NFL Favorites Win Big Against the Spread in Week 14: Public Rides Coattails, Sportsbooks Suffer
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images. Pictured: Tom Brady
The Action Network's Darren Rovell contributed to this report.
NFL favorites have gone 10-2 against the spread this week and the public has won big riding those coattails.
"Everything the public and the sharps backed turned to gold today," said Craig Mucklow, Caesars Sportsbook's Vice President of Trading.
Bettors could have had an even better day, too. The Cleveland Browns (-3) had a 24-3 lead against the Baltimore Ravens but gave up 19 unanswered points to make it 24-22 late in the fourth quarter. That ended up being the final score.
The Browns at -3 had about 70% of the public riding it.
The only other favorite that failed to cover was the Carolina Panthers (-2.5), who lost outright to the Atlanta Falcons 29-21.
Below is the full list of teams that covered on Thursday and Sunday.
- MinnesotaVikings (-3.5) over the Pittsburgh Steelers: 36-28
- TennesseeTitans (-8.5) over the Jacksonville Jaguars: 20-0.
- Kansas City Chiefs (-10) over the Las Vegas Raiders: 48-9.
- New Orleans Saints (-4) over the New YorkJets: 30-9.
- Dallas Cowboys (-6.5) over the Washington Football Team: 27-20.
- Seattle Seahawks (-9.5) over the Houston Texans: 33-13.
- Los Angeles Chargers (-9.5) over the New York Giants: 37-21.
- Denver Broncos (-12.5) over the Detroit Lions: 38-10.
- San Francisco 49ers (-1) over the Cincinnati Bengals: 26-23 in OT.
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3.5) over the Buffalo Bills. 33-27 in OT.
“Lots of favorites winning was a good day for our customers," said Kevin Hennessy, a spokesperson at FanDuel. "They are also backing the Packers tonight.”
As of publishing, Sunday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears had yet to be decided. The Packers entered that contest as 11.5-point favorites. About 76% of the public was on the Packers to cover that game.
"A Packers cover will be an historic day for the bettors," Mucklow said. "We're excited for our bettors."
Monday Night Football between the Los Angeles Rams and ArizonaCardinals had yet to be played, too. The Cardinals are 2-point favorites and have roughly 80% of the money on them to cover. Arizona at -2 is the most wagered on spread of the weekend — just ahead of the Chargers at -9.5.
Besides the two overtime games on Sunday, none of these covers needed all that much sweating.
The Vikings were up eight and needed a last second stop in order to seal up their victory. And the Cowboys had a 27-8 lead dwindle to 27-20 late in the fourth quarter after a pick-six by Dak Prescott.
But, Washington's kicker Brian Johnson had his PAT blocked, which bailed out Cowboys -6.5 bettors. That line had moved from -4.5 all the way to -6.5 on Sunday morning, so a large number of bettors had the Cowboys at a better price and were in the clear regardless of that extra point attempt.
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