Tag: Odds

Steelers vs Chargers: Prediction, picks, odds

The Steelers has its work cut out for themselves against the Chargers defense.

This week the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers square off in the battle of unbeatens in Pittsburgh. It is a showdown of the two best defenses in the NFL and two powerful rushing attacks square off. If you are a fan of classic, old-school football, this is a game you don’t want to miss.

The Steelers vs Broncos game starts at 1:00 ET and can be seen on CBS.

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Steelers vs Chargers game odds:

All NFL Odds via BetMGM:

  • Point spread: -2.5
  • Money line: +120/-145
  • Over-under: 35/ -110

Steelers vs Chargers prediction

If Chargers’ starting quarterback Justin Herbert was 100 percent, this would be a much simpler choice. But Herbert’s ankle injury balances the scales some for Pittsburgh at quarterback. It could come down to who can run the football better that pull off the win in a huge defensive showdown.

Prediction: Steelers 20, Chargers 24

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Get more betting analysis and predictions at Sportsbook Wire.

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Steelers vs Broncos: Prediction, picks, odds

The Steelers are road favorites this week.

After the defense and kicking game carried the Pittsburgh Steelers to an 18-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons the team now travels to Denver to take on the Broncos. The Broncos are 0-1 after a 26-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and continue to try and build with rookie quarterback Bo Nix.

The Steelers vs Broncos game starts at 4:25 ET and can be seen on CBS.

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Steelers vs Broncos game odds:

All NFL Odds via BetMGM:

  • Point spread: -2.5
  • Money line: -140/+120
  • Over-under: 36.5/ -110

Steelers vs Broncos prediction

All things being equal, the Steelers defense knows how to shut down rookie quarterbacks. It sounds like Justin Fields will get his second start at quarterback this week and offensive coordinator Arthur Smith should be willing and able to open things up a little more on offense. In the end, a little bump on offense along with the defense and kicking game is enough to pull out the narrow road victory.

Prediction: Steelers 20, Broncos 17

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Get more betting analysis and predictions at Sportsbook Wire.

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Expert picks overwhelmingly favor Chargers in season opener vs Raiders

The results from some 285 experts are in for the season opener between the Chargers and Raiders

The folks over at NFLpickwatch collected game picks from some 285 different experts and the result was pretty lopsided.

At a rate of nearly 80%, they are choosing the Chargers to beat the Raiders.

As far as the spread is concerned, it has the Chargers by three. So, I guess if you trust the experts on their picks, that would seem a good bet. Not that I’m suggesting it, because that’s not something I would do.

A quick overview is all you really need to see why the experts would favor the Chargers. They have an elite QB and got arguably the prize new head coach of the offseason, snagging Jim Harbaugh who just led the Michigan Wolverines to the National Championship.

The Raiders have a journeyman quarterback and promoted interim head coach Antonio Pierce, who had never held a position in the NFL above linebackers coach. That’s not a knock on him — at least not from me — it’s just the fact of the matter, and it likely affects these predictions.

ESPN updates Wisconsin football odds of winning 2024 Big Ten championship

ESPN updates Wisconsin football odds of winning 2024 Big Ten championship

The college football season does not feel near until the release of Bill Connelly‘s comprehensive conference preview series.

That series has been rolling out over the last few weeks. But the season now feels right around the corner after the release of his preview of the new-look Big Ten Conference.

Related: Reasons why Wisconsin football will or won’t make College Football Playoff in 2024

That new-look conference includes newcomers Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC. Their arrival coincides with the conference eliminating its East-West Division model and introducing a new pool play format.

The 2024 Big Ten landscape will look and feel different than it has in any previous year. That inarguably makes it more difficult to project. Classic contenders including Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan will still all play big roles. But questions surround what the former Pac-12 powers can do upon their respective arrivals, and where the movement leaves programs like Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska.

Connelly’s Big Ten preview takes a shot at projecting the first year of the new-look conference. His recap of ESPN’s updated conference title odds gives Wisconsin just a 1.2% chance of winning it.

