It was a glorious week in our NFL Week 8 betting recap for the public, which has long loved to wager on favorites and overs. But sportsbooks still managed to eke out a small win thanks to two outright upsets by the Dolphins and Jets.
“I think it speaks to just how popular money-line parlays are nowadays,” Westgate SuperBook vice president John Murray told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Sunday. “The reason we’re up right now is because Miami beat Atlanta and the Jets beat the Bengals.
“Some of these Sundays, you get a lot of these underdogs to cover but not win, and that’s the recipe that hurts us. But this week we did get two of the biggest underdogs to win outright.”
Favorites went 10-2 against the spread, and overs went 9-1-2 in our NFL Week 8 betting recap heading into the Monday Night Football game between the Chiefs and Commanders.
In hindsight, it should’ve been so easy to hit a six-team parlay or eight-teamer as the following favorite-and-over combinations cashed: Chargers and over to kick the week off on Thursday Night Football, Bills and over, Patriots and over, Eagles and over, Colts and cover, Broncos and over, Packers and over, Ravens and over.
The only setbacks for the public were the Falcons (-7), who were filleted by the Fish in a 34-10 beatdown as Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw a season-high four touchdown passes; and the Bengals (-5.5), who blew a 38-24 lead as New York scored two touchdowns in the final eight minutes to pull out their first victory after an 0-7 start.
Jets quarterback Justin Fields answered the call after criticism from franchise owner Woody Johnson, who said during the week, “If we can just complete a pass, it would look good.” Fields completed 21 of 32 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown.
“Dolphins and Jets’ shock upsets were the early bright spots of a morning filled with chalk and points where customers won on same-game parlays and favorites,” Caesars Sportsbook head of football Joey Feazel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Survival of the Luckiest
More than half of the remaining Circa Survivor pool of $1,000 entries bidding for an $18.7 million prize at the Las Vegas sportsbook were knocked out by the Falcons (1,387) and Bengals (765). The starting field of almost 19,000 entries is down to 2,057 as we approach the midway point of the regular season.
The Colts carried 1,452 entries into Week 9 after crushing the Titans 38-14 as 15-point favorites.
Flavor Fave
Other popular favorites that cashed tickets for the public were the Bills, who pounded the Panthers 40-9 as 7.5-point road favorites; the Patriots, who blew out the Browns 32-13 as 7-point home favorites; and the Buccaneers, who smoked the Saints 23-3 in the only game that went under (two totals pushed the closing number).
“New England is so popular right now because they score a lot of points, they’re blowing people out, and they’re also on a string where they’re just playing against a lot of bad teams,” Westgate SuperBook vice president John Murray told the Review-Journal. “The public loves to go against Tennessee, and they love to go against Cleveland.
“It makes sense that that was a get-right spot for Buffalo, and they sure took advantage of that.”
The Eagles avenged their loss to the Giants in a 38-20 victory as 7.5-point favorites, the Ravens (-2.5) beat the Bears 30-16, the Broncos (-4) crushed the Cowboys 44-24, and the Packers (-2.5) denied Aaron Rodgers’ revenge in a 35-25 win over the Steelers.
Baltimore ended a four-game losing streak straight up and ATS. The point spread plummeted from 6.5 to 2.5 when quarterback Lamar Jackson was ruled out for the third straight game, but the Ravens covered all numbers.
Other favorites that covered were the Texans (-3, beat 49ers 26-15) and the Chargers (-3, beat Vikings 37-10).
Over? Did You Say Over?
Dallas and Denver easily eclipsed the largest total on the board, 52, as the Cowboys ran their over streak to 5-0. Dallas—which also flew over the largest total of the season (55) in our NFL Week 7 betting recap in a 44-22 win over the Commanders—is on a 17-8 over run overall and is the NFL’s top over-under team since 2018 at 72-58.