Delighted dog bettors, rising backup quarterbacks, and frantic finishes create a theme bridging the end of NFL Week 7 and the start of Week 8.
In the Week 7 finale, gamblers await the Minnesota Vikings getting nearly a touchdown when hosting the injury-riddled San Francisco 49ers on Monday night. Dog bettors try to extend an 8-4 performance, marked by a significant moneyline upset.
Week 8 will then begin on Thursday with the Buffalo Bills, who suffered that moneyline upset at the hands of the New England Patriots, hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Here are our NFL Week 7 betting results and what lies ahead.
NFL odds: NFL Week 7 odds | Super Bowl odds | NFL MVP odds
49ers vs. Vikings MNF Week 7 Preview
Christian McCaffrey, the heart and soul of the Niners’ offense, says he feels great and expects to try playing. That will be welcome news to anyone betting on the Niners. He left the team’s Week 6 upset loss to the Cleveland Browns with an oblique injury and has been uncertain since then.
The Niners suffered mightily without him. McCaffrey would add a needed dimension to the offense.
The news is not as good for Deebo Samuel, who was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his shoulder. He is expected to miss two games, including this one.
Trent Williams, a top-flight offensive lineman, is considered doubtful with an ankle injury.
Gamblers will assess news of the 49ers’ injuries right up until game time.
Read more: MNF anytime touchdown scorer props
Betting Takeaways Heading into NFL Week 8
Two quarterbacks directed their teams to winning scores in the final seconds of Week 7. They represent rising stock as gamblers handicap future games. Here are who bettors might start to trust:
Mac Jones
New England, rejuvenated, visits the Miami Dolphins in Week 8.
Jones regained the trust of his coaching staff and bettors with a 272-yard, two-touchdown, no-interception performance against the Bills.
The clean game kept New England alive until Jones could hit Mike Gesicki for the game-winning, one-yard TD with 12 seconds left. New England stunned Buffalo, 29-25, at +7.5.
Moneyline bettors cashed in at +310 at DraftKings for the upset of the day.
It was a victory for the savvy minority, which jumped on New England and ran the line from Buffalo -9 to -7.5 on Sunday morning.
By game time, Buffalo still had the majority of the handle at 56%, but it was down from 84% on Saturday. Those who stood tall and took New England to win the game outright got +310. That was only 5% of the tickets and 9% of the handle.
The Patriots face a Dolphins team that went toe to toe with the Philadelphia Eagles, losing 31-17 on Sunday night.
PJ Walker
He stepped in nicely for Deshaun Watson and helped the Cleveland Browns topple the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6. In Week 7, he engineered the game-winning drive with Watson sidelined from an in-game injury. That produced a wild 39-38 triumph at -2.5 over the Indianapolis Colts. Cleveland scored the winning TD on 4th down with 15 seconds left.
They then nearly stole a cover by going for the two-point conversion, but it was squashed.
We said a couple of weeks ago that Walker was a serviceable quarterback. He continues to gain chemistry with receivers and is stepping nicely into his role.
The Browns visit the Seattle Seahawks in Week 8.
Seattle had just enough to turn back a stubborn Arizona Cardinals unit, 20-10.
Tyrod Taylor
The sportsbooks, and bettors, will take renewed interest with the New York Jets meeting the New York Giants on their shared home field.
The Jets had a Week 7 bye while Big Blue gained its first home win of the season, 14-7, over the Washington Commanders.
Taylor joins the ranks of the trusted. The New York Giants’ backup quarterback played mistake-free and threw two touchdowns. The Giants had just enough to notch a second straight cover.
Watch for Darren Waller to keep being targeted. We talked last week about the Giants’ need to involve their prized tight end in the offense more. He had his best game as a Giant with seven catches, 98 yards, and a touchdown.
Waller also returned a sizzling +1500 to score first and +340 anytime at DraftKings.
Saquon Barkley contributed the other score.
If Daniel Jones isn’t ready to start for the Giants in the wake of a neck injury, Taylor will get his third straight assignment. Gamblers who salivated over this matchup before the season envisioned Danny Dimes and Aaron Rodgers going head-to-head.
Both stars got hurt and it could be Taylor vs. Zach Wilson.
But even with backups, the matchup will be compelling. It’s New York bragging rights and the teams combine for five straight covers.
Tyson Bagent
Justin Fields’ backup was effective in managing his second game. Bagent threw for 162 yards and a TD. One of them was to D’Onta Foreman, who notched three scores in Chicago’s 30-12 rout of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Bears hit the stage against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night.
Los Angeles is spinning sideways, coming off a 31-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at +5.5.
It’s not known when Fields will return from his dislocated thumb injury. Bettors will be waiting. Fields vs. Justin Herbert is an entertaining air show and a potential high total. Bagent would be expected to play a closer-to-the-vest, lower-scoring game.
Eagles Wide Receiver Makes NFL Bettors See Green
What a cash register AJ Brown is. He cleared 125 yards for the fifth straight time on Sunday night as the Eagles outgunned the Dolphins. That produced +350 at DraftKings, an excellent price for a yardage-only prop.
Brown made the big 45-yard catch setting up the put-away score in Philadelphia’s decisive drive. Earlier, he had delivered a 32-yard reception on fourth down to enable a touchdown.
Brown leads the league with 58 targets, 43 receptions, and 625 yards. Moreover, he is making the clutch plays of a No. 1 receiver.
Gamblers will be linking him to prop-mania when the Eagles visit the Commanders.
