Monday Morning Gambler: Raiders Go From Playoff Bound To Homeward Bound
By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
A couple of thousand miles from the Las Vegas race and sports books, Raiders quarterback Derek Carr attempted to thread a pass between defenders with 17 seconds left in the AFC Wild Card playoff game with the Cincinnati Bengals.
When the pass was intercepted by Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt, you could hear the collective groan from Raiders bettors everywhere. Raiders bettors with tickets on the Silver-and-Black from anywhere from +5.5 to +6.5. Money line tickets. Parlays with the Raiders and over 49.
The Bengals prevailed, 26-19, on Saturday and those betting slips were suddenly worthless — unless you wanted a souvenir from the Raiders first trip to the playoffs since 2016.
Carr at a post-game news conference: “I didn’t expect it to go this way. I didn’t feel like it was going to go this way all during the game at any point.”
Disillusioned Raiders bettors might have felt the same way.
Next up for the Raiders: An off-season of debates and months-long discussions about what’s next. Followed by a preseason game at Allegiant Stadium sometime this summer.
Elsewhere:
— Knights on ice: With their weekend games vs. the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames postponed because of COVID issues, the Vegas Golden Knights are next scheduled to host the Pittsburgh Penguins later Monday.
The VGK, apparently in a January funk, have lost four of their last five — and were favorites in four of those games.
“I’m not pressing the panic button. When you look at our record over the last six or seven or eight weeks, we’ve played some really good hockey,” DeBoer said prior to Tuesday’s game with Toronto, which the Maple Leafs won, 4-3.
The VGK are -110 for their game with Pittsburgh. The total is 6.
— Fading UNLV: The Runnin’ Rebels easily dispatched the New Mexico Lobos, 85-56, as six-point home favorites on Tuesday. But on Friday, they fell to Fresno State at the Thomas & Mack, 73-68. They were anywhere from +1 to +1.5 underdogs in that game.
“I thought it was a really good fight by our guys,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said of the Rebels’ second-half rally that cut the deficit from 14 to three. “We just turned it on a little late.”
They are now 9-7 on the season but, tellingly, 5-10 ATS. They visit the San Jose Spartans (7-7) later Monday. Oddsmakers make the Runnin’ Rebels 6.5-point road favorites vs. the Spartans with the total at 138.5.
— The wacky NBA: Just another school night in the NBA. Underdogs covered eight of the nine games and won seven of them outright, including the Sacramento Kings’ 125-116 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, as four-point underdogs last Wednesday. No wonder at least one individual insists that NBA stands for “No Betting Allowed.”
— More NFL: There’s one more Super Wild Card game left on the weekend schedule. The Los Angeles Rams are -3.5 vs. the Arizona Cardinals on Monday night with the total at 49.5. Through the first five Wild Card games, favorites covered four out of five times. The only underdog to cover was the San Francisco 49ers, who defeated the Dallas Cowboys outright, 23-17.
— Where are they now? The Iowa State Cyclones are flying high with a 14-3 record after their upset of Texas, 79-70, as 2.5-point underdogs on Saturday. Earlier in the week, they put a scare into No. 9 Kansas before falling, 62-61. They have covered seven of their last 10 games and next visit Texas Tech on Tuesday.
Their head coach is none other than T.J. Otzelberger, 44, who you may remember was head coach at UNLV from 2019 to 2021. Otzelberger can earn up to $1.5 million this year, including incentives — roughly twice what Kruger, 38, will make during his first year as head coach of the Runnin’ Rebels.
