How will an NFL Week 1 featuring barking dogs and stingy defenses wind up?
The final answer will come from a former Green Bay Packers quarterbacking legend tonight, while his successor basks in the glory of an excellent first game.
Here’s a rundown of our NFL Week 1 betting results and an initial look at Week 2.
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Aaron Rodgers’ Debut Completes Action-Packed NFL Week 1
The ballyhooed New York Jets debut for Rodgers, who won four MVP awards with the Packers, are keeping the Jets respectable in the betting odds when they host the Buffalo Bills.
Jets money kept this number under a field goal throughout the week, and Bills bettors are celebrating the resulting odds as game-time nears. Buffalo entered at -2 Monday morning with 65% of the DraftKings handle and 64% of the bets.
The Jets and Bills have a reachable number of 44.5 for the Over-Under.
The clash of the AFC East foes closes a week in which the dogs have gone 9-6 and the Under sports an impressive 11-4 mark.
NFL Week 2 Betting Overview (DraftKings)
Betting Love May Be Headed to Green Bay
The 1-0 Packers look like they will be just fine with Jordan Love behind center when they visit the 1-0 Atlanta Falcons.
In Green Bay’s 38-20 road triumph against the Chicago Bears at +1, Love was excellent. He passed for 245 yards with three touchdowns and no picks. He didn’t even have his favorite receiver Christian Watson, who is injured.
Aaron Jones picked up the slack with 127 yards and two touchdowns.
Love is a portrait of poise and has every chance to be nearly as good as Rodgers when given the full-time job.
Love often looked strong in spelling Rodgers last year and many thought the Pack should have pushed Rodgers out to let Love obtain seasoning once their 8-9 season started going south.
Rodgers made that discussion moot by signing with the Jets and Love has made the most of his first chance.
Atlanta is 1-0 after winning its first Week 1 game since 2017, defeating the Carolina Panthers 24-10 at -3.5.
Lethal Return of Tua, Hill
The NFL and its bettors relish a healthy Tua Tagovailoa, who missed several games with concussions last year.
But when he’s on… look out. Tua lit up the coffers of his prop bettors and “Over” backers in Week 1. He went off for 466 passing yards and three touchdowns as the Miami Dolphins outlasted the Los Angeles Chargers, 36-34, at +3 in the top game of the day.
The teams combined for 969 yards and the Over 50 was an easy cash for the gamblers.
Two of Tua’s touchdowns went to Tyreek Hill, the speedster who says he wants to reach the 2,000-yard receiving plateau this year. His 215 yards Sunday was a big step in that direction. Hill caught a beautiful arcing 35-yard third-quarter touchdown and a gritty four-yard game-winning score.
The Dolphins visit a tough New England defense in Week 2. New England nearly stole its opener against the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles before bowing 25-20 at +3.5.
The Riddler: Calvin Ridley Is Back and in the End Zone
The player suspended for the 2022 season after gambling on his Atlanta Falcons has returned with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He looked like a man possessed by snaring the first touchdown of the game in the Jags’ 31-21 triumph at -4 over the pesky Indianapolis Colts.
Bettors will note that Trevor Lawrence targeted Ridley 11 times. Eight went for completions that covered 101 yards. Ridley will be a target for prop bettors in Week 2.
Jacksonville already has a deep team. A focused Ridley could help this team go beyond its second-round playoff exit last year.
We will get a glimpse of Jacksonville’s level in Week 2. The Jags host the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, who nudged them from the playoffs, 27-20, last year.
Kansas City suffered a 21-20 Week 1 upset to the Detroit Lions after star tight end Travis Kelce missed the game due to injury. Kelce will be worth about two points to the betting line. Gamblers will be all over any sign of whether he plays or not.
Kelce probably COULD go, but in a long season, it’s not known if he will.
The Niners Retain a Great System
The ball-control efforts of Brock Purdy and the breakaway talents of Christian McCaffrey are only part of the story in San Francisco’s 30-7 road triumph over the Pittsburgh Steelers at -2.
San Francisco has a multi-faceted team as it seeks to parlay the effort in Week 2. The Niners visit the Los Angeles Rams, who surprised the Seattle Seahawks, 30-13, as a +5.5 dog.
Against the Steelers, McCaffrey tabbed 152 yards and a long touchdown run. Brandon Aiyuk recorded 127 yards and two scores.
What’s important to San Francisco is its dominant time of possession, nearly 38 minutes against Pittsburgh. The defense was dominant.
How Bout Them Cowboys?
Yowza, that 40-0 Sunday Night pounding came against a New York Giants team that won a playoff game last year.
A special teams score and defensive touchdown set a tone from which the Giants, always a slow-moving offensive team, could not recover.
Giants backers, who jumped on them when the spread reached +3.5, never had a chance.
The Cowboys host the Jets in Week 2, while the Giants limp out West and battle the Arizona Cardinals, who, like the Giants, did not notch an offensive score in Week 1.
But the Arizona defense did score and the Cardinals covered +6.5 in losing 20-16 to the Washington Commanders.
The Cardinals, missing Kyler Murray, had enough for the cover and nearly stole a victory.
NFL Week 1 Underdogs
Dogs Who Paid Well on the Moneyline
While Tom Brady was being honored at the New England Patriots-Philadelphia Eagles game, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took their first major step without him.
