Here's hoping you didn't have the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night and Chicago Bears on Monday night.
Week 1 was punctuated by two wild comebacks. Or two crazy collapses, depending on your perspective. The Ravens blew a 15-point fourth quarter lead to lose to the Bills as a small favorite. The Bears looked good as a small underdog, until they blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead. If you were on the Ravens or Bears, it wasn't a fun way to end the week.
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Here are the biggest betting storylines of Week 2, with all odds from BetMGM:
Bills make a move
Buffalo had a big Week 1. They weren't even favored to beat the Ravens at home in the opener. Now they're favored to win the Super Bowl.
The Bills are the new Super Bowl favorite at +600, thanks to a tide-turning win over Baltimore. That win could be massive in the AFC playoff seeding. Josh Allen also made a big move in the MVP odds. He's now the clear favorite at +310, with Lamar Jackson at +550. Allen was +600 after the preseason. Less than 5% of bets in the MVP market are on Allen, and that seems likely to change after his monster first game. Buffalo is a fairly amazing -700 to win the AFC East after just one week, as well. Nobody else in the division won in Week 1.
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The Bills do have to go on the road in Week 2 and are a 6.5-point favorite at the Jets. There's always a worry about a letdown after an iconic win like last Sunday night, but having a divisional game might help Buffalo.
Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills had a great fourth quarter in a great comeback over the Ravens. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
(Michael Owens via Getty Images)
Can the Ravens rebound?
The Ravens might be angry about blowing that game on Sunday night and blast the poor Cleveland Browns this week. Or that crushing loss might linger for a while and they struggle a bit in September. We'll see how they react.
The Ravens are the biggest favorite, by far, of Week 2. Baltimore is a 12.5-point favorite at home against the Browns. They're the first double-digit favorite of the NFL season. Early in the week 28.6% of Yahoo Survival Football players have taken the Ravens this week. They're the most-picked team. It doesn't seem like the Browns have much shot at beating the Ravens this week, unless that Bills game hangover is fierce.
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Favorites still rule
Last season, favorites covered at the highest rate in many years. It looked like that would regress back to the norm when underdogs covered on Thursday and Friday of Week 1. Then Sunday came.
Favorites went 8-4 favorites against the spread on Sunday. After the Vikings rallied to win (and cover) on Monday night, favorites were 13-3 straight up through one week. The only underdogs to win straight up were the Raiders, Chargers and Bills, who were a small 1- or 1.5-point underdog against the Ravens.
Maybe we're just in for another season dominated by favorites.
Dolphins are ... favored?
No team looked worse than the Miami Dolphins in Week 1. The Indianapolis Colts, who aren't considered an offensive juggernaut, became the first team since 1978 to score on every one of their possessions. Miami's offense was terrible as well. And yet, in Week 2, the Dolphins are a 1.5-point favorite at home against the New England Patriots. The Patriots looked bad in Week 1 too, as they were beaten by the Las Vegas Raiders at home. It's just a little startling to see the Dolphins favored over anyone after they looked so wretched in the opener against a middling Colts team.
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Unders, unders, unders
Unders were 12-3 coming into Monday night, and then Vikings-Bears started with a 16-point first half. Those teams rallied in the second half to go over the total, but it was still a big week for unders. That came despite a change in the kickoff rules and a huge increase in the number of kickoff returns around the league due to those adjustments. The best explanation might be that many teams didn't play starters in the preseason, so the defenses could be a bit ahead of the offenses for a few weeks. More than likely it's a bit of an anomaly and it will correct starting in Week 2. But it was an extreme and unexpected trend.
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