Okay, yesterday sucked. There’s no two ways about it. But the good thing about sports is there’s always another game, always another chance to make good and get the W that the Texans should’ve gotten yesterday but—we’re not talking about that right now.
Instead, we’re on to Cincinnati and another home game against the Bengals. According to the nerds in Vegas, it’s going to be another close matchup; at least according to FanDuel Sports Book it is.
Here’s what the nerds think of our odds to start off
week 2:
If you are unfamiliar with gambling odds and this looks like some ancient untranslated tome, allow me to offer some assistance.
The first boxes show what is known as the “spread.” The spread is basically imaginary points that would affect the course of a game if they were real. Imagine at the start of the game, a points fairy arrived and blessed one of the teams with some bonus points right away. In the example above, the Bengals would start this game with three points and the Texans would start with three points less.
If you were to bet on the Texans, and why wouldn’t you, the Texans would have to defeat the Bengals by more than three points to collect winnings. If they lost or won by one or two points, you would lose your bet. If the Texans won by three points exactly, it would be a push (draw) and you’d get your money back.
The second column is the money line. This is a straight up “I’m picking the Bengals or the Texans to win.” The numbers represent the amount you need to bet in order to win that amount.
If you bet on the Bengals, you would have to bet $100 to win $130 (because they have a positive money line). If you bet on the Texans, you would have to bet $154 to win $100 (because they have a negative money line).
The final column is the over/under. In this, you would bet on whether the total combined points in the game will be over or under an arbitrary number made up by the nerds to split betting evenly. In this case, the over/under is 46.5 points. Which means if you bet the over, you would need the Texans and Bengals to score at least 47 points to win. If you bet the under, you need the teams to score 46 or fewer points. If the O/U were a non-decimal number, a push (draw) would be possible.
Clear as mud? Excellent.
Here’s the breakdown this week:
Point Spread
Cincinnati Bengals +3
Houston Texans -3
Money Line
Cincinnati Bengals +130 (bet $100 to win $130)
Houston Texans – 154 (bet $154 to win $100)
Over/Under: 46.5
Please do NOT take financial advice from a football blog. Please play responsibly.
