Monday Safe Space

Let's do it 17 more times

Sept. 9, 2024

PRESENTED BY

TILTEDšŸ¤¬: Welcome to the Monday safe space, your betting haven and trust tree ā€” a comfort-zone/digital-pillow to scream intoā€¦ and an early look ahead to the next week.

We all make mistakes, right? Letā€™s take a look at a few from around 2:30pm ET on Sunday ā€” and what we can learn from it allā€¦

John Laghezza

  • ā€œYou think Iā€™m laying 4.5 points on a debuting rookie QB? Draft capital, shmaft capital ā€¦ I donā€™t care if Caleb Williams is the next big thing. Titans up by 17! Huzzah! THE BEARS ARENā€™T EVEN GOING TO SCORE A TD ON OFFENSE!ā€

(Narrator: Well, the Bears didnā€™t score a TD on offense ā€¦ yet still won the game and managed to cover on a Will Levis INT that literally dropped that poor guy to his knees.) 

  • ā€œNo way I was enough of a donkey to buy Buffaloā€™s offseason hype without a premier pass catcher to replace Stefon Diggs! Plus, I had a sneaking suspicion the Cardinals offense was much better than expected ā€” I mean, I am extremely sharp (he he he). Getting 5.5 points against this Bill team? And itā€™s not even cold yet? Easy money ā€¦ Arizonaā€™s up 17-3! Iā€™m the worldā€™s smartest man!ā€

(Narrator: Arizona not only lost outright, but a good old-fashioned wagon-circling caused a second-half Cardinals implosion and also blew the cover.)

  • ā€œCouldnā€™t help but laugh to myself as Marvin Harrison Jr.ā€™s receiving prop skyrocketed into the mid-60s ā€” when sharps like me smashed it at the 51.5 open. LOLZ! I mean, have you seen this guy play? Sure to be the last time all season his prop starts with the number 5.ā€

(Narrator: Harrison didnā€™t just miss his total, a whopping 4 receiving yards on a 10.7% target/route left bettors staring up at the sky in bewilderment.)

(Narrator: Kincaid played 88% of snaps, all right ā€” yet earned only 2 targets for an astounding 1 total air yard.)

Make sure to check out Betting Lifeā€™s FREE on-site handicappers page. Weā€™re filling it up every day! NFL and college!

What else is in todayā€™s newsletter?

  • The New York Prop Exchange

  • Building Blocks

  • Give ā€˜Em The Heater

NFL BETTING

The New York Prop Exchange šŸˆšŸ›ļøā€”Breeceā€™s Pieces

Straight adrenaline for 7.5 hours of commercial-free football got my heart pounding out of my chest, so Iā€™ll keep tonightā€™s cap short. Tonight my New York J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! head out for the best coast to face the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. As someone in the building exactly one year ago to see Aaron Rodgers do his best Captain America impression at MetLife for all of four snaps, letā€™s just call my optimism cautious.

[For more props and predictions, check out the Fantasy Life props tool and our expert player projections.]

Thereā€™s one thing, however, even the most self-hating, pessimistic gang-greener like myself would admit ā€” Breece Hall is freaking awesome. Looking at what he accomplished last year with some of the worst quarterback play in a quarter-century is remarkable. Hall averaged over 93 scrimmage yards a game (below)ā€”and thatā€™s with the Jetsā€™ coaches admitting to limiting him early on. 

Hall ranked second in the league in total scrimmage yards (below), going out with a bang in an incredible 526-yard explosion from Weeks 16-18. 

And then thereā€™s the pure workload that Iā€™m betting will get us past the goal despite an admittedly tough matchup. At over 31%, Hall actually leapfrogged Christian McCaffrey in terms of total percentage of team yards from scrimmage last season (below).

I chose the combined rush + receiving yard prop to cover our backdoor in case of negative game script. Jets ahead in a dogfight? Itā€™s Breece between the tackles. Jets trailing late? Itā€™s checkdown city, baby! Any way you slice it, the Jets deploy such a narrow utilization tree, itā€™s hard to see Hall finishing healthy and to the under. 

THE BET: Breece Hall Over 92.5 Rush + Rec Yards (-115) DraftKing Sportsbook

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NFL BETTING

Building Blocks šŸ§ šŸ§® ā€” TT > ML / ATS

TT > ML/ATS may look like any other high school algebra equation, but this building block is actually useful in real life. The theory is simpleā€”gambling on sports is really hard and we should strive to eliminate variables whenever possible. 

The solution to successfully betting NFL opening lines, regardless if itā€™s for an outright win (ML) or against the spread (ATS) remains beyond human calculation. And as if that werenā€™t bad enough, the wisdom of a global crowd then steps in to smooth out any edges. Rather than surrender and always enjoying a good challenge, I added something to my checklist before ever pulling the trigger ā€” team totals (TT). Again, the thinking is simple. Eclipsing a team total provides a singular objective goal, not one that exists on a sliding scale. 

Sundayā€™s Week 1 ARI/BUF game exemplified this perfectly. I thought Buffalo laying (+5.5) was too rich, saying just as much in last weekā€™s survivor article (Make sure to read every Thursday!). That said, how could I not worry about the Cardsā€™ defense being atrocious? Except, instead of wishing or hoping against hope for a result, I checked the team total to discover it was only 19.5.

It almost doesnā€™t matter how much you like getting the 5.5 points if there is no scenario it happens scoring fewer than 20. In this case, I couldnā€™t imagine itā€”so itā€™s definitely worth those few seconds to check the total first. The very same analysis yielded different results whether you went Arizona TTO19.5 or Arizona +5.5.

MLB BETTING

Give ā€˜Em The Heater āš¾ļøšŸ”„ ā€” Reid-ing Rainbow

Quick bonus MLB prop without running on too long. Hereā€™s the skinny. Slight changes in a pitcherā€™s mechanics, delivery or release point can cause an immediate impact. Whatever the Angels did to regain Reid Detmersā€™ spin rate on his breaking stuff is working like a charm. The Halosā€™ lefty SP regained peak powers recently after a disastrous start to 2024, averaging nearly 7.5 K/G over a dozen starts (below) ā€” capped off by going over 9 Ks four times in a row!

The Twinsā€™ team K% vs LHP sits right around average (23%) over 30 days (~300 PA) but both chase and zone-contact rates rank in the bottom-10. Frankly, Iā€™m not sure it matters ā€” Detmers is a +6K guy getting off the bus.

THE BET: Reid Detmers Over 5.5 Strikeouts (-115) FanDuel

AROUND THE WATERCOOLER

The latest analysis and insights from our merry band of sports betting nerds:

Dwain McFarland introduces the Utilization Score to help us understand player roles to forecast future performance.

Get a jump on NFL Week 2 with this great episode featuring player props, spreads, totals, and more.

Jets vs. 49ers on Monday Night Football. What are the sharps betting on?

Geoff Ulrich offers an overview of the big upsets and late covers in his Week 1 NFL Betting Recap.

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