[h=1]Week 9 early NFL line moves[/h]
Dave Tuley, ESPN Staff Writer
ESPN INSIDER
Editor's note: This column appears each 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 prior to Tuesday (so Week 10 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 -- There weren't a lot of big changes between the NFL Week 9 advance lines that the Westgate SuperBook put up on Tuesday and the "openers" that it posted after all of the Week 8 game days had been played Sunday.
However, there was an interesting move after the openers were posted in one of the marquee Week 9 matchups. Green Bay visits Carolina and the Westgate had the Packers listed as 3-point favorites in advance wagering last week. Neither played during the day on Sunday (with Green Bay playing at Denver on Sunday night and Carolina hosting Indianapolis on ESPN's Monday Night Football), so it was no surprise that the Westgate stuck with that same number.
Now, most books keep games involving those teams off the board, so there was no line for anyone to compare it to, yet the Westgate took a big bet on Carolina plus-3 within the first five minutes and lowered the line to plus-2.5. The Westgate takes $5,000 bets on its openers.
We'll see if that was the right bet and how the line gets affected with the results from the Sunday and Monday night games before most books put a line back up on Green Bay-Carolina on Tuesday morning.
The Jacksonville-New York Jets and Tennessee-New Orleans lines were left off the board due to QB situations with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the Jets and Marcus Mariota for the Titans.
Here's a look at a few of the adjustments to the Week 9 lines:
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Browns at Bengals (Thursday): Cincinnati was minus-9.5 on the advance line, but after the Bengals outlasted the Steelers 16-10 and the Browns lost 34-20 to the Cardinals, the line was reopened at Cincinnati minus-10. Several offshore books went with minus-10.5, but the rest of the books here in Vegas that open their NFL lines on Sunday nights (William Hill, Wynn, CG Technology and the Stratosphere, where I watched Sunday's games) all went with the Bengals minus-10.
Raiders at Steelers: This game was off the board last week due to the uncertain status of Ben Roethlisberger, but he played Pittsburgh's whole game on Sunday and this opened at Steelers minus-5.5.
Dolphins at Bills: Buffalo was minus-2 on the advance line last week and was idle this week after its London trip, but the Dolphins were blown out 36-7 on Thursday night and the Westgate moved this to Buffalo minus-3.
The rest of the adjustments from the advance lines were Minnesota from minus-3 to minus-2.5 (-120) against St. Louis, Atlanta minus-4.5 to minus-4 at San Francisco, Philadelphia minus-2 to minus-2.5 at Dallas, and San Diego minus-4.5 to minus-4 against Chicago on Monday Night Football.
And that's it.
And there were no lines, except for Green Bay-Carolina, that moved by kickoff of the Sunday night game.
We'll see how all of these lines get further bet into shape after the rest of the sportsbooks put up their openers on Monday morning and then follow them through the week.
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</tbody></aside>Note: Home teams in CAPS. The first number is the Westgate's advance line from last Tuesday; the second number is the Sunday afternoon "opener"; the third number is the move as of the kickoff of the Sunday night game.
Dave Tuley, ESPN Staff Writer
ESPN INSIDER
Editor's note: This column appears each 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 prior to Tuesday (so Week 10 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 -- There weren't a lot of big changes between the NFL Week 9 advance lines that the Westgate SuperBook put up on Tuesday and the "openers" that it posted after all of the Week 8 game days had been played Sunday.
However, there was an interesting move after the openers were posted in one of the marquee Week 9 matchups. Green Bay visits Carolina and the Westgate had the Packers listed as 3-point favorites in advance wagering last week. Neither played during the day on Sunday (with Green Bay playing at Denver on Sunday night and Carolina hosting Indianapolis on ESPN's Monday Night Football), so it was no surprise that the Westgate stuck with that same number.
Now, most books keep games involving those teams off the board, so there was no line for anyone to compare it to, yet the Westgate took a big bet on Carolina plus-3 within the first five minutes and lowered the line to plus-2.5. The Westgate takes $5,000 bets on its openers.
We'll see if that was the right bet and how the line gets affected with the results from the Sunday and Monday night games before most books put a line back up on Green Bay-Carolina on Tuesday morning.
The Jacksonville-New York Jets and Tennessee-New Orleans lines were left off the board due to QB situations with Ryan Fitzpatrick for the Jets and Marcus Mariota for the Titans.
Here's a look at a few of the adjustments to the Week 9 lines:
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Browns at Bengals (Thursday): Cincinnati was minus-9.5 on the advance line, but after the Bengals outlasted the Steelers 16-10 and the Browns lost 34-20 to the Cardinals, the line was reopened at Cincinnati minus-10. Several offshore books went with minus-10.5, but the rest of the books here in Vegas that open their NFL lines on Sunday nights (William Hill, Wynn, CG Technology and the Stratosphere, where I watched Sunday's games) all went with the Bengals minus-10.
Raiders at Steelers: This game was off the board last week due to the uncertain status of Ben Roethlisberger, but he played Pittsburgh's whole game on Sunday and this opened at Steelers minus-5.5.
Dolphins at Bills: Buffalo was minus-2 on the advance line last week and was idle this week after its London trip, but the Dolphins were blown out 36-7 on Thursday night and the Westgate moved this to Buffalo minus-3.
The rest of the adjustments from the advance lines were Minnesota from minus-3 to minus-2.5 (-120) against St. Louis, Atlanta minus-4.5 to minus-4 at San Francisco, Philadelphia minus-2 to minus-2.5 at Dallas, and San Diego minus-4.5 to minus-4 against Chicago on Monday Night Football.
And that's it.
And there were no lines, except for Green Bay-Carolina, that moved by kickoff of the Sunday night game.
We'll see how all of these lines get further bet into shape after the rest of the sportsbooks put up their openers on Monday morning and then follow them through the week.
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| FAVORITE | UNDERDOG | ADVANCE | OPENERS | MOVE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BENGALS | Browns | -9.5 | -10 | |
| STEELERS | Raiders | OFF | -5.5 | |
| JETS | Jaguars | -8 | OFF | |
| VIKINGS | Rams | -3 | -2.5 (-120) | |
| BILLS | Dolphins | -2 | -3 | |
| SAINTS | Titans | OFF | OFF | |
| PATRIOTS | Redskins | -13 | -13 | |
| Packers | PANTHERS | -3 | -3 | -2.5 (-120) |
| Falcons | 49ERS | -4.5 | -4 | |
| Giants | BUCCANEERS | -2.5 | -2.5 | |
| Broncos | COLTS | -3 (EV) | -3 (EV) | |
| Eagles | COWBOYS | -2 | -2.5 | |
| CHARGERS | Bears | -4.5 | -4 |
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