[h=1]Pro football Week 2 early line moves[/h]Dave Tuley, ESPN Staff Writer
ESPN INSIDER
Editor's note: This column will appear Sunday night to give ESPN Chalk readers a first look at the next week's NFL lines. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook also puts out the advance lines the prior Tuesday (so Week 3 lines will be posted this upcoming Tuesday) and we'll examine how the weekend action affected those lines. We'll also look at which lines were the first to be bet by the professional bettors in Vegas (traditionally, those are the bettors most likely to fire away on these openers, though it's not the exclusive club that it used to be).
LAS VEGAS -- As the afternoon games wound down Sunday at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, the customers were lining up to cash in their winning tickets. They were high-fiving and exchanging stories of their winning picks and parlays.<offer style="box-sizing: border-box;"></offer>
On the other side of the counter, Jay Kornegay and his staff weren't as jovial. It was a rough day for the sportsbooks here in Vegas (and probably everywhere else), as favorites were 9-3 against the spread and just about all the major decisions went the bettors' way. Even the underdogs that came through with upsets -- St. Louis over Seattle, Buffalo over Indianapolis and Tennessee over Tampa Bay -- were fairly popular plays.
But the saying goes that "books book and players play," so the Westgate staff went about its business and posted its openers for Week 2 right around 4:30 p.m. PT, as they have for years.
As happens every week, the Sunday night participants were taken off the board at kickoff and will likely be adjusted depending on how they fare in tonight's game. The Giants opened as 2.5-point home faves over the Falcons while Dallas opened as a 4-point road dog at Philadelphia.
The only games without lines posted at 4:30 p.m. PT were Titans-Browns and Ravens-Raiders due to injuries to Cleveland QB Josh McCown and Oakland QBDerek Carr. After about 15 minutes, Cleveland opened as a 2-point home fave over Tennessee. Oakland's game stayed off the board.
Denver travels to Kansas City on Thursday night and the game was a pick 'em in the advance line last week. After the Chiefs looked more impressive in their 27-20 win over the Texans than the Broncos (who didn't score an offensive touchdown) did in their 19-13 win over the Ravens, the Westgate reopened the line at Kansas City -3.
The Indianapolis Colts, one of the top Super Bowl contenders entering the season, were 9.5-point home favorites over the New York Jets in the Week 2 Monday Night Football game on ESPN, but after the Colts lost 27-14 to the Bills and the Jets rolled to a 31-10 victory over the Browns, that line was lowered to Indy -7.
Among the early moves between the 4:30 p.m. PT openers and the 5:30 p.m. PT kickoff of Sunday Night Football, Carolina opened as a 3.5-point home fave over Houston but early money came in on the Texans and lowered it to Carolina -3 (-120).
New Orleans opened as a 9.5-home favorite over Tampa Bay but was bet up to 10.
We'll see whether any other lines move when most of the rest of the Las Vegas books post their Week 2 lines on Monday morning.
[h=2]Week 2 openers[/h]Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook
Broncos
Chiefs, -3
Texans
Panthers, -3.5, -3 (-120)
Buccaneers
Saints, -9.5, -10
49ers
Steelers, -6.5
Lions
Vikings, -3 (-120)
Patriots, -1
Bills
Cardinals, -2.5
Bears
Titans
Browns, -2
Chargers
Bengals, -3.5
Rams, -3 (-120)
Redskins
Falcons
Giants, -2.5
Ravens
Raiders, off
Dolphins, -6
Jaguars
Cowboys
Eagles, -4
Seahawks
Packers, -3 (-120)
Jets
Colts -7
ESPN INSIDER
Editor's note: This column will appear Sunday night to give ESPN Chalk readers a first look at the next week's NFL lines. The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook also puts out the advance lines the prior Tuesday (so Week 3 lines will be posted this upcoming Tuesday) and we'll examine how the weekend action affected those lines. We'll also look at which lines were the first to be bet by the professional bettors in Vegas (traditionally, those are the bettors most likely to fire away on these openers, though it's not the exclusive club that it used to be).
LAS VEGAS -- As the afternoon games wound down Sunday at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, the customers were lining up to cash in their winning tickets. They were high-fiving and exchanging stories of their winning picks and parlays.<offer style="box-sizing: border-box;"></offer>
On the other side of the counter, Jay Kornegay and his staff weren't as jovial. It was a rough day for the sportsbooks here in Vegas (and probably everywhere else), as favorites were 9-3 against the spread and just about all the major decisions went the bettors' way. Even the underdogs that came through with upsets -- St. Louis over Seattle, Buffalo over Indianapolis and Tennessee over Tampa Bay -- were fairly popular plays.
But the saying goes that "books book and players play," so the Westgate staff went about its business and posted its openers for Week 2 right around 4:30 p.m. PT, as they have for years.
As happens every week, the Sunday night participants were taken off the board at kickoff and will likely be adjusted depending on how they fare in tonight's game. The Giants opened as 2.5-point home faves over the Falcons while Dallas opened as a 4-point road dog at Philadelphia.
The only games without lines posted at 4:30 p.m. PT were Titans-Browns and Ravens-Raiders due to injuries to Cleveland QB Josh McCown and Oakland QBDerek Carr. After about 15 minutes, Cleveland opened as a 2-point home fave over Tennessee. Oakland's game stayed off the board.
Denver travels to Kansas City on Thursday night and the game was a pick 'em in the advance line last week. After the Chiefs looked more impressive in their 27-20 win over the Texans than the Broncos (who didn't score an offensive touchdown) did in their 19-13 win over the Ravens, the Westgate reopened the line at Kansas City -3.
The Indianapolis Colts, one of the top Super Bowl contenders entering the season, were 9.5-point home favorites over the New York Jets in the Week 2 Monday Night Football game on ESPN, but after the Colts lost 27-14 to the Bills and the Jets rolled to a 31-10 victory over the Browns, that line was lowered to Indy -7.
Among the early moves between the 4:30 p.m. PT openers and the 5:30 p.m. PT kickoff of Sunday Night Football, Carolina opened as a 3.5-point home fave over Houston but early money came in on the Texans and lowered it to Carolina -3 (-120).
New Orleans opened as a 9.5-home favorite over Tampa Bay but was bet up to 10.
We'll see whether any other lines move when most of the rest of the Las Vegas books post their Week 2 lines on Monday morning.
[h=2]Week 2 openers[/h]Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook
Broncos
Chiefs, -3
Texans
Panthers, -3.5, -3 (-120)
Buccaneers
Saints, -9.5, -10
49ers
Steelers, -6.5
Lions
Vikings, -3 (-120)
Patriots, -1
Bills
Cardinals, -2.5
Bears
Titans
Browns, -2
Chargers
Bengals, -3.5
Rams, -3 (-120)
Redskins
Falcons
Giants, -2.5
Ravens
Raiders, off
Dolphins, -6
Jaguars
Cowboys
Eagles, -4
Seahawks
Packers, -3 (-120)
Jets
Colts -7
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