The NFL loves to tout parity in its league, and that is on display through three weeks of the 2018 season as there were just three teams at 3-0: Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. Fans of those teams should feel good about their playoff hopes because since the 12-team postseason format has been in place (1990), nearly 74 percent of teams to start 3-0 made the playoffs.
Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
The Dolphins are the surprise unbeaten team of that group after slipping to 6-10 last year without injured starting QB Ryan Tannehill. He’s back and playing well, and Coach Adam Gase is off the hot seat. Gase’s Dolphins are 7-point underdogs, though, this week at New England. A win would give Miami a whopping 3-game lead over the Patriots in the AFC East, but the Fins have dropped their past nine in Foxboro and failed to cover the previous six.
There are also three 0-3 teams in the NFL: Houston Texans, Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals. The Texans likely are the surprise of that unfortunate group, and they are 1.5-point underdogs at AFC South rival Indianapolis, a place Houston rarely wins. Indy has won 14 of the past 16 at home in the series. The Texans are on an NFL-high nine-game losing streak overall and have failed to cover their past eight.
Arizona has already ended the Sam Bradford experiment at quarterback as the veteran has been benched for first-round rookie Josh Rosen, the former UCLA star. Rosen’s first start Sunday is as a 3-point home underdog to the Seattle Seahawks. The Cardinals have totaled just 20 points so far, so this move had to be made.
Coach Jon Gruden’s return to Oakland isn’t going as planned, although his Raiders have led each game at halftime before giving it away in the second half. The Silver & Black are 3-point favorites over the Cleveland Browns, who bring a 22-game road losing streak into Sunday.
The biggest favorites on the Week 4 board are the Green Bay Packers at -10 over the visiting Buffalo Bills. Interesting number considering the Bills were -17 last week at another NFC North team, the Minnesota Vikings, and rolled to a 27-6 win. It was the NFL’s biggest upset in more than two decades. Buffalo is now 1-17 straight up in its past 18 games as a double-digit underdog.
