Favorites cash in Week 5
By Matty Simo
The New England Patriots were just one of two underdogs to win straight-up in Sunday’s Week 5 NFL betting action, and they were the only one who helped sportsbooks with a decisive 43-17 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football. The Patriots needed to come through and make a statement to prove they are still legitimate playoff contenders, and that’s exactly what they did in knocking off the league’s last unbeaten team in the Bengals as 2.5-point home dogs.
“I thought that line was a little out of whack,” said Johnny Avello, The Wynn's Executive Director of Race & Sports Operations. “I mean it’s easy to say after the fact, but I thought the line was wrong. This Cincinnati team, I like them, they’re a good team, good offensive weapons. But anytime you’re getting the Patriots with points (at home), it’s got to be a double-up, don’t you think?
“There was some moneyline (on New England), we were trying to attract that. But we didn’t have to give too much away. People were saying that if they were going to be within the two, they were probably going to win the game.”
That they did, and the team the Patriots play next week just happened to be the other underdog to win in Week 5. The Buffalo Bills topped the Detroit Lions 17-14 as 4.5-point road dogs with new starting quarterback Kyle Orton leading the way. However, bettors were all over the Bills, moving the line down 2.5 points from the opening number of Detroit -7.
“I know we were heavy on the Bills,” said Avello.
New England opened as a 3-point road favorite at Buffalo next week. The Patriots have won 20 of the last 21 meetings between the AFC East teams, but they are just 2-7 against the spread in their past nine games as road chalk. They are also 0-4 ATS in their past four away from home vs. divisional opponents, losing three of those SU.
A couple other NFC teams could have helped the books out by losing, but big public teams failing to cover the spread still busted parlay cards and allowed them to make some money off bettors. The New Orleans Saints needed overtime to top the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 37-31 as 11-point home favorites while the Dallas Cowboys also had to go to OT to beat the Houston Texans 20-17 as six-point home chalk.
“The Saints game wasn’t bad,” Avello said. “It could have been a lot better if they would have lost the game straight-up. Dallas game was ok, balanced on that. The Cowboys continue to play okay.”
One game that did not turn out okay for the books was the Denver Broncos blowing out the Arizona Cardinals 41-20 as 8.5-point home favorites. The betting public loved the Broncos to hand the Cardinals their first loss, moving the line a full point from the opener of Denver -7.5.
But bettors got some help in the second half of that game when Arizona starting quarterback Drew Stanton was forced to leave with a concussion. The Cardinals actually pulled within 24-20 with 3:03 left in the third quarter when Stanton’s replacement Logan Thomas found running back Andre Ellington on a lucky short pass play that turned into an 81-yard touchdown thanks to Ellington’s fancy footwork.
The rookie Thomas – who entered the season as the third-stringer behind Stanton and injured Week 1 starter Carson Palmer – did not play well the rest of the way and helped Bronco backers beat the books. Denver QB Peyton Manning earlier topped the 50,000-yard passing plateau and was left with too much time and too many possessions to get his team an easy 17 fourth-quarter points and cover the spread for the first time this season.
“They lost the second string and then the third string just was lost,” Avello said of Thomas. “They never had a chance with the third string. You can’t make lines on things that could possibly happen in the game. You can’t make lines on that.”
