Category: BetFTW

Chargers spread against Jaguars drops sharply, sparking speculation that Justin Herbert will sit

The spread went from -7 to -3.5.

Once a seven-point favorite in their game against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, the Los Angeles Chargers are now favored by just 3.5 points at BetMGM. The sharp drop in the spread is a strong indication that quarterback Justin Herbert is likely to miss Sunday’s game after suffering a fracture to his rib cartilage in last Thursday’s game against the Chiefs.

Officially, Herbert will be listed as questionable. He told reporters Friday he doesn’t if he’ll play and a decision will be made Sunday. Backup Chase Daniel took first-team reps at Friday’s practice.

The change to the spread came as Herbert was reportedly sidelined for at least the start of practice. According to ESPN’s Lindsey Thiry, he didn’t throw a single pass for the 19 minutes that practice was open to reporters.

According to Unabated’s MasseyPeabody ratings, the drop from QB1 to QB2 for the Chargers is 6.85 points. That means the spread could move even further if Herbert is ruled out.

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What are the odds Aaron Judge hits home run No. 61 against Boston on Friday?

In Aaron Judge we trust.

Congrats to the New York Yankees on extending their winning streak to four games after defeating the Boston Red Sox 5-4 on Thursday and clinching a spot in the postseason.

Bigger congrats to those who did not bet money on Aaron Judge hitting his 61st home run of the season to pass the great Babe Ruth and tie Roger Maris for the most single-season homers in Yankees history.

Now the question is: will you bet on it happening today?

The smooth-swinging Judge hasn’t seen one exit the park since he hit HR No. 60 on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. If you’re thinking he’s due, you can get in on his +225 odds at BetMGM to hit a home run against Boston on Friday night.

He’ll face the left-handed Rich Hill, who he’s batting .500 against in four career at-bats.

Hill has not given up a home run to Judge.

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Latest NASCAR championship odds for the remaining 12 drivers in the 2022 playoffs

After the NASCAR playoff field dropped from 16 to 12 drivers, here’s a look at the latest odds before the start of the next round.

It started with 16, it’s now down to 12 and after three more races, the NASCAR Cup Series playoff field will drop four more championship contenders from the mix.

The Round of 12 in the 10-race playoffs begins Sunday with the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, followed by races at Talladega Superspeedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval — the second elimination race of the postseason.

At the end of the Round of 16, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch and Tyler Reddick were the four playoff drivers knocked out. And the remaining 12 can advance to the Round of 8 based on points in the playoff standings or by winning at least one of the three races in this round. But with non-playoff drivers sweeping the Round of 16, winning and advancing could prove more challenging than in the past.

The Round of 12 drivers in 2022 are: Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suárez and Austin Cindric.

So ahead of Sunday’s race at Texas, here’s a look at the latest odds for each of them to win it all come November, according to Tipico Sportsbook as of Friday, as well as their previous 2022 finishes at Texas in the 24-driver All-Star Race and Talladega (the Roval is only in the playoffs).

NASCAR playoffs guide 2022: Everything you need to know about the postseason format

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Fantasy football defense rankings, Week 3: From elite to streamable

Let’s help you with your fantasy football D/ST position in Week 3.

You’ve got your fantasy football lineup all but set for the week, with a few tweaks to be made here and there as Sunday’s slate of games is ready to kick off.

But you’re trying to optimize your lineup to make sure you get the most points. And that’s why you have to make sure your D/ST position has the best possible squad to win you the week.

That’s what these rankings will help with: A look at the elite, solid, and streamable options that could win you some virtual games in your league.

Let’s break down the Week 3 D/ST tiers:

Week 3 NFL Prop Bets: So help me, I’m betting on Carson Wentz (and, of course, Drake London)

Is it stupid to expect big things from Breece Hall or James Robinson? Vegas says yes. I’m going in the opposite direction.

Last week, the Christian Kirk prosperity Bible added new pages. The Trey Lance deep ball connection, however, fell apart after only three passes.

While Kirk and the Jaguars were dealing, the San Francisco 49ers were forced to turn to old friend Jimmy Garoppolo behind center in relief of Lance, who’ll miss the rest of the 2022 NFL season thanks to an ankle injury. That leaves the Niners with newfound questions left to be answered about their offense now that they’re down a starting running back, starting quarterback and have yet to see George Kittle take a snap.

