NFL WEEK 7 BETTING REVIEW
Matchup Open/Close Score Point-spread highlight Giants vs. Rams Giants -3/-3 Giants, 17-10 Rams blew 10-0 lead as Case Keenum entertained London fans by tossing four picks. Vikings at Eagles Vikings -2½/-3 Eagles, 21-10 Sharps, squares regrettably took bait with an unbeaten road favorite off a bye. Saints at Chiefs Chiefs -6½/-6 Chiefs, 27-21 Drew Brees’ TD pass with 2:33 to go got most ‘dog bettors in the back door. Redskins at Lions Lions -1½/Redskins -1 Lions, 20-17 Sharp line move was foiled on Lions’ 75-yard TD drive in final minute. Browns at Bengals Bengals -9½/-11½ Bengals, 31-17 Public wisely bet against the Browns — repeat that line almost every week. Bills at Dolphins Bills -3/-2½ Dolphins, 28-25 Jay Ajayi rushed for 214 yards in Miami’s second straight home upset. Raiders at Jaguars Jaguars -1½/-2 Raiders, 33-16 Las Vegas public piled on the Raiders, who improved to 4-0 on road. Colts at Titans Titans -2½/-4 Colts, 34-26 Andrew Luck is 8-0 against the Titans, who were backed by sharps and squares. Ravens at Jets Pick/Jets -2 Jets, 24-16 In relief, Ryan Fitzpatrick led Jets on three scoring drives against reeling Ravens. Chargers at Falcons Falcons -6½/-5 Chargers, 33-30 (OT) Chargers rallied from 27-10 deficit in a big upset win for bookmakers. Buccaneers at 49ers Bucs -2/49ers -1½ Bucs, 34-17 Sharps sided with San Francisco, which was outscored 34-3 after first quarter. Patriots at Steelers Patriots -7/-7½ Patriots, 27-16 Public pounded Patriots; no Big Ben spelled biggest loss of the day for books. Seahawks at Cardinals Cardinals -1½/-2 Tie, 6-6 Two-way action in NFC West rivalry meant no big decision for books. Bay — posted outright wins. Upsets staged by the Chargers and Eagles helped the books the most.
Sam Bradford and the Minnesota Vikings, 18-2 against the spread in their previous 20 regular-season games, went to Philadelphia and belly-flopped in a 21-10 loss.
“The public was all over the Vikings,” Mirage sports book manager Jeff Stoneback said. “That was by far our biggest winner of the day.”
San Diego rallied from a 27-10 deficit to defeat Atlanta 33-30 in overtime. The Falcons, who had covered five straight games, opened as 6½-point favorites and closed minus-5. Sharp bettors were riding Philip Rivers, and the public overloaded the favorite’s bandwagon until the wheels fell off.
“I don’t know how the Chargers do it,” Kornegay said. “Rivers is just amazing. He continues to make plays.”
The Rams’ Case Keenum made plays to help rally the New York Giants to a 17-10 win over Los Angeles in London. Keenum tossed four interceptions on some throws that would embarrass a bad high school quarterback.
Often a goat, Matthew Stafford played the hero role for the Lions, who drove 75 yards in the final minute to beat Washington 20-17 on Stafford’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin. The Redskins opened as small ’dogs and closed as 1-point road favorites.
Did you watch the OklahomaTexas Tech shootout on Saturday night? The Seattle-Arizona slugfest was the opposite Sunday night. The Seahawks, 2-point ’dogs, covered in a 6-6 overtime tie in a lame offensive game interrupted by penalty flags on seemingly every other play and marred by a pair of missed point-blank field-goal attempts in OT.
Week 7 was full of too many dull games. The NFL’s TV ratings are down, and Landry Jones is not to blame. Las Vegas Review-Journal sports betting columnist Matt Youmans can be reached at myoumans@reviewjournal. com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts “The Las Vegas Sportsline” weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM). Follow on Twitter: @mattyoumans247