The leaders, to no surprise, are Ohio State at 30.9%, Oregon at 26.1%, Penn State at 17.8% and Michigan at 17%. Then there is a substantial dropoff before Iowa at 2%, USC at 1.8% and Wisconsin.

The Badgers’ low title odds are thanks to the elimination of the Big Ten West and a gauntlet schedule in the first year of the new format. Wisconsin will need to go 8-1 or 7-2 against a Big Ten schedule that includes games against Oregon, Penn State, USC, Nebraska and Iowa. It’s a tall ask given the current caliber of those top teams.

Wisconsin fans will likely look for areas of improvement in year two under Luke Fickell. The Badgers went 7-6 in 2023 in his first season in charge. Material improvements are needed to have the program pointing in the right direction moving forward.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion.

More 2024 Big Ten preview work:

Team Previews: Indiana Hoosiers — Purdue Boilermakers — Illinois Fighting Illini — Northwestern Wildcats — Minnesota Golden Gophers — Nebraska Cornhuskers — Iowa Hawkeyes — Rutgers Scarlet Knights — Maryland Terrapins

Position Previews: Quarterbacks — Running Backs — Wide Receivers — Offensive Lines — Tight Ends — Defensive Line — Linebackers — Cornerbacks

Amateur Luke Clanton is the betting favorite(!) at the PGA Tour’s 2024 ISCO Championship

The kid is rolling.

Many of the world’s best players are across the pond this week for the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open, but there’s a field of PGA Tour players headed to Kentucky for the ISCO Championship at Keene Trace Golf Club. Arguably the biggest storyline heading into the tournament is amateur Luke Clanton, who last week became the first amateur to finish inside the top 10 in back-to-back Tour starts — T-10 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, T-2 at the John Deere Classic — since Billy Joe Patton in 1957.

Incredibly, with names like Joel Dahmen, Cameron Champ and Sam Ryder in the field, Clanton is the betting favorite to win the ISCO Championship at +900 (9/1). The next closest is Michael Thorbjornsen, another rising Tour star, at +1400 (14/1). Thorbjornsen, like Clanton, was a runner-up at TPC Deere Run last week.

Thanks to his amateur status, Clanton, a sophomore at Florida State, lost $804,776 in earnings over the last two weeks.

Photo: DraftKings

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ESPN’s FPI gives Saints less than 1% chance to win Super Bowl LIX

ESPN’s Football Power Index gave the New Orleans Saints a less than 1% chance to win Super Bowl LIX inside their own stadium:

We’re saying there’s a chance. Well, ESPN is saying that — ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) gave the New Orleans Saints a 0.4% chance of winning Super Bowl LIX, which will be played at the Caesars Superdome in February.

Believe it or not, those aren’t the worst odds around the league. Four teams were given zero chances of bringing home a title, including the division-rival Carolina Panthers. But the Saints did rank 10th-worst in FPI’s forecast, which doesn’t inspire much confidence. That’s a direct reflection of the lack of success they’ve found since Drew Brees retired back in 2021, with neither Sean Payton nor Dennis Allen guiding the Saints back to the playoffs.

The latest FPI predicts the Saints will win 7.7 to 9.3 games, which gives them a 29.5% chance of returning to the postseason for the first time since 2020. Those playoff odds rank 12th-lowest among the 32 teams. Two other NFC South teams have been given better chances of reaching the postseason. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are slightly ahead at 33.6% as reigning division champs, while the Kirk Cousins-led Atlanta Falcons are favored best at 67.4%.

Conversely, this suggests the Saints could end up picking at No. 10 overall in the 2025 NFL draft. That might give them an opportunity to draft a difference-maker at quarterback or another premium position like defensive end or wide receiver. But we don’t even know who will be entering the draft in 2025, much less who may be available at whichever spot the Saints are picking. For now, all the Saints can do is keep their heads down, work hard, and hope their fortunes trend up in 2024.

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U.S. Women’s Open 2024 odds, course information

Unsurprisingly, Nelly Korda is the heavy favorite.

