It’s not rare when sportsbooks take a collective beating in the NFL and yet still come away from the beatdown wiping their foreheads and letting out a collective sigh of relief. Week 15 in the NFL was one of those weeks as the betting public came out swinging, obliterating the spreads and causing a lot of heartache for the sportsbooks. The only problem was that betting handle for the week was the lowest it’s ever been in a long time, sparing the sportsbooks from catastrophe.
Some of the biggest plays during the weekend all ended up on the public side. The Denver Broncos and the New York Jets played the roles of Santa Claus and rewarded the public with solid covers against the San Diego Chargers and the Tennessee Titans, respectively.
Underdogs like the Dallas Cowboys and the Cincinnati Bengals also got some public love and they were rewarded with lopsided wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns. Even the hysteria surrounding the debut of Johnny Manziel couldn’t keep the books from getting a lot of action on the Browns. It didn’t even matter that some early action on Cleveland swung the odds to the Browns. A lot of late money from the public and the sharps dropped on Cincinnati and from there, it was easy pickings as the Bengals coasted to a 30-0 victory.
Things didn’t get any better when the New Orleans Saints pummeled the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football. Sportsbooks needed the Bears badly enough to start praying to the gambling gods for a little intervention on Jay Cutler. None of it mattered. The Saints raced to a 24-0 lead before winning 31-15 as -3.5 favorites, giving the public another massive win over the books.
Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been had the public bet more money on the week’s games. Books attributed it to the upcoming Christmas holiday, which meant that the public’s disposable income that usually goes to bets went to the shopping malls.
The books also got a major reprieve when the Green Bay Packers lost to the Buffalo Bills. The Pack have been one of the most heavily bet-on teams in the past few weeks and with a lot of money again tied to Aaron Rodgers and company, seeing them drop the game against the Bills spared the sportsbooks from what would’ve otherwise been another disaster week in the counters.
