Five outright underdog winners; Patriots hold strong for sharps by The Gaming Today’s, Micah Roberts

 Las Vegas sports book were rocking Sunday with a buzz we
haven’t seen since Week 1.

Part was almost every media outlet hyping the Patriots visit to
Denver, which helped spur the largest single game handle of the season for many
books. It also was all the wonderful upsets.

Although the bettors experienced a rare collective loss on the
day, the price of admission was almost worth it. The early games gave us five
outright underdog winners, including the Packers 19-14 loss at KC as 14-point
underdogs and the winless Colts taking down Tennessee.

While small money was laying whatever spread there was on Green
Bay, sharp money came in strong Sunday morning on the Chiefs dropping the line
to -11 by kickoff.

Just last week Lucky’s sports books had taken down their odds
asking if the Packers would go undefeated because it looked too inevitable with
only three games remaining. Their final price on the proposition was YES, they
would go undefeated -140.

Between the Packers loss and the Patriots impressive 41-23 win
at Denver, the Las Vegas Hilton Super Book immediately dropped its Super Bowl
line from NFC -4½ to -3½. The Packers remain 9-5 favorites to win the Super
Bowl, but the Patriots were dropped down to 4-1.

New England was also lowered to win the AFC at 7-5 favorite due
to being two steps closer to securing home field advantage. The Ravens and
Texans both came into Week 15 at 10-3 and were contending for home field.

For Baltimore, not getting home field will be a huge
disadvantage for them. Their loss to San Diego as 2½-point favorites was their
fourth on the road. Losing at San Diego in December where Philip Rivers is now
23-2 as a starter in understandable, but it adds to the bad losses at
Jacksonville, Seattle and Tennessee.

The Texans were a popular bet Sunday with the public laying any
number from the opener of -7 to -6½. Sharp money started floating in Friday on
the Panthers and pushed the game down to -5½ by kickoff. It was a tough spot for
rookie T.J. Yates to bounce back off a huge emotional win last week in
Cincinnati. The Texans could be in trouble and more questions will surface why
they didn’t go after Orton when Matt Schaub went down.

The Patriots game went as planned by the public and sharps.
Small money came in at a 3-to-2 ratio on the Pats while large money pushed the
line from 5 to -7½ at most books. Cantor Gaming sports books were way ahead of
the curve on the game with its -9½ (+105) line.

For the first time all season we saw Tim Tebow and the Broncos
set the early fast pace and take an early 17-6 lead behind 167 yards of rushing
in the first quarter. However, things quickly turned as three critical second
quarter turnovers allowed the Patriots to run off 27 unanswered points.

Missing from the game was the Broncos pass rush that has
pestered opposing quarterbacks all season. It was almost as if coach John Fox
was giving Tom Brady too much respect by keeping defenders back and not blitzing
as much as we have seen throughout Denver games.

The Broncos defense was also severely weakened by not having
Brian Dawkins patrol the outfield. Dawkins replacement, rookie Rahim Moore, made
Tony Lilly from the Broncos past look like a good tackler.

Despite the loss, most will agree that Tebow played very well
and just got outgunned by one of the league’s all-time best.

The Broncos (8-6) aren’t clear in the AFC West just yet. We’ve
seen the Chargers (7-7) catch them from way behind before and they’re coming on
strong again, just one game behind. The Raiders (7-7) are also in the hunt
despite losing three games in a row.

The winner of the AFC West will be a No. 4 seed in the playoffs
with a home game likely against the Ravens or Steelers, which isn’t going to be
easy. With so much up in the air, odds to win the AFC have the Broncos 13-1,
Chargers 10-1 and Raiders 75-1. Should the Chargers get in, their offense
provides more possibilities for running the playoff table, especially if they
come in with a five game winning streak.

The NFC still has a nice battle going with the Eagles still
alive and well, as crazy as that sounds. It was just two weeks ago where the
Eagles were 500-1 to win the NFC. After a few Giants and Cowboys losses, they
are down to 15-1 while the Cowboys are 10-1.

For the Eagles to get in, it’s pretty simple. They need to beat
the Cowboys and have the Jets beat the Giants this week. In Week 17, they’ll
have to beat the Redskins and have the Giants beat the Cowboys. That would make
all three teams 8-8 with the Eagles holding a 5-1 division record.

Crazier things have happened. It was just two months ago we
witnessed the Cardinals win the World Series when the sports books adjusted them
to 1,000-to-1 midway through September and five games out.

For the week, favorites went 7-7-1 ATS making the season total 106-109-5.

You can get all of Micah Roberts’ free NFL winners and articles right here at www.aasiwins.com.