NFL Odds & Betting

The sports betting markets were jolted late Saturday night as the Detroit Lions dealt quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for quarterback Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Already owners of the No. 1 defense in the NFL, the acquisition of Stafford gives the Rams an elite passer to match. DraftKings Sportsbook responded accordingly, moving Los Angeles to +1100 (bet $100 to win $1,100) to win next year's Super Bowl—the third-best odds in the league.

Only the Kansas City Chiefs (+575) and Green Bay Packers (+900) have higher odds than Los Angeles to win next season's title. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are also listed at +1100. Elsewhere in the NFC West, the San Francisco 49ers are +1400 to with the Super Bowl in 2022, while the Seattle Seahawks are listed at +2000 followed by the Arizona Cardinals at +4000.

DraftKings also lists L.A. at +500 to win the next NFC Championship.

If it wasn't clear before, the oddsmakers have confirmed it: The Rams are now one of the top teams in the NFL.

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With the NFL playoff field winnowed down to four teams, the Kansas City Chiefs are the slim favorites in the eyes of oddsmakers.

The Chiefs have a slight edge on the Green Bay Packers at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Super Bowl LV Odds

Kansas City Chiefs (+200, bet $100 to win $200)

Green Bay Packers (+220)

Buffalo Bills (+325)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+450)

No question will loom larger than the health of Patrick Mahomes. He left Sunday's 22-17 win over the Cleveland Browns in the third quarter, and Kansas City confirmed he wouldn't return after being evaluated for a concussion.

The Chiefs rank 22nd in defensive efficiency on Football Outsiders. That's a concern but not a fatal flaw when Mahomes is available and giving opposing secondaries nightmares. Kansas City could be in trouble, though, if Chad Henne is forced to start against the Buffalo Bills.

Josh Allen has silenced his skeptics after having spent a lot of time in the offseason to work on his biggest issues. Buffalo won ugly in the divisional round against the Baltimore Ravens, but style points are even more useless in the postseason.

The Bills boast a strong aerial combo between Allen and Stefon Diggs, and they have a defense that tied for the third-most takeaways (26). Put the two together and you have a recipe for a potential upset.

So much of the AFC title game will hinge on Mahomes' status.

In general, this year's postseason is a great example of why you need an elite quarterback to truly be a title threat.

From a neutral perspective, it doesn't get much better than Tom Brady vs. Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers has played at an MVP-type level, leading the NFL in completion percentage (70.7) and touchdowns (48) while throwing for 4,299 yards. He also went 23-of-36 for 296 yards and two touchdowns as Green Bay dispatched of the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday.

Brady, meanwhile, finished with 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns. Not surprisingly, playing with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Rob Gronkowski has allowed the 43-year-old to roll back the years.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers already have a head-to-head win over the Packers, beating them 38-10 in Week 6. They held the Green Bay offense to 201 total yards and intercepted Rodgers twice, one of which was returned for a score.

As great as it would be to see Brady and Rodgers going toe to toe and combining to throw for 600-plus yards, the NFC title game could be a defensive struggle when factoring in what could be unforgiving conditions at Lambeau Field.

According to AccuWeather, Sunday could see a high of 24 degrees with possible snow flurries. That would seem to favor the Packers, who averaged 132.4 rushing yards.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).

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Winning a Super Bowl is a joyous moment for the franchise that hoists the Lombardi Trophy and its fans, but sportsbooks won't be celebrating this year if one team in particular leaves Raymond James Stadium as the NFL champion. 

Per ESPN's David Purdum, a victory by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV—which will be held in the Bucs' stadium—is a "worst-case scenario for several bookmakers."

One of the problems for sportsbooks, according to Purdum, is due to a lot of activity that came in on the Buccaneers early in the offseason before they signed Tom Brady and acquired Rob Gronkowski in a trade with the New England Patriots. 

Purdum did note that William Hill U.S., an online sportsbook, took a $40,000 bet on the Buccaneers to win the Super Bowl at 12-1 odds on Saturday. 

