NFL Week 15 Recap: Bad Beat Central
Here’s a betting recap for Week 15 in the NFL, including a breakdown of one of the worst bad beats you’ll see at the end of a game.
Favorites vs. Underdogs
Every favorite this week won their respective game except one: The Seahawks, who were trounced 42-7 by the Rams as a 1-point home favorite on Sunday. Other than that, favorites went a combined 13-1 straight up this week, assuming you had the Chiefs as a 1-point favorite against the Chargers on Saturday night. (The line at kickoff was Kansas City -1 but the Chiefs were a 1-point dog leading up to that point.)
Favorites also cashed big at the betting window again this week in the NFL, going 10-4-1 against the spread in Week 15. One of those four losses was the 49ers, who were a 2.5-point favorite at kickoff of their game against the Titans according to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv. That said, most bettors had the Niners at either -1, -1.5 or -2 if they bet San Francisco in the hours leading up to the game. The 49ers beat the Titans 25-23 on a last-second Robbie Gould field goal.
Overs vs. Unders
The under went 8-6-1 in the NFL this week. There were two bad beats when it came to totals on Sunday in the NFL. The first one occurred in the Jets-Saints game where the under was on the verge of cashing with under two minutes remaining in the game. But Mark Ingram of the Saints broke off a 50-yard run with 1:33 left to push the combined score over the 46.5-point number. It was a semi-miracle for over bettors and a bad beat for those that had the under…
The Worst Bad Beat of the Day
…of course, if you also had the under in the Steelers-Patriots game, you have nothing to complain about. That’s because the over should have hit as soon as Pittsburgh scored with under 30 seconds remaining in the game.
First, tight end Jesse James was ruled to have not completed the catch when he had a sure touchdown in the waning minute of the game. That would have made the score Pittsburgh 31, New England 27, easily cashing the over 52.5. Instead, the play was ruled incomplete and the Steelers had another shot.
After throwing short of the goal line with no timeouts and the clock running, it looked as if the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger would spike the ball on third down from inside the 15 yard line to give Pittsburgh an opportunity to kick a game-tying field goal. Instead, Big Ben faked the spike, threw into the end zone only to have the ball tipped up and intercepted by a New England defender. So not only did the over fail to cash, but anyone with Pittsburgh on the money line or at +2.5 lost the game as well.
It was one of the worst beats you’ll see in the NFL, and there have been plenty throughout the course of the years to choose from. It was a thrilling game for NFL fans but a wild roller coaster for bettors, who no doubt felt they won and lost the game three separate times in the final quarter.
Another Bad Beat
There was another bad beat in the Sunday Night Football game, although not as bad as with the ending in the Patriots-Steelers game. The Cowboys were a 3-point road favorite (and a huge public favorite) against the Raiders in Oakland last night. After failing to score multiple times inside Oakland’s five yard line around the 2:00 minute mark in the game, Dallas settled for a field goal to make the game, 20-17.
The Raiders then got the ball back with 1:38 remaining in the game. Derek Carr was nearly intercepted on a 3rd-and-10 play that would have ending the game, then the Raiders were set up on the Dallas 15-yard-line following a pass interference penalty on 4th-and-10.
Carr got the Raiders inside the Dallas’ 10-yard line with just 39 seconds remaining. Even if Oakland didn’t score a touchdown, it would force overtime with a successful field goal attempt. Instead, Carr scrambled on third-and-three from the Dallas’ 8-yard-line and while reaching for the pylon, fumbled the ball out of the end zone. Instead of an Oakland victory and cover, the fumble created a touchback for Dallas and the game was over after one kneel down.
While the game was a push in Vegas, certainly some bettors had Oakland on the money line, making the ending of that game a heartbreaker.
