed, was denied and overturned. Bryant's hand hit out of bounds. The call was reversed, the Giants held on to win 29-24, and all of the tickets that were about to be shredded were instead cashed.

That's how the day was defined on the sports books' bottom line. That was the play that helped the bettors beat the books for the third week in a row.

"We got carved up by the Giants. That was our day right there," MGM Resorts sports book director Jay Rood said. "The NFL is 0-for-3 the last three weeks."

Two minutes into the second quarter, when Jason Pierre-Paul picked off a Romo throw and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown, it was hard to imagine the Giants could blow a 23-point lead. But Romo is an odd quarterback, capable of being terrible for two quarters and terrific for the other two.

He passed for 437 yards and a touchdown, and ran for a score. He brought his team back from the dead. But he also put the Cowboys in a casket by throwing four interceptions. He was one play away from captaining an incredible comeback.

"I wrote it off after the first quarter," Rood said. "It's typical Romo. He can't close it out. But I guess it wasn't all his fault."

Dallas opened the week as a 1½-point home favorite and closed as a 3-point underdog. It was a high-profile game that drew heavy action, and about 80 percent of it was on the Giants.

Underdogs are 8-5 against the spread in Week 8, with six (Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Miami and Oakland) winning outright.

Professional bettors saw something to like in Philadelphia and paid for the mistake. The Eagles, 3-point favorites, had their flaws exposed yet again and got blown away by the undefeated Atlanta Falcons, 30-17. Eagles coach Andy Reid lost after a bye for the first time. And he's probably going to lose his job.

"We took a lot of sharp money on the Eagles," said Rood, who also took the sharp money on the Redskins.

Those who predicted Pittsburgh's demise were jumping to the wrong conclusion. The Steelers, favored by 4 to 4½ points, dominated Washington 27-12 and made Robert Griffin III look like a rookie quarterback.

"That was our best game of the morning," Rood said.

One of the worst games of the morning for the books was Seattle-Detroit, and it also featured drama at the finish. Matthew Stafford's 1-yard touchdown pass to Titus Young with 20 seconds left rallied the Lions, 3-point favorites, to a 28-24 win.

Green Bay, bet up to a 16-point favorite over Jacksonville, served as a reminder to stay away from laying double digits. The Packers stumbled through a 24-15 win against arguably the league's worst team.

As New England was putting on a show in London, battering the St. Louis Rams 45-7, the New York Jets and San Diego Chargers were showing their ineptitude.

The Jets, 1½-point home favorites, were embarrassed 30-9 by Miami, which attracted sharp money. The Chargers were predictably weak in a 7-6 loss at Cleveland, and if you were laying points with Norv Turner, you were not sharp.

The books were in position to win after the overloaded morning schedule, but everything went the bettors' way in the day's final three games.

Never bet against the Oakland Raiders on the road, at least when they are in Kansas City. The Raiders won at Arrowhead Stadium for the sixth straight year, 26-16.

Predicting the demise of the New Orleans Saints was not premature. Peyton Manning, on the other hand, is back and has the Denver Broncos headed for the playoffs after they pummeled the Saints 34-14 as 6-point favorites. The score staying under the total of 55½ helped the books avoid an ugly finish to the day.

Manning and the Broncos paid off the betting public after Eli Manning and the Giants won the biggest decision on the board.

When it was all over Sunday, Romo was celebrating an upset, but it was San Francisco Giants reliever Sergio Romo.

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.