It’s easy to see why Nelly Korda is the heavy betting favorite this week at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The No. 1-ranked player in the world has won six of her last seven starts, including the first women’s major championship of the year, the Chevron Championship. Korda sits at +330 to take home the title.

Rose Zhang, who won the Cognizant Founders Cup earlier this month, is next on the odds list at 18/1 (+1800).

Defending champion Allisen Corpuz is 100/1 (+10000) to repeat.

U.S. Women’s Open: Leaderboard | Photos | How to watch

Here’s a look at the betting favorites for the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open, plus a little course information.

Golf course

Lancaster Country Club

  • Par 70
  • 6,546 yards
  • Last held USWO in 2015 (In Gee Chun)

Betting odds

Undrafted Saints rookie Dallin Holker given good odds of making the team

Undrafted Saints rookie Dallin Holker was given good odds of making the team. Between his contract guarantees and strong scouting report, he might make the cut:

It’s a hard life for undrafted free agents — about 500 rookies sign with NFL teams after the draft each year, but maybe 50 of them will make the cut and earn a spot on the 53-man roster for Week 1’s kickoff games. And one stands apart when looking at the New Orleans Saints’ undrafted crop: former Colorado State tight end Dallin Holker.

Wide Left’s Arif Hasan studied the rate of undrafted rookies who made the cut for teams over the last three years, and found a good correlation between two factors determining their changes. NFL teams show us how they regard undrafted free agents by guaranteeing a portion of their contracts. And draft analysts’ rankings in Hasan’s consensus board can play a part, too.

We’ll let Hasan explain his methodology:

When accounting for the high correlation between Consensus Big Board rank and guaranteed money (a correlation of -0.48) one can construct a simple model that projects likelihood for undrafted free agents. The base make rate is about nine percent, and a higher consensus board rank and/or a higher guaranteed salary have an equal chance of helping or hurting those odds in the model, from a maximum of 33 percent to a minimum of 4 percent.

So even if a best-case scenario for an undrafted rookie gives them a 33% chance of making the team (not counting practice squad slots; just those who start out on the 53-man roster outright). Keep that 33% number in mind, because this is all relative. Hasan’s model gave Holker a 23.7% chance of making the cut with the Saints this summer, which is seventh-best among the hundreds of undrafted players who signed with NFL teams a few weeks ago.

The Saints guaranteed $235,000 of Holker’s contract. That’s more than any other undrafted free agent they signed this year by a considerable margin, and it ranks among the highest guarantees for these players around the league.

While saying that Holker’s odds of making the team is less than 24% may not be too inspiring, it’s still better than the dozen or so other undrafted rookies who came to New Orleans this offseason. But this is all speculative. At the end of the day it’ll be Holker’s performance at practices and training camp and preseason games that determines whether he joins Juwan Johnson and Foster Moreau on the 53-man roster.

And the early returns have been positive. He has clean feet and great movement skills in a small space. Teams aren’t allowed to do many blocking drills or full-contact work this early in the offseason calendar, but Holker has helped himself by catching the ball cleanly and turning upfield in a hurry. He was known as a run-after-catch threat at Colorado State and those skills appear to be translating, though of course defenders aren’t allowed to tackle him with a head full of steam just yet.

Holker needs to keep that momentum going into the summer. He’s competing with veterans like Tommy Hudson and Michael Jacobson, both of whom were on the practice squad last year. Jacobson has stood out in passing drills early on and he won’t make Holker’s quest for a roster spot easy. There’s room for a third tight end with Jimmy Graham training to row across the Arctic Ocean, and the lackluster production the Saints got out of Johnson and Moreau last year should open up a real role for someone like Holker or Jacobson. This might shape up for an entertaining training camp battle after all.

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Packers LB Edgerrin Cooper ranks outside top 12 for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year odds

Packers LB Edgerrin Cooper has +3500 odds to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year coming out of the 2024 NFL draft.

