Tag: Odds

NFL odds: Broncos are 5.5-point underdogs vs. Chargers this week

The #Broncos are considered 5.5-point underdogs against the #Chargers this week, according to @Tipico Sportsbook.

The Denver Broncos (2-3) are considered 5.5-point underdogs on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers (3-2) in Week 6, according to Tipico Sportsbook. The over/under for total points scored between the two teams on Monday Night Football has been set at 45.5.

Last week, the Broncos were considered 3.5-point favorites against the Indianapolis Colts and Denver lost by three points. The Chargers were considered 2.5-point favorites against the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles won by two points.

The Broncos lead the all-time series against the Chargers 70-54-1, and Denver has won four of its last six against Los Angeles.

Monday’s game will be nationally televised on ESPN.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA).

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NFL fans were livid after a Chris Jones strip-sack was wiped out by an awful roughing-the-passer call

Jones literally had the ball in his hands!!!

Things weren’t going the Chiefs’ way for much of the first half against the Raiders (+7.5) on Monday. Though, after falling behind 17-0, Kansas City started to rally. That tension would come to a head on a key play involving Chiefs’ pass rusher Chris Jones and Las Vegas’ Derek Carr.

With Kansas City trying to steal one last possession before the end of the half, Jones got on his horse and blew by the Las Vegas’ offensive line to hit Carr for a sack. Jones’ rush and play were so good that he even stripped Carr of the football and had it in his hands, ready to run the other way.

So it was Kansas City football, right?

Wrong. The NFL would call a roughing-the-passer penalty on Jones for “using his full body weight,” extending a Raiders’ possession that would end in a field goal.

And yes, it’s very much as bad of a call as it sounds:

In case you were wondering, I’m pretty certain Jones might be the first player in NFL history to be called for roughing-the-passer … while holding the ball in his hands. Because, you know, the quarterback isn’t a passer anymore if they don’t have the ball in their hands. And Jones, with the ball in his hands, is now officially a runner.

Ah, well, at least Jones can just stop running full speed (?) and not throw his full weight (?) into Carr when simply trying to do his job. With Jones’ play being the second terrible roughing-the-passer call in as many days, it’s a good reminder about the NFL rule book: It makes zero sense!

Heisman Trophy Odds 2022 Week 6: UCLA’s Dorian Thompson-Robinson has entered the chat

The UCLA QB saw his odds skyrocket this week.

Each week this college football season, BetFTW will take a look at the 2022 Heisman Trophy race and break down the contenders. Check back each Monday as the best college football players in the country jockey for position with both oddsmakers and bettors. Preseason odds can be found here and Week 5 here. 

Ohio State’s C. J. Stroud finds his spot atop the Heisman odds leaderboard more secure after Week 5. Stroud jumped from +150 last week to -150 this week with USC’s Caleb Williams the closest at +1000. Bryce Young (Alabama) is still in that third spot, but Tennessee QB Herndon Hooker has pulled even with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner at +1400 odds this week.

The biggest surprise is the appearance of Dorian Thompson-Robinson at the No. 5 spot. UCLA’s quarterback accounted for five touchdowns on Saturday in a win over No. 11 Utah, helping him jump from off the board in Week 5 to +1600 in Week 6.

Let’s get to it. Odds via BetMGM.

Jaguars open as slight underdog vs. Colts in Week 6

The Jaguars opened as underdogs against the Colts just a few weeks after beating them 24-0 in Week 2.

About three weeks ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars dominated the Indianapolis Colts in a 24-0 shutout win. But after back-to-back losses, including an embarrassing 13-6 loss to the previously winless Houston Texans, the Jaguars are underdogs in the rematch.

The oddsmakers at Tipico Sportsbook listed the Jaguars as a 1.5-point underdog against the Colts when the line for the Week 6 game opened Sunday night. The points total is set at 41.5, the lowest of any game next Sunday.

The Jaguars were riding high after their win over the Colts that was followed by a 38-10 blowout of the Los Angeles Chargers. That momentum is gone now after the Jaguars lost 29-21 to the Philadelphia Eagles in a sloppy, turnover-filled game that was followed by the frustrating loss to the Texans.

Indianapolis bounced back from the Week 2 loss to Jacksonville by beating the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 3. After a loss to the Tennessee Titans, the Colts got their second win of the year on Thursday with a 12-9 overtime victory over the Denver Broncos.

The Jaguars were underdogs in the first four weeks of the season before entering Week 5 as a touchdown favorite.

The Bears were who we thought they were after ruining their own epic comeback vs. the Vikings

The Bears almost had a day for the ages until they shot themselves in the foot. Twice.