That leaves our San Francisco props in “wait and see” mode, especially against the dumbfounding Denver Broncos. Fortunately, that leaves us with 14 other games to sort through and find some viable plays. After another five-win week in the official recommendations — and a 3-0 roll through the unofficial plays — let’s see if we can extend this hot streak or whether a regression is coming.

As always, official plays in bold. We’re going big this week with 10 recommendations, perhaps due to hubris, or perhaps to speed up my regression to the mean so I don’t feel as much pressure later on. Who knows?

  • Carson Wentz OVER 239.5 passing yards. Wentz has been forced to play from behind in each of his first two games and has thrown for 310-plus yards in each of them. Expect him to trail early and often against a soaring Philadelphia Eagles team.
  • Baker Mayfield UNDER 209.5 passing yards. The New Orleans Saints just held Tom Brady to 190. Mayfield topped out at 145 last week against the New York Giants. Maybe this prop blows up and Mayfield balls out in garbage time. Or maybe there’s money to be made betting against a Baker Mayfield revival.
  • Breece Hall OVER 46.5 total yards. A line that suggests last week’s seven-carry, 50-yard performance wasn’t a sign of things to come. Hall hasn’t been trusted with too many handoffs yet, but could see his role expanded after a positive, fumble-free impact in Week 2.
  • Joe Burrow OVER 10.5 rushing yards. Burrow’s had to scramble for his life behind a disjointed offensive line en route to 73 rushing yards in two games. The Jets have called the sixth-fewest blitzes in the league, but the Cowboys blitz at a similar rate and still flushed Joe Schiesty from the pocket with regularity last Sunday.
  • James Robinson OVER 49.5 rushing yards. Robinson’s snap share rose from 49 percent to 63 percent last week — and he wasn’t even that effective. Still, his 2.8 yards per carry were better than Travis Etienne’s 2.2 and he should retain his spot as Doug Pederson’s top guy when it comes to running plays in 2022.
  • Michael Pittman Jr. OVER 4.5 receptions and 64.5 receiving yards. Pittman had 13 targets, nine catches and 121 yards in a Week 1 tie vs. the Texans. Then he missed Week 2 due to injury and Matt Ryan had, statistically, the third-worst game of his career. Expect him to get the volume needed to hit this prop, even if he’s doubled often. Of course, scrap this bet if new injury news pops up.
  • Drake London OVER 4.5 receptions and 54.5 yards. Have you seen Drake London? Marcus Mariota has, which is why London had 48 percent of the Falcons’ targets last week.
  • Christian Kirk OVER 59.5 receiving yards. I’m not sure Kirk will have another six-catch day, but I’m gonna keep riding his yardage overs until they get similarly questionable.

Last week: 5-2 (.714)
Season to date: 10-3 (.769)

A meaningless, last-second Browns defensive TD was an all-timer of a horrifying bad beat for NFL bettors

What an awful bad beat from Thursday Night Football

Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

If you’re waking up Friday morning feeling awful that some of your bets on the Cleveland Browns from Thursday’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t cash, I totally feel for you after an all-timer of a bad beat went down.

Here’s what went down: The Cleveland Browns were up 23-17 with nine seconds to go. The Steelers were backed up to their own four-yard line and decided to try one of those hook-and-lateral plays.

But the ball got loose by the end zone … and Denzel Ward jumped on for the touchdown at the final whistle.

Suddenly, it was 29-17. And there were so many bad beats that came out of it:

Shakur Stevenson misses weight ahead of what he claims will be his final fight before jump from 130 to 135 pounds

Stevenson won’t maintain his titles due to missing weight.

When 25-year-old superstar boxer Shakur Stevenson steps into the ring on Friday night to fight Robson Conceicao, he will do so without his WBC and WBO super-featherweight world titles.

Stevenson weighed in on Thursday at 1.6 pounds above the 130-pound weight limit. The penalty for missing weight is a loss of title(s).

But not all is bad.

For Conceicao, he’ll still have an opportunity to claim the titles with a win over Stevenson. However, his odds (+600 Tipico Sportsbook) suggest that he’ll be in for quite the challenge against the undefeated Newark native.

As far as what this all means for Stevenson? He’s identified that his body just can’t make 130 pounds anymore. After this fight, he says he’ll be moving up to 135, a weight division that includes many household names in the sport.

Assuming Stevenson gets past Conceicao on Friday, his future at 135 pounds should be fun.

