NFL bets Week 5: Dolphins, 49ers give public big wins
The Philadelphia Eagles keep winning, the Dallas Cowboys are tired of seeing the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins look unstoppable on offense again. It was a fascinating Week 5 in the NFL, with a lot of varied results for bettors.
Here’s a recap of Week 5 in the NFL:
Week 5 NFL betting picture
Favorites: 6-7 against the spread
Overs: 5-8
Dolphins cover against NY Giants in big public win
It wasn’t quite 70 points, but the Miami Dolphins looked very impressive in a 31-16 spread-covering win over the Giants as 12.5-point favorites in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score. New York only had a chance at a backdoor cover thanks to a 102-yard INT return for a touchdown from Giants CB Jason Pinnock.
“Overall, a good day,” Chuck Esposito, sportsbook director at Station Casinos, said via text. “Texans, Steelers and Saints all good early. Dolphins was not, our biggest loss of the day.”
The Dolphins were the most-bet team by both total number of bets (82%) and total dollars wagered at DraftKings Sportsbook.
“The Dolphins and Lions were two of the early games we lost,” Adam Pullen, assistant director of trading at Caesars Sportsbook, said on Sunday night.
It wasn’t all bad for books, though, as Thomas Gable, sportsbook director at The Borgata in New Jersey texted that the Dolphins were “one of our bigger wins on the day.”
Bills provide a rude early-morning awakening for bettors
The Jacksonville Jaguars arrived in London 1-2 and exited 3-2 after beating the Buffalo Bills 25-20 in the second game of the London Series this season. Jacksonville had the advantage of staying in London the week before, and it showed, as Buffalo looked like a shell of the team that had dominated the Dolphins 48-20 last week.
Gable described the overall day as “up and down.”
“Got off to a great start with the Jaguars winning in London, but got beat on the Texans Lions games in the early slate,” Gable said via text.
The Bills -5.5 was the most-bet game by both tickets and handle, and Jaguars-Bills OVER 48.5 was the most-bet over at BetMGM sportsbooks.
“The first game of the day set us off on a nice course,” Pullen said. “Everyone saw what the Bills did last week and had bet them. The Colts win was big and the second-biggest was the Saints.”
Public has a good afternoon window
Anytime the Kansas City Chiefs win and cover, it’s generally not going to go well for sportsbooks — and that’s exactly what happened as the Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings 27-20 as 3.5-point favorites. The line kept moving towards Minnesota due to respected wagers on the Vikings, but the public was on the Chiefs (79 percent of bets at DraftKings, 78 percent of bets at BetMGM on Kansas City to cover).
One bettor at Caesars had a $220,000 wager on the Vikings +4 that didn’t come through.
“In the afternoon slate, the Eagles were actually a win for us, but Bengals and Chiefs were popular with public,” Pullen said.
“The Eagles and Jets were bad results in the late games,” Gable said via text.
49ers crush Cowboys on Sunday Night Football
In the Sunday night game, sportsbook directors I spoke with went into the game needing the Dallas Cowboys to cover as 3.5-point underdogs against the San Francisco 49ers. A bettor at Caesars Sportsbook had a $220,000 wager on the Cowboys +3.5. Sportsbooks I spoke with had it either the most-bet Sunday night game or the season, or a close second behind Chiefs-Jets last weekend.
It must have been a long couple of hours for that bettor — and sportsbooks — as San Francisco thoroughly dominated Dallas in a 42-10 win. Over 70 percent of bets and total dollars wagered at BetMGM books were on the 49ers to cover.
“Not one of our better days so far,” Johnny Avello, sportsbook director at DraftKings, said in a text.
“We are huge Cowboys fans tonight,” Esposito texted me before the game.
Notable winning bets
$250,000 Falcons ML at Caesars
$43,077.85 on Steelers +4.5 at DraftKings
Notable losing bets
$270,000 on Broncos ML at Caesars
$220,000 on Cowboys +3.5 at Caesars
$220,000 on Vikings +4 at Caesars
$64,083.31 on Vikings +4.5 at DraftKings
$50,699.63 on Titans ML (-130) at DraftKings
