Issues have been bleak for the Baltimore Ravens headed into their Week 7 bye. Tremendous Bowl co-favorites coming into the season, the Ravens had misplaced and didn’t cowl in 5 of their first six video games, giving them the worst report towards the unfold within the NFL via six weeks.
However there was a light-weight on the finish of the tunnel. Two-time MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson, who had missed two video games as a result of a hamstring damage, was being rumored to return following the bye, a notion backed up by the truth that he practiced in a restricted capability Wednesday and Thursday earlier than logging a full follow Friday to provide him a questionable tag heading into the weekend, per Baltimore’s damage report.
Oddsmakers — and a few revered bettors — appeared to consider Jackson can be again, too. The Ravens opened as 6.5-point house favorites over the Chicago Bears and grew to minus-7.5 on Friday at ESPN BET. As much as that time, roughly two-thirds of the bets and cash wagered was on the underdog Bears plus the factors. Elsewhere, although, sportsbooks such because the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas and Caesars Sportsbook reported receiving bets on the Ravens from sharp bettors.
Then Saturday arrived and threw an enormous wrench into all the pieces. That morning, reviews emerged that Jackson had, the truth is, led the scout crew offense throughout Friday’s follow, indicating he wouldn’t begin Sunday’s recreation. Baltimore retroactively modified Jackson’s Friday participation to restricted earlier than ruling him out for the sport and saying that Tyler Huntley would begin.
The sportsbooks’ responses have been swift. ESPN BET initially moved the Ravens to minus-3.5 and took that again as much as minus-4.5 however then got here all the way in which all the way down to minus-2.5, the place it remained going into kickoff.
Oddsmakers on the SuperBook have been shocked Saturday when Jackson went from questionable to out. All through the week, sharp bettors, recognized to have good data, had been betting on the Ravens on the SuperBook, vice chairman John Murray instructed ESPN.
“Once we noticed these wagers, we by no means would have anticipated him to be out this weekend,” Murray mentioned.
Joey Feazel, who oversees the soccer odds for Caesars Sportsbook, mentioned the ebook took a guess from an influential bettor on the Ravens minus-6.5 and pushed the road as much as minus-7 on Friday, however total, the betting curiosity on the sport was decrease than regular. Solely the Miami Dolphins-Atlanta Falcons recreation attracted much less cash than Bears-Ravens at Caesars.
“We remained cautious all through the week in anticipation of potential information developments, notably with the Ravens slated for a [Week 9] Thursday evening look, the place a return from Jackson all the time appeared extra possible,” Feazel instructed ESPN. “This warning was additional bolstered by our buying and selling crew’s prior experiences; every time we leaned towards the Ravens this season, the outcomes have confirmed expensive.”
Chris Andrews, sportsbook director on the South Level on line casino in Las Vegas, mentioned the abrupt change to Jackson’s standing led to “a whole lot of potential injury.”
“I had a man make a giant money-line guess on the Bears earlier than the information broke,” Andrews instructed ESPN. “Then, a couple of [bettors] took greater factors than they have been entitled to. However the recreation wound up OK for us, as soon as the Ravens gained and coated.”
In the long run, Jackson-less Baltimore made an announcement, beating Chicago 30-16 to cowl the unique opening quantity. With a lot of public cash backing the Bears earlier than and after the information, it seemingly labored out wonderful for the books. However erratic damage reporting positively ruffled some feathers.
ESPN’s Jamison Henley reported Saturday that the league workplace will examine the Ravens’ dealing with of the state of affairs.
In 2023, the Atlanta Falcons have been fined $75,000 and then-head coach Arthur Smith was fined $25,000 after working again Bijan Robinson barely performed in a Week 7 recreation as a result of sickness. The Falcons by no means up to date their damage report, thus violating the foundations.
The controversy comes whereas damage reporting is beneath elevated scrutiny after two NBA gamers have been accused of manipulating their efficiency by eradicating themselves from video games to profit their associates’ bets. It stays to be seen what the results will likely be within the Ravens’ state of affairs, however the present nervousness round accidents and sports activities betting is as excessive because it has ever been.
Odds & Ends
The NFL celebrated its annual Nationwide Tight Ends Day on Sunday, and bettors leaned into the vacation by making George Kittle, Tyler Warren and Dallas Goedert, respectively, the most-bet anytime landing scorers by tickets and deal with at ESPN BET. Kittle and Goedert got here via for the bettors, with the latter discovering the tip zone twice, however Warren was unable to report a TD.
9 of 11 NFL video games this week went over the whole forward of the Sunday evening recreation.
Sunday was a giant day for the AFC East. The New England Patriots (-6.5) prolonged their cowl streak to 5 video games with a 32-13 win over the Cleveland Browns, whereas the Buffalo Payments (-7.5) took care of enterprise with a 40-9 win and canopy over the Carolina Panthers. In the identical early afternoon window, the Dolphins (+6.5 at Atlanta Falcons) and New York Jets (+5.5 at Cincinnati Bengals) acquired huge outright underdog wins, with the latter being the Jets’ first victory of the season.
The Jets have been so long as +2000 on the reside cash line at ESPN BET earlier than making a comeback for the win, and it ended because the crew’s largest upset victory since Week 6 of 2023, per ESPN Analysis.
The Bengals’ loss hit arduous for the 20% of gamers who picked them in ESPN’s Eliminator Problem, essentially the most of any crew in Week 8. Within the $1,000 entry Circa Survivor pool, the Falcons (32.9%) and Bengals (18.2%) have been the second- and third-most chosen groups, respectively.
In the meantime, 4 entrants didn’t make their picks earlier than the deadline in Circa Survivor, immediately eliminating them from the competitors. The implied worth per entry going into the week was $4,446, per Circa.
With their loss and missed cowl, the Browns are 0-9 ATS of their previous 9 street video games, tying the longest such NFL streak up to now 40 seasons, per ESPN Analysis.
NBA: Fourteen of the primary 16 video games of the NBA season went over the whole, and overs have been 23-10 coming into Sunday’s video games. At 69.7%, that is the best proportion of overs to start out a season up to now 35 years. (ESPN’s NBA odds database goes again via the 1990-91 season.)
MLB: The Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday have been listed as -185 favorites over the Toronto Blue Jays in Sport 3 of the World Collection. That is the largest favourite for a Sport 3 of the World Collection since 2019, when the Houston Astros have been -225 over the Washington Nationals.