"As of Wednesday morning, it's the second-largest Super Bowl futures wager placed with the bookmaker, behind only a $115,000 bet on the Chiefs that was placed Friday in Nevada," Purdum wrote.

Per DraftKings, the Bucs currently have the fifth-best odds to win the Super Bowl at +1000 (bet $100 to win $1,000). 

Tampa is making its first playoff appearance since 2007. The franchise hasn't won a postseason game since winning Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. 

The Buccaneers had some inconsistent moments in 2020 but finished the regular season with four straight wins. The offense scored at least 31 points in each of their last three games. 

Tampa Bay will play the Washington Football Team at FedEx Field on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET in the NFC Wild Card Round.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL).

Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ/WV/PA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), or call or text the TN REDLINE: 800-889-9789 (TN).

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Perhaps you had a good weekend. Maybe your NFL team clinched a spot in the playoffs, or you are an Ohio State or Alabama fan who watched your school advance to the national title game.

It still probably wasn't as good as a certain gambler's Sunday.

Someone took $15 and turned it into nearly $9,000 with a same-game parlay during Sunday's contest between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. The bet was quite reliant on offense, so Tampa Bay's 44-27 victory was important.

The parlay needed touchdowns from Hayden Hurst and Chris Godwin while also needing the latter to score the first touchdown. It also called for over 10.5 points in the first quarter and over 302.5 passing yards from Tom Brady.

However, the defenses had to do something with Matt Ryan at under 280.5 passing yards, and Tampa Bay held him to 265 yards through the air.

It's a good thing for this gambler that Ryan didn't hit one more long throw.

The New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals have been rather abysmal all season, to put it mildly.

Heading into last week, the Jets had yet to pick up a win this season while the Bengals had dropped their last five straight. That still wasn't enough to scare off two bettors in Las Vegas, Michael Kipness and his business partner, from placing a $200 bet on a Jets-Bengals moneyline parlay at 95-1.

The result: a payday of $19,000 after both New York and Cincinnati pulled off stunning upsets in Week 15 over the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively.

"We had our reasoning for it. We're very psychological in our handicapping and kind of go against the grain," Kipness told Todd Dewey of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "But I would be lying to say we expected to win the bet. It was a hope and a prayer."

The two placed their bet at William Hill sportsbook at Harrah's.

Kipness also had a first-half moneyline parlay on the Jets and Bengals that paid out at 26-1, giving the 63-year-old another win worth $5,205.

"The main reason we liked the Jets as 17-point 'dogs was because it was the greatest trap game," Kipness said. "The Rams were coming off an emotional win over the Patriots, and they had the 0-13 Jets and then a look-ahead game against Seattle this weekend that could determine the division winner."

A lucky bettor hit a nine-leg parlay during NFL Sunday to turn $2 into $24,767.07.

DraftKings provided details on the wager, which was apparently the first bet placed by the person:

The specificity of the bet is truly impressive, predicting close wins for the New Orleans Saints, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns. The Lions and Browns entered the day as underdogs on the road while the Vikings were heavy favorites against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

There were also some interesting player props involved, including Drew Lock throwing over 1.5 touchdown passes. The Denver Broncos quarterback had thrown two touchdown passes in a game just twice in his first eight starts this season and he missed the Broncos' last game as a result of COVID-19 protocols, potentially making him rusty.

Derek Carr also needed to throw at least 260 passing yards, which he had done just once in his previous five games.

All the bets came through, however, leading to a high-paying ticket.

There are bad beats, and then there are bad beats, and last night's game between the Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles was the latter. The line for the game was Seattle (-6.5), which Seattle bettors were set to hit with the team leading 23-9 in the final seconds. 

That's when things got weird. Carson Wentz's desperation heave into the end zone was somehow caught by tight end Richard Rodgers, moving the score to 23-15. The Eagles then made the surprising choice to go for two and when they converted, the 23-17 scoreline cost all of those Seattle bettors their payday. 

One Seattle fan was so enraged by the improbable turn of events, they emailed the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, claiming the game was fixed:

Such is the life of a bettor. Sometimes, the bad beat gets you. And sometimes, the bad beat really gets you.