💀 The Week 1 That Was

Week 1 was a wonderful reminder that one day of ugly football is better than an entire summer of boring baseball…

In today’s Betting Life Newsletter presented by Unabated:

Week 1. It happened.

For me, as a sports bettor, it wasn’t great. I was 2-2 against the spread — but 0-4 combined on totals, moneylines, and teasers.

I did well in my picks contest.

But overall, it was a week of missed opportunities and missteps.

And hopefully, it was a week of lessons learned.

Here are some notes I took yesterday while sitting in class at the school of hard knocks — some thoughts on big-picture Week 1 trends and what they might mean for us in Week 2 and beyond.

Note: I’m writing this before Sunday Night Football ends, so the data won’t include the results of the Giants-Cowboys game.

📉 Unders Dominate

Out of the past 20 seasons, last year was the most profitable for NFL unders, which were 158-125-1 (6.9% ROI, per Action Network). I think that makes sense, given that many defenses across the league shifted to a two-high scheme intended to limit big plays.

It looks like that trend of underwhelming football might continue into 2023, especially given all the injuries and poor QB play we’ve seen.

In Week 1, the under was 10-4 (36.8% ROI). On average, games fell short of their closing totals by -2.71 points.

Eventually, the sportsbooks will adjust. But last year the under was 11-5 in Week 1… and 11-5 again in Week 2.

The under could be the sharp side this week.

🐶 Underdogs Bark

Over the past two decades, a trend has emerged that might have some meaning. From 2003 to 2017, the spread market was unbelievably balanced.

• Underdogs: 1,860-1,859-111 ATS

• Favorites: 1,859-1,860-111 ATS

But in the following five full seasons, underdogs markedly outperformed.

• Underdogs: 696-586-28 ATS (4.7% ROI)

• Favorites: 586-696-28 ATS (-10.8% ROI)

And underdogs once again were barking in Week 1, going 9-5 ATS (22.6% ROI).

Is there a reasonable explanation for what dogs have done since 2018?

I think so.

In the summer of 2018, the Supreme Court gloriously struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which resulted in the widespread proliferation of sports betting across the country and the entrance into the market of many inexperienced bettors.

These are the kind of bettors who might be strongly biased toward favorites and who might enable the sportsbooks to shade their lines in that direction.

This is just a theory, and I might be wrong. Regardless, underdogs have been profitable for each of the past five years -- and 2023 might make it six.

✌️ Week 2: When the Bark Becomes a Bite

Among many bettors, Week 2 is generally referred to as “overreaction week.”

With that in mind, would you like to guess which week of the regular season (minus the weird Week 18) has been the most profitable for underdogs over the past five years?

You already know the answer: Week 2, with a record of 47-32-1 ATS (15.0% ROI).

In every year since 2018, Week 2 dogs as a cohort — a litter, if you will — have been profitable.

I’m not saying that we should blindly bet underdogs this week. But I am saying that, when we hear people talk about how terrible lots of Week 2 underdogs played last week, we should remember that they’re basing their analysis on just one data point and that historically, it has been sharp to invest in such unloved underdogs.

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While we still have Monday Night Football to look forward to, Week 2 lines are already live, so Matt LaMarca highlights a couple of early betting opportunities he likes.

Week 2 is one of my favorite weeks of the year.

People have a tendency to overreact, meaning that what happened in Week 1 carries outsized importance in the public’s mind. In some cases, we’ll see big movement in the betting market based on just one week of results.

That creates plenty of opportunities to look for value in the betting market.

I’m not saying that you should completely ignore everything you saw in Week 1. After all, it’s the most significant piece of information that we’ve received so far. That said, it’s just one game.

Teams have bad games all the time, so we shouldn’t throw out everything we thought we knew about each team heading into the season.

Let’s look at some of the biggest market adjustments heading into Week 2.

🏹 Chiefs Laying Less Than 3

The Chiefs are the defending Super Bowl champs, and they’ve made it to the AFC Championship each year with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback.

In fact, they’ve hosted five straight AFC Championship games. They’re one of the favorites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy once again in 2023, but they stumbled out of the gates with a loss to the Lions in Week 1.

Of course, there is a big caveat with that result.

Travis Kelce was unable to play vs. the Lions, and he’s easily the team’s top pass-catcher. Without Kelce, the rest of the receiving corps struggled mightily vs. the Lions, with Kadarius Toney literally handing them seven points:

Fortunately, Kelce should be able to return to the lineup in Week 2. He was questionable heading into Thursday night, so with 10 days of rest, he’s a good bet to suit up vs. the Jaguars.

Despite that fact, the Chiefs have actually dipped below the key number of three on BetMGM. They’re currently listed at -2.5 at Jacksonville, and they’re in a phenomenal spot to bounce back.

The Chiefs may not be elite at covering big spreads, but they’re great at winning football games. When laying three points or fewer, they’re a ridiculous 19-6-1 ATS (including playoffs) with Mahomes at QB.