For much of the afternoon against the Vikings (-7.5), the Bears looked lost. That might even be an understatement. After Chicago fell behind 21-3 late in the first half, it didn’t seem like much would go right for this rag-tag group.

On offense, Justin Fields and Co. couldn’t muster up much of any consistent positivity or churn. Chicago’s mission to make a simple forward pass look like solving a Rubik’s cube continued. On defense, Kirk Cousins started 17-of-17, and the Bears seemed to somehow forget about covering All-Pro receiver Justin Jefferson downfield … or anywhere on the field.

But then, this game flipped in an instant.

On the Bears’ final drive of the first half, Darnell Mooney made one of (or the best?) catch of the year:

From there, the Bears would start cooking. They were putting themselves in position of completing the largest comeback in franchise history since a famous rant by former Cardinals head coach Dennis Green:

The unfortunate spin here is that the Bears probably should’ve finished the rally after scoring 19 unanswered points to take a 22-21 lead in the fourth quarter. In fact, when Justin Fields found a late seam around the edge on a would-be touchdown, it seemed like they did.

Bad news — Ihmir Smith-Marsette would be called for a block in the back that negated Fields’ electric run:

Speaking of Fields’ clutch play, despite a horrendous supporting cast, he more than came through when the Bears needed him:

Later, after the Vikings orchestrated a masterful drive to take a late 29-22 lead, the Bears looked like they’d at least push Minnesota to the very end on their final possession. A valiant fight to the end.

Unfortunately, another tough extra push — ironically from Smith-Marsette again — would doom the Bears after the receiver fumbled the ball on their gotta-have-it, two-minute drill:

Oof. The rare instance where pushing forward a little harder as a football player comes back to bite you in the worst possible way.

And so, despite an impressive rally from Fields and some heart shown by the Bears in an almost astonishing comeback, they unsurprisingly shot themselves in the foot, ruining any chance for victory.

In the end, in the words of the immortal Mr. Dennis Green: The [Bears] are who we thought they were.

The Bills’ Josh Allen and Gabe Davis connected on a bonkers 98-yard TD from the shadow of their own end zone

Sometimes all you need is ONE play!

Aside from one tiny misstep in Miami, the Bills have mostly been unassailable this season. Buffalo and Josh Allen have been thrashing and shocking just about everyone in the conference as one of the AFC’s true juggernauts. Allen and Co. had a unique way to humble the Steelers (+14) early on Sunday, with Pittsburgh on deck as the Bills’ latest victim.

But it didn’t look that way at first.

On their first offensive possession, Allen and the Bills were backed up in their own end zone on a third and long. Rather than try to keep the chains moving or take a safe play that avoids potential back-of-end chaos, Allen went for it all on a deep shot to Gabriel Davis.

It worked out … quite well. To the tune of a 98-yard touchdown (!):

Holy cow. That’s one way to get the chains moving and the ball rolling.

The wild 98-yard touchdown for Davis is the longest in the Bills’ history and the longest touchdown the Steelers have surrendered since 1966.

Oh yeah, this is a special and fun group in Buffalo.

NFL Week 5 public betting data: Bettors lean Ravens over Bengals in big AFC North showdown

Week 5 public betting stats from Tipico.

Part of being successful in sports betting is being aware of how the public is betting and where the sharp money lies. So, each and every Sunday of the NFL season, Bet For The Win is going to provide public betting stats straight from Tipico Sportsbook to help bring that knowledge to the forefront.

Betting the same way as the public doesn’t guarantee positive results, but it can’t hurt to be more informed. When the percentages are drastically slanted in an unexpected direction, there’s likely a reason for that beyond simple matchups.

Here’s how the public is betting in Week 5.

Blue Jays’ epic collapse against Mariners was an all-time bad beat

This one will sting for a long time.

Facing elimination, the Toronto Blue Jays jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the fifth inning of Game 2 of their American League Wild Card series against the Seattle Mariners.

Before they could even let the sure victory sink in, the lead was cut to 8-5 the next inning. Four innings later, their season was over. The Blue Jays lost the game 10-9.

It was an epic postseason collapse, one not seen since 2008 — and only one other time before that had a team blown a seven-run lead in the playoffs. For those who bet on Toronto to win, which was pretty much everybody, it was an all-time bad beat.

Toronto had a win probability of 99%! And 80% of moneyline bettors at BetMGM picked the Jays to win, which looked promising when starting pitcher Kevin Gausman was pulled to a standing ovation.

