Weekend Sports Gambler: Winless Raiders Short Favorites vs. Broncos Sunday
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By Dan Behringer, LVSportsBiz.com Betting Writer
Now what?
The Las Vegas Raiders, winless and without a cover, are back home at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday afternoon and will host the Denver Broncos.
The line opened at -1.5 or -2 in many spots but has been bet up to -2.5. You read that right, the winless and coverless Raiders are favorites to beat the Broncos. The Broncos are 2-1 after a mild upset of the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football.
The total is holding steady at 45.5. If you’re wary of laying points with the Silver and Black, the money line is generally in the -140 to -150 range.
ESPN’s FPI or Football Power Index says the Raiders have a 59 percent chance of winning, which actually squares closely with the -150 money line.
After the 24-22 loss to Tennessee last weekend, owner Mark Davis and first-year coach Josh McDaniels met privately before McDaniels addressed the media, the website OutKick reported.
“When the boss comes to talk to the coach after a loss, it makes everybody talk … The thing is, that’s all unnecessary,” a source told OutKick. “Mark isn’t firing Josh after three games. That’s absurd. There are always peaks and valleys in a season. The key is to not get too high or too low.”
Now what? We’ll find out Sunday.
Kickoff is at 1:25 p.m.
Elsewhere:
— Red-hot Rebs: In contrast to the luckless Raiders, the UNLV football Rebels are off to a 3-1 start. And (drumroll), they have covered all four games.
Next up are the New Mexico Lobos (2-2) on Friday night. After opening as a 16-point favorite, UNLV is now laying 14.5 points. The total has also come down, from 45.5 to 43.5.
According to Covers.com, some 66 percent of the betting interest is on UNLV.
“We were pretty sloppy in some instances that we haven’t been all season,” UNLV coach Marcus Arroyo told reporters after their 34-24 win over Utah State last weekend. “I think our program has come a long ways to be able to win a game like that and to play imperfect. That’s exciting.”
We’ll find out how exciting on Friday night. Kickoff is at 8 p.m.
— Preseason hockey: The NHL preseason drones on. The Vegas Golden Knights, 1-2 in the preseason, open the regular season on Oct. 11 on the road at the Los Angeles Kings. There’s obviously not an official line yet for the game, so we’ll make the Knights +110 with the total at 5.5. Just don’t quote us.
— Close cover: It took awhile for the books to post a line for the SC State at South Carolina college football game on Thursday night. Finally, the line went up with SC State at +40.5. Good number. SC State covered by the “hook” in a 50-10 loss.
— Play of the Week (3-1): We improved to 3-1 on the season when Ohio State routed Wisconsin last week, 52-21, and covered -18. We’re laying big chalk again this weekend, Alabama -17.5.