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College Football Week 4 betting trends: Iowa-Rutgers Punt-A-thon, Oregon State getting love over USC and more

We asked oddsmakers for a line on the total punts in Rutgers-Iowa. The over feels safe.

Week 4 of the college football season has given us plenty to get excited about.

Among the primetime games scheduled for Saturday, a number of conference matchups should have the nation’s intrigue. No. 3 Ohio State vs. Wisconsin, Kansas State vs. No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 23 Texas A&M vs. No. 10 Arkansas may be the highlights, but they aren’t the main attraction.

Not for bettors, at least, and not when Iowa and Rutgers are on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET live from New Jersey.

That’s right, two of the worst offenses in the country has already attracted a ton of action. Of the 6000 (and counting) bets tracked by Action Network on Iowa-Rutgers, 88 percent of bets placed on the point total have Under 34.5 along with 85 percent of the money. Another 68 percent of bets on the spread have Rutgers (+7.5) with 63 percent of the money.

Meanwhile, Iowa is scoring just 13.7 points per game and has a team total points line of 20.5 at Tipico Sportsbook.

This is Puntmageddon on national television and we cannot wait. The Hawkeyes have punted 23 times in three games this season. Rutgers has punted 12 times over the same span.

It’s enough to make you wonder: just how many punts will take place in Piscataway this weekend? We checked with oddsmakers at Tipico to find out where the punt total line would be set. While not an official offering, Tipico told BetFTW the line is set at 9.5 combined punts with the over as a slight favorite at -120.

Big Ten football!

Let’s check out some other trends around the sport as Week 4 kicks off.

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What are the odds Aaron Judge hits home run No. 61. against Boston on Thursday?

True or False: Aaron Judge will hit home run No. 61 on Thursday?

Aaron Judge is still sitting on 60 home runs after neither of his two hits on Wednesday night left the yard. And while his night was productive, it was a rough end of the day for the many who wagered on him to crack his 61st homer of the season.

Judge and the Yankees are back at it again, though, on Thursday night when they host the Boston Red Sox. Should you bet on him again to hit a home run and surpass the mark Babe Ruth hit in 1927?

If you think the answer is yes, know that his odds are hovering around +230 at BetMGM, which are longer, but more rewarding, than his +195 odds from Wednesday.

Also know that Judge is going to face Red Sox starter Michael Wacha on Thursday, who he is 0-14 lifetime against.

But there’s a first time for everything. Are you betting on tonight to be the night?

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NFL fans had their brains melted by Jason Kelce’s explanation of D-line alignments

What on earth is he talking about?

Jason Kelce probably wouldn’t be a perennial All-Pro and the NFL’s arguable best center blocking for an ascending Jalen Hurts if he didn’t know the ins and outs of football terminology.

Unlike other positions on the offensive line, a center must understand their responsibilities and what everyone else is accounting for on every play. Like their peers, they also have to be prepared for what the giant defensive lineman in front of them might be trying to accomplish. Even something as simple as alignment could tip off plans.

In the very first episode of their new podcast New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, the two eponymous brothers — respective offensive stars with the Eagles and Chiefs — discussed defensive line alignments. And when Jason went on a short tangent about the nitty-gritty of the different techniques, he seemed to confuse Travis and himself:

You might be asking yourself right now, “uh, what?” after hearing Jason Kelce’s “random” about defensive line alignments.

That’s why I’m here! Because I’m an encyclopedia of football knowledge, and so everyone knows, here’s what Jason means. The numbers are essentially shorthand for where a defensive lineman positions themselves pre-snap, and it goes in sequence:

  • A “0” technique is lined up right on top of a center. They’re directly in line with them.
  • A “1” will be on either shoulder of the center.
  • A “2” will be straight up on a guard, a “2I” will be on the inside shoulder of a guard, and a “3” will be on the outside shoulder.
  • A “4” will be head up on a tackle, a “4I” will be on the inside shoulder, and a “5” will be on the outside shoulder.
  • There is no “5I” (I don’t know why, and the NFL superstars don’t seem to either).
  • Finally, a “6” will be head up on a tight end, and a “9” will be all the way outside of them.

Why there’s no “8” or this knowledge seems to skip a few numbers, who knows! If you’re still confused, I get it. Take solace that the Kelces don’t seem to completely understand it themselves.