NFL Opening Lines: Week 1 Point Spreads Feature Big Underdogs

September 5, 2012   ·   Mike Pickett   ·   Jump to comments

Fans and players love to talk about NFL parity, but if there is so much parity, why are there so many huge point spreads in Week 1?
There are more significant spreads this week than in any other year in the past two decades. Significant spreads are defined by Jack Randall of OddsShark.com as home spreads of 10 or more and road spreads of a touchdown or more.
And in one case, the line has been bet from -6.5 all the way to -13.5 at 5Dimes.eu. Miami was -6.5 a week ago and now sits as a 11.5-point road dog at Houston at most Vegas shops.
“Maybe it’s just the matchups or maybe the league is full of hooey when it comes to its parity claims,” Randall, a football analyst, said in an interview Tuesday. “There are four games that meet the criteria and two more met it before betting on the underdogs moved the spreads lower.”
Cleveland and Tennessee are the two big home underdogs. The Browns are currently +9 against the Philadelphia Eagles, while ...

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