Everybody Loves a Gambler
Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni tossed four winners on major dice rolls on Sunday night. Two led to touchdowns.
With Philly leading 24-17, Sirianni did not even hesitate on a 4th-and-1 on his own 26 and then the 37. He dialed up the Brotherly Shove, the quarterback sneak play the Eagles brought to the league last year.
Jalen Hurts easily picked up the first down on both occasions. A couple of plays later, Hurts found AJ Brown for a huge gain. Shortly after that, Kenneth Gainwell was in the end zone for the decisive score.
Now that’s gambling. Sirianni went for it twice on fourth down on the same drive, from his own territory.
The first dice toss came when the Eagles led 10-3 late in the second quarter. It was 4th-and-3 at the Miami 33. A field goal would have made this a two-score game. But Sirianni wanted a two-touchdown lead.
Miami blew up the play, forcing Hurts to scramble. He evaded a sack and rolled right. With defenders crashing in, he lofted a great touch pass to AJ Brown. The play went for 32 yards. One play later, Hurts was escorted into the end zone by the Brotherly Shove and Philly led 17-3.
Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh went against the grain in a big way on the team’s first drive.
The Ravens had 4th-and-goal from the Detroit 7 in a scoreless game. They have the best kicker in the game, Justin Tucker, who drilled six field goals in Week 6.
But Harbaugh crossed up the book. He went for it, Lamar Jackson faked a handoff, rolled left, and went right on into the end zone.
Until He Loses
The Bills trailed 16-10 early in the fourth quarter. They had 4th-and-2 at the New England 33.
Buffalo went for it. The formation was good. The call was good. The throw was good. But Dawson Knox dropped it.
Even the best-laid plans can go wrong. New England took the short field, uncorked a long march, and scored a touchdown.
Buffalo went from knocking on the door to a lead by trailing by 12.
Cleveland led Indianapolis 30-28 and had 4th-and-2 at the Indy 41. In no man’s land, the Browns went for it and fumbled. Indy recovered and kicked the go-ahead field goal.
In-game bettors: We are seeing many failed fourth down conversions leading to points on the ensuing drive by the team that shut down the attempt. For those who like to wager on the next drive, this is an interesting consideration.
NFL Bettors Convert Highlighted Wagers
Here are some wagers outlined in Bontempo’s Betting Beat that gamblers turned into cash at DraftKings.
Lamar Jackson to notch the game’s first touchdown returned +800. It was vintage, via the fake handoff and rollout to his left.
Justin Tucker Over 6.5 points. He tallied eight, with five extra points and one field goal. This paid +105 around the sportsbooks. The Ravens kept scoring touchdowns and this bet had some turbulence, but he finally got a chance to kick a fourth-quarter field goal.
Kenny Pickett’s quarterback sneak for third-quarter paydirt paid +500.
DraftKings NFL Week 7 Betting Results
The book shed its major liabilities like it was a weight-loss program.
The top teams by handle were the Bills, Lions, Browns, and Los Angeles Rams, who lost.
Only the Ravens, fifth in the top-handle list, covered the -3 number.
The outcome on bets were similar. Tampa Bay hit the top-five list on this one and joined Detroit, Buffalo, Cleveland, and the Los Angeles Rams in losing.
Individual Bets
One gambler played heavy moneyline leverage, putting $33,334 on the Seattle Seahawks at -310 against the Arizona Cardinals. It paid and returned $44,100.88, a profit of nearly $11,000 for a big risk.
One bettor played the under-the-radar Gabriel Davis in a big way. The player put a wager of $22,222.22 on Davis to score. It would have returned more than $71,000, a profit of nearly $50,000, but fell short as Davis did not score.
The gambler got a good price on a receiver who is overdue to reach the end zone and had an intelligent angle on the wager. It just did not connect.
One player shot for the moon, putting $1,500 on every team to score a touchdown and a field goal in the 1 p.m. games. It would have returned more than $75,000. The wager is always a longshot, +5000 in this case, but does come in occasionally. And then it pays big.
Best and Worst Public Consensus Picks
The top performance was 67% of gamblers taking the Over 40 on the Cleveland-Indianapolis game.
The worst outcome for the masses was 81% of the gamblers taking the Eagles-Dolphins Over 52.5. Victory formation with Philadelphia on the Miami 6, leading 31-17, was painful for them. But hats off to the 19% who took it Under.
FanDuel NFL Week 7 Betting Highlights
Highest Scoring Game
The vaunted Cleveland Browns defense and the Indianapolis Colts offense were not expected to lead the circuit in scoring. But their 78 total points far and away outpaced the other games and returned a hefty+1500 to FanDuel bettors.
Lowest Scoring Game
This one went chalk, with the New York Giants and Washington Commanders totaling 21 points. It paid +480.
Highest Scoring Team
Cleveland rocks with this one too. The Browns paid +1900. Its bettors can thank a ticky-tack defensive penalty that kept alive Cleveland’s game-winning drive. Indianapolis had presumably put the game away with a turnover.
The Cleveland comeback knocked ticketholders of Indy’s +4000 and Baltimore’s +1400 out of the box. They would have tied at 38 points and most likely have gotten half the betting price.
Lowest Scoring Team
None other than the Detroit Lions, seeking to have their first 6-1 mark since 1956. A team that has gained high honors in previous weeks gets the lowest total of six points. That returned +1700 to the players.
Three for the Money
A bet returned +140 for Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Baker Mayfield to combine for six touchdown passes. They had 7.
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