LAS VEGAS -- These are ESPN Chalk's weekly NFL betting recaps for every Week 13 game -- with an emphasis on the word "betting."
Sometimes it's clear from the opening kickoff that a team is going to win and/or cover the spread. Other times it looks as if one team is going to coast to victory, but the other rallies, causing bettors to wonder how they could have possibly lost and leading to them cry "Bad beat!" Of course, there are also the back-and-forth, 50-50 games that are virtual coin flips.
This new column, which will also include my takeaways from each game, will separate the different kinds of point-spread results from each week and is intended to be a quick overview for those who have to work on NFL Sundays or otherwise aren't able to watch all the games.
So let's run down Sunday's Week 13 action (plus Thursday's game). We'll also incorporate Rufus Peabody's numbers to give an analytical look at which teams should have covered.
Note: We'll point out crazy over/under results, but this is primarily a recap of the against-the-spread results.
Bad beats (clearly wrong sides)
Washington (+2.5) in 31-23 loss at Arizona
This could very well go in the 50-50 category. To some degree I could argue that the Cardinals looked like the right side at several points of the game, as they were leading by more than the spread at 7-0, 10-6 at halftime, 17-13 and 24-20. However, the Redskins got back inside the number at 24-23 on Dustin Hopkins' 53-yard field goal with 6:01 to play. Washington looked like it might get the ball back -- not once, but twice -- on Arizona's next drive but the Cardinals converted a fourth-and-1 from their own 34-yard line and then had the drive extended on a defensive holding penalty against Josh Norman after not converting on third-and-5.