NFL Week 6 Betting Recap: Likes and Dislikes
by Richard Gardner | Bodog Sportsbook Manager - 10/20/2010
The New York Jets might be the most hated team over at Bodog's online sportsbook. Rex Ryan's crew covered its fifth consecutive point spread on with a 24-20 victory in Denver and bettors cashed in big.
It seems like a long time ago that the Jets opened the season with a less-than-impressive 10-9 home loss to Baltimore. Since then, New York has beaten the likes of New England, Miami, Minnesota and the aforementioned Broncos.
Fortunately for the book, the Jets don't play in Week 7, so maybe a bye week will cool them before they host the Green Bay Packers in what's sure to bet a heavily bet affair.
Another team that the bettors sure liked last week was New Orleans. The Saints went into Tampa Bay as 5.5-point favorites and laid a beat-down on the Bucs by a score of 31-6. To be fair to anyone who bet against the Saints (which in hindsight might feel a little foolish considering they're the Super Bowl champs and the Bucs are, well, the Bucs), Sunday's victory was probably New Orleans' most impressive outing of the season.
The most promising aspect for the Saints had to be the ground game, which racked up 212 yards, led by Chris Ivory's 158. A clutch performance, indeed, in the absence of Pierre Thomas.
New Orleans hosts Cleveland this week and currently stands as 14-point favorites over the Browns, who fell to 1-5 with last week's 28-10 loss in Pittsburgh.
To be fair to the Browns, they did make a game of it against the Steelers, going into halftime down just 7-3 with rookie quarterback Colt McCoy at the helm. While most everyone was talking about James Harrison after the game, it's worth nothing that McCoy played well in a very tough environment and against a very good team, completing 23 of 33 attempts for 281 yards and a score, though he did throw two interceptions.
Wrote a Cleveland newspaper columnist: "Overall, his play was enough to change how the organization views him, or at least his timetable. The Browns went from no interest in having him play in 2010 to intrigue about what comes next."
It's been reported that McCoy will be starter this week in New Orleans. Another tough test for the rookie, to say the least.
Finally, it wasn't all roses for bettors in Week 6. The book had a very good win when the Seattle Seahawks upset the Bears in Chicago. Nearly 60 percent of bettors picked the home team to cover the six points against a team that hadn't been very good on the road recently.
The Seahawks (3-2) host the Cardinals (3-2) this week in a key NFC West matchup. Seattle is a 6-point favorite, having won both their games at raucous Qwest Field this year.
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