Then the bullpen proceeded to meltdown, and a season that started with so much promise for Toronto ended in severe disappointment. This one is going to sting for a long time.

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Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson are falling stars, and it was on full display in Thursday’s sad excuse for a football game

How the mighty have fallen.

Thursday night’s game between the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos was one of the saddest displays of American football mankind has ever witnessed.

If the game were a music concert, we all would have bled from the ears — from beginning to the very unfortunate overtime ending. Matt Ryan and Russell Wilson were the hapless conductors we have to thank for that.

Two stars of years past, the quarterbacks looked mere shells of their former selves, whether physically or mentally. I’d sit through 100 live showings of Cats rather than watch what they subjected us to again.

The game was that bad, and it leaves me ready to make two declarations — one that has long been made by others while I held out hope and another that we’re all coming to realize at once.

The first and most obvious is that Ryan, a former league MVP, is washed … like, all the way washed. Hanging on a clothesline in the backyard waiting to be folded washed. Ironically, that’s exactly what happened Thursday night; he was folded for six sacks, leading to two of his record 11 fumbles through five games.

The other declaration is that Wilson, a Super Bowl champion, is washed adjacent — washed until further notice. He still has the physical tools to be a good quarterback, but his decision-making is off. He isn’t seeing the field. Whether that can be corrected remains to be seen.

Maybe Wilson’s confidence is shot, as Ryan Fitzpatrick suggested on the postgame broadcast, or maybe Denver’s play-calling is failing to maximize his strengths. Likely, it’s a combination of the two. Either way, it’s leading to some really head-scratching (and meme-worthy) moments, incensed teammates, and fans who don’t care to stay for an entire game.

In a world where Tom Brady, 45, and Aaron Rodgers, 38, have put up mind-blowing numbers on the back-end of incredibly long careers, Thursday night’s game was a necessary reminder that those two are exceptions, not the rule. Calling Ryan, 37, and Wilson, 33, washed isn’t meant to be an insult, just a sad reality we all need to accept in order to adjust expectations for their teams. Sportsbooks have.

Though the Colts are still favored to win the AFC South with +162 odds at Tipico, they have shorter odds to miss the playoffs (-135) than make them (+110). The Broncos odds to miss the playoffs are even shorter at -280.

Maybe these versions of Ryan and Wilson can still do enough to defy the odds and ride good defenses into the postseason, but they aren’t likely to be the reasons for any team success. Wilson’s 36.9 QBR ranks 22nd in the NFL. Ryan’s 34.2 QBR is 25th. I think we’ve seen enough to call it. The stars are falling.

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Richard Sherman had a fiery response to a Russell Wilson pick on a slant in the end zone

“I wish I had Marshawn up here.”

Given some of the past potential tension in their relationship, many thought that Richard Sherman would have even more to say about Russell Wilson on Thursday night. With Sherman working as a studio analyst for Amazon Prime’s broadcast of Wilson’s Broncos (-3.5) and their matchup with the Colts, the potential for Sherman to say something controversial about his former Seahawks teammate seemed high.

But, for the most part, amidst a football game of particularly awful proportions, we didn’t hear much from Sherman — at least in regards to Wilson’s play. That is until Wilson threw a late fourth-quarter pick, on a slant near the goal line, to Indianapolis’ Stephon Gilmore:

Hmm, while the stakes are certainly much lower, the general dynamic and set-up of that play — a Wilson interception on a late fourth-quarter slant — seems very familiar? (Note: The Colts would go on to win this game 12-9 in overtime.)

Oh, right, I remember this kind of famous Wilson play for the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX … that also involved the Patriots’ Malcolm Butler:

Ah, but see, that’s just a happy coincidence that a similar play happened for the Wilson Broncos.

Well, it didn’t be to such a happy coincidence for Sherman, who shared his thoughts on the play quite succinctly:

Sherman even recalled his initial heartbreaking reaction to that famous Super Bowl play:

On the post-game, Sherman would say he was “triggered” and seemed upset when he didn’t appreciate that Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett didn’t do a very specific thing with the football:

Uh, moving on. Sherman would follow this emotional sequence with a reference to the Denver defense playing well and that to win a Super Bowl this year, they would need to be “historic.”

Oh wait, is Sherman referring to the Butler play and Seattle and … oh that makes so much sense.

If Sherman has more things to say about Wilson, specifically, I don’t know that this necessarily means displeasure with his former quarterback. It could simply be that Sherman is still just really, really, really heartbroken over that loss. Though, I don’t think anyone outside of this pair’s thought process will take Sherman’s reaction that way. Not even close.