What a weekend of NFL action – living up to expectations with surprise results, broken records and brilliant plays.
This season’s Wild Card round kicked off with the Texans vs Bills. The Texans were 2.5-point favorites heading into the game and just covered, winning 22-19. One bettor profited massively, collecting $160,000 after their $90,000 bet on Texans ML (-129).
The Patriots then faced the Titans in the second Saturday game. The Patriots were 4.5-point favorites, as expected. At Fanduel Sportsbook, 69% of ML bets were on the Patriots (-210).
Pretty much any time the Patriots lose, it’s good for the sportsbooks. A number of bettors had a lot riding on Belichick’s men, including one bettor placing $100,000 on Pats ML and another bettor wagering $77,000 on Pats -5.
In what has to be the upset of the weekend, the Titans ended New England’s season after a 20-13 victory and now advance to a divisional round matchup at the Ravens next Saturday. Could this be the end of the Belichick/Brady era?
Sunday had plenty of action in store for us too, starting with Saints vs Vikings. Surprisingly, while the Saints were strong favorites before the game, 70% of money was reportedly on the Vikings to progress. The result went in favor of the bettors this time, as the Vikings recorded an impressive 26-20 win against one of the Super Bowl favorites.
Finally, we got to enjoy an enticing matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks. At the start of the weekend, 84% of the bets were on the Seahawks, including 87% of money on them at William Hill. This made them the most popular side in a playoff game since 2003.
The Seahawks didn’t disappoint, beating the Eagles by the same score line as they did back in November, 17-9.
In other betting news, unders went 4-0 in Wild Card Weekend for the first time since 2012!
