Week 9 of the NFL season did not treat New Jersey sportsbooks well.
As Rush Street Interactive COO Mattias Stetz said in the weekly SugarHouse Sportsbook update:
“In a great weekend of NFL matchups, the players had their best week of the season as it was one of the worst weeks for sportbooks in recent memory.”
The NJ sports betting bookmakers can thank the Kansas City Chiefs, who beat the Cleveland Browns 37-21 last week to cover the spread. This season, KC’s record against the spread mirrors its overall record: 8-1.
Basically, the Chiefs have no interest in treating sportsbooks with kindness. To quote Stetz:
“The Chiefs … have consistently been outperforming oddsmakers and attracting heavy betting interest.”
Well, perhaps Week 10 will be more chivalrous to the books. Or maybe bettors will continue receiving favor.
Let’s look ahead some notable games and lines, courtesy of William Hill (now Caesars NJ). (All point spreads and moneylines are as of Wednesday.)
Add ’em to your NJ sports betting slip
Atlanta Falcons (4-4) at Cleveland Browns (2-6-1)
The luster of the Browns has worn off. The fuel for the hot take of “the Browns will make the playoffs” has been depleted.
That said, Cleveland can still provide some fodder for the Monday morning quarterback when it hosts Atlanta.
Under a new regime, newly installed head coach Gregg Williams, the Browns return home looking to snap a four-game skid. And home is a wonderful place to be.
Already this season, the Browns have doubled the win total of the previous two seasons combined. Both victories this season have come in Cleveland, where opponents score seven fewer points per game while the Browns have enjoyed a more efficient offensive attack.
Atlanta has won three straight, and Falcons QB Matt Ryan ranks third in the NFL in passing yards while throwing 19 TDs against just three interceptions.
Yet Cleveland leads the league with 23 takeaways. As four-point underdogs, the Browns have the setting needed to post an upset, with an outright win paying +190.
Carolina Panthers (6-2) at Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2-1)
Two of the hottest teams in the league square off in Steel City.
Pittsburgh rides a four-game winning streak. It boasts a QB, Ben Roethlisberger, that ranks among the league’s best in passing yards. And RB James Conner has stepped in admirably, posing four straight games of 100 or more rushing yards.
Carolina, though, has won three straight and five of its last six. The Panthers, trailing the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South standings, have won their last two games by 15 and 14 points and ride the league’s second-best rushing offense.
Home has not provided as much of a boost for the Steelers, either. Both of the team’s losses this year have come in Pittsburgh. And with RB Le’Veon Bell muddling around, potentially to rejoin the team soon, the Steelers have yet another distraction as the second half the season kicks into gear.
Carolina continues its winning ways in Week 10, paying +180 with an outright win as the Panthers enter as four-point underdogs.
Detroit Lions (3-5) at Chicago Bears (5-3)
The magic of the Bears seems to be running on empty. After opening the season with three wins in four games, Chicago has slumped a bit.
The Bears have won two straight, but only after dropping back-to-back games, showing the inconsistency that Chicago fans have grown accustomed to in recent years.
Chicago comes off a 41-9 thrashing of the lowly Buffalo Bills. In that game, though, QB Mitchell Trubisky accounted for just 135 yards through the air with his lone touchdown pass coming with less than five minutes left in the game.
It was the Bears’ defense that stepped up, recording four takeaways and turning two of them into touchdowns.
As for the Lions, they have lost two straight, coming off a season-low nine-point performance in a 15-point loss at the Minnesota Vikings.
Detroit QB Matthew Stafford posted a mere 199 yards passing last week, his second-lowest total of the season. But Stafford is known to break out the big guns in division games.
With RB Kerryon Johnson back for the Lions, three weeks removed from a 158-yard outburst, Detroit finds its rhythm in the Windy City, winning outright as 6.5-point dogs to pay out +240.
Long shots of the week
Let’s get the longest shot of the week out of the way now.
The Arizona Cardinals (2-6) visit the Kansas City Chiefs (8-1) as a jaw-dropping 16.5-point underdog.
So heavy a favorite is Kansas City, simply covering the spread appears overly daunting for Arizona. The Cardinals have the worst offense in the league, and first-round rookie QB Josh Rosen has thrown five interceptions over the past three games.
The Chiefs feature odds-on MVP favorite QB Patrick Mahomes, the NFL leader in passing yards and touchdowns, but KC ranks second-to-last in yards allowed per game.
Perhaps one flash is all the Cardinals need, especially if RB David Johnson can break out, similar to his Week 4 performance against Seattle, during which Johnson had 112 yards of offense and a touchdown. Fortune favors the bold, and the boldest will net +1,100 with an outright Arizona win.
On the west coast, the Seattle Seahawks (4-4) take on its second Los Angeles foe in as many weeks as they travel to the Los Angeles Rams (8-1).
The favorite to win Super Bowl LIII this year, the Rams come off their first loss of the season, a 45-35 shootout at New Orleans.
In Week 5, Seattle nearly dealt LA its first setback. And if not for nine unanswered points by the Rams in the fourth quarter to win 33-31, the Seahawks would have accomplished that task.
The Hawks have won two of the past three. And despite the offensive line giving up the fourth-most sacks in the NFL, Seattle has the third-best rushing offense and a top-seven defense. Ranking fifth in takeaways, Seattle, as a 10-point underdog, has the tools to deal LA a second straight loss.
In doing so, the Seahawks with an outright win payout +425.
Super Bowl futures at William Hill
With the second half of the season ready to kick off, the time has come to examine the favorites and not-so-favorites to lift the Lombardi Trophy in February.
William Hill lists the Rams at +260 to win the Big Game, with the Saints close behind at +350. The next three contenders: Chiefs (+500), Patriots (+600) and Steelers (+800).
The defending champion Eagles have dropped to +2,500 to repeat as champs, while the popular pick Packers sit at +4,000.
As for the “well, we should list them anyway” teams: Cleveland is listed at +300,000, followed by +500,000 payouts for the 49ers, Raiders, and Cardinals. And the Bills: +999,900.
Where else to bet online in New Jersey
As it has been well-documented, New Jersey features an array of mobile sports betting options.
Eight mobile sportsbooks complement the nine retail operations in the Garden State:
- DraftKings Sportsbook
- PlayMGM Sport
- SugarHouse Sportsbook
- FanDuel Sportsbook
- William Hill NJ
- Caesars Sportsbook
- 888 Sportsbook
- BetStars NJ (no browser)
The list of NJ sportsbook apps includes a deep variety of traditional moneylines, parlays, in-game betting, and futures.