Baker Mayfield’s leadership and Minnesota’s mistake-prone tactics provided more than the 20-17 victory for the Bucs. The visitors returned +170 on the moneyline to DraftKings bettors.
This was a great bet for the slick contrarians. Only 11% of the handle and 9% of the bets went on Tampa Bay.
The Bucs host the 0-1 Chicago Bears in Week 2.
Johnny Avello, the director of race and sportsbook operations for DraftKings, hinted at the Minnesota Meltdown during the week.
“You know, Minnesota always lets opponents hang around,” he said. “That could burn this team.”
Minnesota’s opponents not only hung around but left town with the riches. Kirk Cousins’ late first-half interception near the end zone was one of Minnesota’s self-inflicted wounds.
Avello also told Gaming Today last week that a hefty sharp-betting bankroll at +4.5 for New England against Philadelphia was something bettors should consider.
New England came within a two-point conversion of covering that spread.
The Los Angeles Rams paid moneyline bettors +180 for their easier-than-it-looked triumph.
Again, the minority ruled with only 20% of the DraftKings handle and 15% of the bets directed at Los Angeles. The Rams also romped on the spread at +5.
The Rams host the 49ers, while the Vikings travel to Philadelphia to open the Week 2 slate on Thursday night.
NFL Week 1 Dice Roll
In deference to the great Packers coach Vince Lombardi, here are both parts of a famous quote from him applied to this week’s gutsiest plays:
Big Winners: “Everybody Loves A Gambler”
The Lions set the tone for the season last Thursday night. 4th-and-2 from their own 17 in a scoreless game against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. Punt formation, but wait, a direct snap and a 3-yard gain came instead.
10 plays later, the Lions scored the first touchdown of the night. The razzle-dazzle looked big in the one-point triumph.
The Niners converted 4th-and-1 from the Pittsburgh 45 on its first series and later capped that drive with a touchdown.
Pittsburgh notched its only TD after a 4th-down conversion on its final first-half drive.
Jacksonville had 4th-and-2 at the Indianapolis 15, trailing 21-17 midway through the fourth quarter. No field goal. The Jags converted and scored the eventual winning TD.
Tampa Bay had 4th-and-inches from its own 33 midway through the fourth quarter of a 17-17 tie against the Vikings. The Bucs converted and then got the game-winning field goal.
Gambles That Produced Craps: “Until He Loses”
Anthony Richardson tried the stacked quarterback sneak from deep in field goal range. This play was made famous by Jalen Hurts last year in Philadelphia. It made sense to try it again.
Indy’s new coach is Shane Steichen, who perfected this technique with Hurts in Philly.
But it did not work in Indy. Richardson was stuffed and Carolina got no points.
Jacksonville was on its own 47 with 12:52 to go. The 4th-down try was short by a couple of inches in a game the Jags trailed 21-17. No permanent damage on this one. The Jags came back to win.
Oddities
Road teams went 5-0 on the moneyline at 4 p.m. ET and prevailed on Sunday Night.
A few teams botched points with handoff problems or quarterback snaps as a lack of timing emerged.
Sean Payton nearly stole the limelight on his first play as a returning NFL coach with the Denver Broncos. He ordered an onside kick to start the game, as unconventional a move as his successful onside kick in the second half of the New Orleans Saints’ lone Super Bowl victory.
This one worked too. But the Broncos were whistled for offside. A tough break, but gamblers will incorporate unconventional thinking into Payton’s teams.
NFL Week 2 Injury Watch List
Baltimore Ravens back J.K. Dobbins has a torn Achilles and is likely out for the entire season. That’s a blow to the Ravens, who visit the 0-1 Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.
Anthony Richardson, the Colts’ rookie quarterback left in the final minute of the Week 1 game with an apparent lower-body injury. Steichen said Richardson should be fine and start when the Colts visit the 0-1 Houston Texans, who lost 25-9 to the Ravens.
Steelers top receiver Diontae Johnson has a hamstring injury and could be slowed, if not kept out of the lineup, when the Steelers host the Cleveland Browns in Week 2.
NFL Week 1 Studs and Duds (FanDuel)
Here are some bets that paid handsomely for FanDuel gamblers in Week 1.
Studs
The Cowboys were responsible for the Hi-Low payouts for top-scoring and lowest-scoring teams.
Dallas’ 40 points returned a handsome +1500 to bettors who made the Boys the top-scoring unit.
Duds
Conversely, Dallas inflicted a goose egg on the Giants that prompted a return of +2300 as the league’s lowest-scoring team. That was sizable and unexpected.
So was the paltry 3 points put up by the Bengals. Anyone gutsy enough to have projected the Bengals as the lowest-scoring team (why not take a chance with Joe Burrow having missed the preseason?) was heading for a fat +3300 before the Giants took that away.
Burrow also curtailed gamblers from cashing a prop bet for him, Cousins, and Justin Herbert to notch a combined six throwing touchdowns at -115.
A bet for there to be a score in every quarter of every 1 p.m. game was booked at +500. Three games featured scoreless quarters and this one did not cash.
One prop wager is up for grabs tonight. Can the Jets notch more passing and rushing yards than the Packers? It’s +100 and a matchup of Rodgers’ current and former teams.
He has a reachable target of 329 yards. A tie is a losing bet.
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