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By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
How to bet those Las Vegas Raiders?
Coming off the Miracle of Monday Night Football in which they defeated the Baltimore Ravens, 33-27, in a won it-lost it-won it again overtime thriller, would the Raiders pose a serious threat to the Pittsburgh Steelers? More to the point, could they cover 6.5 points on a Sunday morning after traveling to the distant galaxy of the East Coast time zone? Or … even win outright?
Tough call. And of course there were enhanced point spreads, and the total of 46.5 not to mention the halftime line and total to further tantalize the professional and recreational bettor.
But after 60 minutes of football action and another couple of hours of commercial blitzes for Geico and AT&T and various fast-food franchises, not to mention the pontificating by the stuffed suits on halftime shows, the Raiders had pulled off the upset and defeated the Steelers at Heinz Field outright, 26-17.
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Which was the ultimate reward for Raiders money line bettors who had tickets that ranged as high as +225.
Said head coach Jon Gruden after the game: “There was a lot of good stuff to go around.”
Bettors cashing tickets on the silver-and-black would agree.
Next up for the surprising 2-0 Las Vegas Raiders: A Sunday afternoon date at Allegiant Stadium with the Miami Dolphins. The Raiders are currently -4.5 with the total at 45.5.
Elsewhere:
— Nonstop action: Madding NFL crowds continued to pack race and sports books and the results were sometimes maddening. The New Orleans Saints, who looked dominant in Week 1, lost as -3 point favorites to the Carolina Panthers, an outcome actually predicted by several sharps and squares. The 3.5-point favorite Arizona Cardinals won a shootout with the Minnesota Vikings, 34-33, when a last-second Vikings field goal missed but obviously failed to cover. The always popular Seattle Seahawks, -6.5 vs. the Tennessee Titans, blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead and lost outright, 33-30. The Dallas Cowboys, +3 vs. the Inglewood Chargers, shocked many by playing aggressive defense and upending the Chargers, 20-17. And Brady, Gronkowski & Co., doing business now under the Tampa Bay Bucs moniker, dismantled the Atlanta Falcons, 48-25, and covered -13. Favorites were 10-5 straight-up, as Vegas Insider noted, but only 6-9 ATS.
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— Offensive issues? The UNLV football Rebels found themselves on a short end of a 48-3 beatdown from Iowa State on Saturday night at Allegiant Stadium. That was a cover for the visiting Cyclones at -32, and the total came in under 53. UNLV gained 23 yards on 18 plays in the first half and had 130 total yards for the game.
The Rebels next face Fresno State, fresh off its 40-37 upset of UCLA, on Friday night. The Bulldogs are -32 with the total at 58.5.
— Saw it coming: Would the Las Vegas Aces be a bit sluggish last Monday in their game vs. the Dallas Wings after routing the Minnesota Lynx five days earlier? Yup, anticipated that. The Wings actually led at halftime, 45-36. The Aces came back to win, 85-75, but failed to cover -10.5 However, didn’t see the Aces throttling the Chicago Sky, 103-70, on Friday. Laying -3.5 in that game, they covered by 29.5 points.
Things got a little stickier for the Aces on Sunday. Laying 3.5 on the road at the Phoenix Mercury, the Aces needed a fourth-quarter spurt led by guard Kelsey Plum to win, 84-83. The total narrowly came in under 168 in their regular-season finale. The Aces have the No. 2 seed, a double bye and nine days off before they meet the highest remaining seed in the WNBA semifinals.
— Top 5 struggles: In college football, No. 1 Alabama fended off a late rally but failed to cover -14 in their 31-29 win over Florida. No. 2 Georgia also missed covering -31.5 in its 40-13 win over South Carolina. No. 3 Oklahoma eked out a 23-16 win over Nebraska but never threatened covering -22.5 or the teaser number either. No. 4 Oregon finally put away Stony Brook, 48-7, but the Seawolves covered +41.5 by the infamous “hook.” No. 5 Iowa narrowly covered -22.5 in its 30-7 win over Kent State.
— Laugher of the week: The Philadelphia Phillies, -145 vs. the going-nowhere Chicago Cubs, routed the South Siders, 17-8 on Wednesday. In doing so, they covered the money line, run line and alternate run line. Las Vegas product Bryce Harper went 3-for-4 and had four RBI in the Phillies’ 16-hit assault.
— UFC champion Alexander Volkanovski will attempt to defend his featherweight title for the second time against former title challenger Brian Ortega in the main event of UFC 266 on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena. Volkanovski is currently around -200 and Ortega is +160 as an underdog.
— Preseason tune-ups: The Vegas Golden Knights will host the San Jose Sharks in their preseason opener on Sept. 26. No line on the game yet. The Brooklyn Nets meet the Los Angeles Lakers to inaugurate the NBA preseason on Oct. 3. No betting line on that game either.