A quick look at the odds for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year coming out of the 2024 NFL draft provided a little bit of a surprise: Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, the first off-ball linebacker off the board at No. 45 overall and a likely Day 1 starter for new defensive coordinatorJeff Hafley, doesn’t currently rank in the top 12 at BetMGM.

Cooper’s odds right now? +3500.

Here’s the top 12:

Dallas Turner, Minnesota Vikings: +400
Laiatu Latu, Indianapolis Colts: +600
Jared Verse, Los Angeles Rams: +1100
Quinyon Mitchell, Philadelphia Eagles: +1100
Terrion Arnold, Detroit Lions: +1100
Byron Murphy, Seattle Seahawks: +1300
Cooper DeJean, Philadelphia Eagles: +1600
Chop Robinson, Miami Dolphins: +2000
Payton Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers: +2000
Kool-Aid McKinstry, New Orleans Saints: +2500
Nate Wiggins, Baltimore Ravens: +3000
Darius Robinson, Arizona Cardinals: +3000
Edgerrin Cooper, Green Bay Packers: +3500

Cooper’s odds may reflect an on-going shift in the award itself. A true off-ball linebacker, once the dominant force for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, hasn’t won the annual award since Shaq Leonard in 2018. Four of the last five winners of NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year were pass-rushers, the fifth was a cornerback. Overall, Leonard’s win in 2018 is the only by an off-ball linebacker between 2013 and 2023.

Can Cooper, a disruptive play machine at Texas A&M, help turn the tide for off-ball linebackers?

The 45th overall pick should get a chance to start next to Quay Walker right away. And he’ll likely have opportunities to shoot gaps in the run game and blitz in the passing game in Hafley’s defense. Any rookie of the year has to fill up the stat sheet and create big play after big play for an ascending defense.

In 2018, Leonard produced 163 tackles, 7.0 sacks, two interceptions, eight pass breakups, four forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and 12 tackles for loss. The Colts defense went from 30th in points allowed in 2017 to 10th in 2018.

Cooper is going to play right away. He’s going to have talent all around him. He should play in an attacking style defense. The Packers should be contenders, possibly with an improved defense overall. And Cooper’s game — built on speed and chasing down the ball sideline to sideline — should be made for piling up the right kind of stats.

Cooper is still a long shot coming out of the draft. Can he beat the odds and give the Packers their first NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year since Willie Buchanon in 1972?

Bettors can also bet on second-round pick Javon Bullard. The 58th overall pick and likely Day 1 starter for the Packers has +5000 odds to be NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2024. Want the biggest of longshots? Seventh-round pick Kalen King has +20000 odds!

Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside.

Odds are shifting for the Commanders QB decision at No. 2

The odds took another dramatic shift Thursday regarding the Commanders the No. 2 pick.

Over the last few months, oddsmakers have been split on who the Washington Commanders would take at No. 2 overall in the 2024 NFL draft. Caleb Williams is expected to go No. 1 to the Chicago Bears, leaving Washington to decide between Jayden Daniels (LSU) or Drake Maye (North Carolina).

Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy is an option, too, but not to the level of Maye and Daniels.

For the most part, Daniels has held a slight edge over Maye. However, the odds shifted to Maye earlier this month. In both instances, it was close. Daniels took a big step ahead of Maye last week when ESPN’s Adam Schefter said he thought Commanders fans could order their Daniels jerseys.

On Thursday night, we witnessed yet another significant shift.

What do we make of the latest shift? Let’s start with his: No one truly knows what Washington general manager Adam Peters thinks. That part is 100% true. Peters isn’t leaking interest to the media, nor are any members of his inner circle.

Some of this comes from Wednesday evening on Twitter. Daniels’ agent liked a pair of tweets that appeared to criticize the Commanders for holding top 30 visits with multiple prospects, including four quarterbacks.

The next day, the agent informs the media that Daniels is meeting the Minnesota Vikings for dinner on Thursday night after previously being hesitant to meet with them.

We are six days away from the NFL draft, and these odds could continue to shift up until next Thursday night. Usually, we learn more about a team’s intentions the closer it gets to the draft, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for the Commanders — so far.