Another strong week of underdogs covering the spread propelled Las Vegas sportsbooks into yet another weekend of strong profits, pushing the nightmare of last year into the brink of consciousness.
For the entire slate of NFL games during Week 2, the favorites only went 6-8 against the spread, highlighting a trend of underdogs covering more than their share of early season games dating back to a few years.
But Vegas’ strong weekend eventually came down to a pair of late games, both incidentally, stretched past their allotted time because of separate delays brought about by lightning storms. Ultimately, the results from the Saints-Buccaneers game and the Seahawks-49ers game went to the books, saving them from what would have amounted to a disastrous day.
Both the Saints and the 49ers came into their respective games as popular sides with the betting public, including numerous parlays and teasers that were attached to New Orleans and the 48.5 over for that game. With the Saints winning but failing to cover the 3-point spread, a majority of the risks the sportsbooks were worrying about from those teasers and parlays washed away, leaving oddsmakers exhaling with a huge sigh of relief that doubled over when the leftover bets on the 49ers also hit pay dirt for the books.
An early game from the schedule that paved the way for a winning day at the office was Chargers-Eagles. With Philadelphia being heavily backed by the public, the Chargers somehow managed to put smiles on oddsmakers faces by not only clearing the spread against the Eagles, but outright beating them on the scoreboard and eliminating a lot of risk posed by a Philadelphia cover.
Even less heralded games like the Dolphins covering against the Colts and the Bills coming from behind to beat the Panthers all ended up on Vegas sportsbooks’ favor. It remains to be seen how long Vegas can ride this streak of being on the long end of the stick but after two week’s worth of action, it’s safe to say that the season couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
