Many of today’s top-rated legal sports betting sites will offer an early glimpse of how the betting public is reacting to posted lines for the games. This is especially prevalent in each week’s NFL schedule.
Opening NFL spreads and total lines are released well in advance of the actual games. This gives the betting public plenty of time to weigh in with their early wagers. Most times, the early lean is towards the favorites on the spread and the OVER on the total line. However, sometimes they lean the completely opposite way.
Using a general consensus of early betting action for Week 9 of the NFL regular season, here are three examples of where the money is going as of mid-week action.
Starting with Sunday’s early games, there is a heavy lean at 64 percent towards the Kansas City Chiefs as 10 ½-point home favorites against the Carolina Panthers.
This is no big surprise given the recent form of each team. Carolina is 3-5 straight-up through the first half of the season with an even 4-4 record against the spread. The Panthers have dropped their last three games SU but they have covered in four of their last six outings.
Kansas City is off to a strong start at 7-1 SU. The only loss was a home stunner against Las Vegas. With last Sunday’s 35-9 victory against the winless New York Jets, the Chiefs improved to 5-1 ATS over their last six games. That classifies them as a hot betting team in the eyes of most recreational bettors.
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Another Sunday afternoon game with a strong consensus towards the favorite is an inter-conference clash between the 6-1 Seattle Seahawks and the 6-2 Buffalo Bills. Mid-week, 65 percent of the betting public is taking Seattle and laying the 2 ½ points on the road.
The Seahawks have been rather good to bettors this season at 5-2 ATS. Buffalo failed to cover in last Sunday’s tight win against New England to fall to 3-5 ATS in eight games this year.
In a matchup between Seattle’s prolific offense (34.3 points per game) and the Bills’ inconsistent defense, the public appears to be more than happy to lay less than a field goal as the road favorite.
Anyone looking for a high consensus pick for a Sunday afternoon total line bet should focus their attention on the inter-conference clash between the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons. With the total set at 50 points, 66 percent of the early action is on the UNDER.
Denver has basically played to form at 3-4 SU with a healthy 5-2 record ATS. The total has actually gone OVER in three of its last four games. The Broncos have been one of the lower-scoring teams in the NFL with an average of 21 PPG.
The Falcons have already fired their head coach in light of their dismal 2-6 SU (3-5 ATS) start. However, they have won two of their last three outings SU and ATS. The defense has not allowed more than 23 points in that three-game span. The total has stayed UNDER in four of Atlanta’s last five games.