As long as Kelce is back in action, I’m all over the Chiefs against a Jags squad that struggled vs. the Colts.

🦁 Lions Up to -5.5

While the Chiefs have been downgraded following their Week 1 performance, the Lions have gotten a boost.

They were initially favored by just 2.5 points vs. the Seahawks on the look-ahead line, but they’re all the way up to 5.5-point favorites on BetMGM.

I already mentioned why their result vs. the Chiefs wasn’t quite as impressive as it may seem, but the Lions weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders. They managed just 368 yards of total offense, which was below their season average from last year.

The Chiefs were without their best defender Chris Jones in addition to Kelce, so it was a bit surprising that the Lions struggled to move the ball at times.

Still, a win over the Chiefs in Kansas City is going to do a lot in the eyes of the public.

Additionally, the Seahawks were embarrassed at home by the Rams, losing by 17 points — despite taking the field as five-point favorites.

The combination of the Seahawks’ loss and the Lions’ win has resulted in three points of value compared to the lookahead line, including two key numbers in 3.0 and 4.0.

Ultimately, it’s going to be tough to pass that up.

📖 My playbook has a silver lining: Here’s the No. 1 reason I bet unders on player props!

🍎 No, I do not want to imagine that, not even a little bit! John Lennon would not have written a song about this football team.

🤠 History says the Cowboys will come crashing back to Earth. Potentially as early as Week 2?

📈 For every winner, there’s a loser: Power rating: stock up, stock down.

😅 Yeah, Week 1 offenses can be sloppy…but yesterday was something else.

💰 If you’re Jonesing for some FREE Jets-Bills picks, we’ve got you covered. Check out our Monday Night Football Game Hub! 

🐬 This QB has made an early-season MVP push in back-to-back years. Will it hold up this season?

🏈 He bought a one-way ticket to his QB’s doghouse. Looks like we’re betting his Week 2 unders.

⚡️ “Next Saturday night, we’re sending you back to the future!” Regardless of the time or place, the Chargers will do what they do.

The first Monday Night Football game of the season kicks off today between the Bills and Jets, and Geoff Ulrich is here to break it all down from a betting angle…

This game is a great way to end the week and one that will have tons of impact on fantasy football leagues and the futures market for bettors.

After two failed attempts at drafting a franchise quarterback, the Jets finally caved and went the trade route this summer, bringing in Aaron Rodgers.

New York already had a top-five unit on defense and is breeding a couple of studs at RB and WR in Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson.

Buffalo is chasing its fourth division title in a row. They remain the class of the division but gained some skeptics this offseason after the Bengals soundly thumped them in the conference championship.

So who will take this inaugural divisional game, and which players will shine brightest? Read on for a comprehensive betting breakdown and check out the Game Hub for every angle of tonight’s game.

🗽 Buffalo Bills at New York Jets

• Spread: Bills -1.5 (-115, BetMGM); Jets +2.5 (-105, BetMGM)

• Total: 45.5

• Moneylines: Bills -130, Jets +110

There isn’t a ton of injury news to keep an eye on for this game but it’s worth mentioning that the Jets do have three key players listed as questionable.

Tackles Mekhi Beckton and Duane Brown both practiced in full on Saturday and look likely to play, as does running back Breece Hall who also logged a full practice.

Of course, even if Hall isn’t at peak effectiveness, or newly signed Dalvin Cook doesn’t work out, the Jets can now barrage Buffalo with an Aaron Rodgers to Garrett Wilson connection that looked fatality-inducing in the preseason. 

On the Buffalo side of things, our game hub includes a feature from Jonathan Fuller who gave a breakdown of the new players the Bills attack may feature in 2023.

Expect the backfield to be heavily dominated by James Cook and newly drafted TE Dalton Kincaid to be used primarily as the Bills’ new slot receiver.

So how is this one going to play out?

I’m a little undecided on how to play the spread but I do like Matt LaMarca’s take from our bet tracker who took the Jets at +2.5 in August.

The Jets beat the Bills in New York last season and limited Josh Allen to 4.62 adjusted yards per attempt in their two matchups.

Even a slight increase in efficiency on offense should give them a morale boost and they’re not getting much respect from a line that has them as home underdogs to start the season. Divisional underdogs in week 1 are typically a great bet, going 64-38-1 ATS since 2005.

The Under 45.5 (opened at 48.5) is also looking like a potential wager. In the Week 1 Sharp Report, we can see that 56% of the tickets in this matchup have come on the under, but that side has also racked up 87% of the dollars.

The game total has moved from 46.5 to 45.5, so going under does mean you may be buying at the absolute bottom (peak) of this total. If you’re put off by that, I like looking at the first half under, which is set at 23.0 (-105) on BetMGM.

We have seen unders in general smash in week 1, with many solid offenses struggling out of the gate. Both offenses in this game are working in new faces and were bottom half of the league in plays per minute last season. A slow first half wouldn’t be overly shocking.