If you bet on NFL games, prepare for heartbreak, and remember you can always bet the under. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Fans, bettors often want different things
The end of the Giants/Browns and Chiefs/Falcons games on Sunday came down to the wire. Fans of both teams prayed to the football gods that someone would make a big play, either to keep their team’s hopes alive or to stop the opponent from making a comeback. For most NFL fans, that was enough stress.
They don’t always care who wins.
But for sports bettors, the closing minutes of a contest are different. They don’t always care who wins. What bettors often care about is how many points are scored, who makes the plays, or how a penalty affects the stats.
Prop bets can cause people to care about seemingly insignificant things, but in those two games, what was good for the teams that won was awful for many a person who had money on the proceedings.
Take one for the team
The early slate of Sunday afternoon games featured two teams trying to find their footing: the winless New York Giants and the 1-1 Jacksonville Jaguars. The Giants picked up their first win of the season, but for many bettors the win could have been even better than it was.
one first down would ice it
Up 21-15 with 2:23 left in the game, New York took over on downs at Cleveland’s 44-yard line. The game was pretty much in the bag, but one first down would ice it, as Cleveland was out of timeouts.
The Giants got much more than your routine first down, though, as running back Devin Singletary busted one around the right end, past the defense, and had a clear path to a 44-yard touchdown. While it wouldn’t have 100% guaranteed a win, being up by two touchdowns with just over two minutes remaining would almost certainly been too much for the Browns to overcome.
Instead of scoring, though, Singletary slid down at the one-yard line to ensure the Browns wouldn’t get the ball back, preventing any kind of miraculous comeback and possible injuries if the game were to continue. Smart move to sacrifice stats for the win.
Unfortunately for many bettors, the bookmakers’ points total for the game was 37.5. A touchdown would’ve given over bettors the win. It had to have been heartbreaking for them to see Singletary a step away from paydirt, only to give himself up.
But hey, before that play, most over bettors were probably resigned to having lost their bet, anyway. The next game we’ll talk about is much worse.
It was just an innocuous kneel-down
The Sunday night game saw the defending Super Bowl champs Kansas City Chiefs visit the Atlanta Falcons. It was a close game throughout, but the Chiefs finally put the game away, coming up with a big fourth down stop late in the 4th quarter to win 22-17.
With just 51 seconds left and the Falcons with only two timeouts, the Chiefs could kneel on the ball and effectively end the game. Depending on long the kneel-downs took, there might be a few seconds left for something crazy to happen, but really, it was over.
mortified at the ramifications those kneel-downs had on their wagers
So Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes knelt three times, the Falcons took their two timeouts, and that was that. But some prop bettors were absolutely mortified at the ramifications those kneel-downs had on their wagers.
The over/under on Mahomes’ rushing yards was 19.5. He had 30, and kneel-downs only count as a one or two-yard loss, so the overs had it made, right? Wrong. To take those few extra seconds off the clock to guarantee the clock would wind down to zero, Mahomes wasted a little time with each kneel-down by backing up and dancing around a bit.
The problem for over bettors was that this made him lose more yards than normal: five, four, and four yards. Thus, he lost a combined 13 yards on kneel-downs, taking his rushing yardage down to 17 and killing all the Mahomes rushing yards over props.
Let’s remember, though, that nobody said you have to bet on the over. There were plenty of under bettors who were thrilled at these same outcomes.
