Falcons Ruin Some Bettors’ Night
If you bet the Atlanta Falcons in any capacity on Saturday, chances are they ruined your evening with their pathetic performance in Philadelphia.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Eagles were a 2.5-point home underdog at kickoff against the Falcons on Saturday. Philadelphia was the first No. 1 seed to be a home underdog versus a No. 6 seed in NFL playoff history and the Eagles were salty about it. Defensive players even wore a dog mask as he walked off Lincoln Financial Field last night following their 15-10 victory over hapless Atlanta.
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So how did the Falcons ruin bettors’ night? At kickoff, nearly 60% of betting tickets were on Atlanta to cover the spread. That’s one way. The other way was by killing teaser bets with their crap performance in the red zone.
As soon as Matt Ryan’s pass to Julio Jones in the end zone fell incomplete on fourth-and-goal from inside the 5-yard line, bettors that teased the Falcons to +3.5 lost their wagers. (By the way, that was one of the worst play calls that you’ll see from any team in a do-or-die situation…what the hell was Steve Sarkisian doing by having Ryan roll out and cutting the field in half with only one option?)
Now, let me try not to tear my rotator cuff patting myself on the back: I predicted that this was a trap came in my pick for this game yesterday. In fact, my final line was: “The Falcons struggle in Philly. I love the home dog to at least cover, if not win outright.” In hindsight (or foresight in some cases), the Falcons were incredibly overvalued at the betting window. The game should have been a pick’em. Instead, oddsmakers killed public bettors that overreacted to Atlanta beating the Rams last Saturday. The Eagles (and their nasty defense and outstanding coaching staff) were being disrespected. Hopefully you were someone that saw through the trap.
Meanwhile, the Patriots…now that’s a covering machine. They made it look easy last night in their 35-14 victory over the Titans. After falling behind 7-0 after the first quarter, the Patriots opened things up in the second by scoring 21 unanswered points heading into halftime. Tennessee wouldn’t score again until the final minutes of the game (cashing the over in the process) and New England advanced to the AFC Championship Game again with a 35-14 victory.
This leads me to my next point: Just…bet…the…Patriots.