After a surprisingly hot start to the season, the Indianapolis Colts lost four of five contests coming out of a critical Week 14 divisional defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars and, worse, they lost breakout star QB Daniel Jones to a season-ending Achilles injury. Desperate times call for desperate measures, though, so Indy called upon Philip Rivers to breathe life into the team's slimming playoff hopes.
While the 44-year-old grandfather came up just short of pulling off a huge road upset over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, his presence set off a frenzy among the betting public, especially in the props markets.
Rivers to throw a touchdown pass was the most popular non-TD scorer prop at DraftKings on Sunday, which he cashed with an eight-yard score by Josh Downs in the second quarter; Rivers' one TD pass was more than Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes or Drake Maye were able to muster on the day, with the latter's prop to throw two touchdown passes being the second-most popular such prop at DraftKings.
Rivers to throw two touchdowns and Rivers to pass for over 199.5 yards were the third- and fifth-most popular non-TD props, respectively, at DraftKings for the day.
Despite the veteran quarterback's limited mobility in his advanced age, bettors were also backing him to get in the end zone himself: With odds hovering around +2000, a Rivers anytime touchdown would have paid out 10 times the next closest anytime TD scorer prop in total money, while his first touchdown would have paid out three times the next closest, according to Caesars Sportsbook's head of football Joey Feazel.
While the books might have lost a bit on Rivers throwing a touchdown pass, the rest of the game largely went in their favor.
"The anticipated Philip Rivers return certainly did not disappoint," Feazel told ESPN over email. "The book needed Seattle to win, but not to cover the spread. The Seahawks were hugely popular on the spread, and there was significant interest on a potential straight-up upset on the money line to make them a winner in the book for the customers."
Indianapolis certainly made it interesting by leading for a significant portion of the game, ultimately falling to a Jason Myers' field goal in the last minute. However, that meant the Colts easily covered the closing number of +12.5, making them the only double-digit underdog out of five to cover Sunday.
It would go down as the largest underdog role of Rivers' storied career, as well as the Colts' largest underdog role since 2017, per ESPN Research. Indy opened as a 5.5-point home underdog against the San Francisco 49ers for Monday Night Football in Week 16.
While Sunday's loss could be the end of the Colts' playoff hopes, Rivers could hope to bring home some individual hardware: Going into Sunday's action, he was +1200 to win Comeback Player of the Year -- third on the board behind Christian McCaffrey (-135) and Dak Prescott (+125). It remains to be seen how Sunday's performance will affect his standing in that market.
NFL odds and ends
Four weeks ago, the Kansas City Chiefs were the favorites to win the Super Bowl. On Sunday, they were eliminated from the playoffs by a home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Chiefs entered the season at around -350 or shorter favorites to make the playoffs. Only three teams -- the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills -- had shorter postseason odds. Entering the season, BetMGM reported that 85% of the money wagered was on Kansas City to reach the postseason for an 11th straight season. That money will be staying with the house, but there was more bad news for Chiefs supporters.
On top of the postseason disappointment, quarterback Patrick Mahomes injured his left knee late in the game. The Chiefs announced after the contest that Mahomes sustained a torn ACL.
Kansas City had been a 10.5-point road favorite over the Tennessee Titans next week, before Mahomes' injury. When the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas reposted the line on the game, the Chiefs were 4.5-point favorites.
"It's been a very long time since the Chiefs played in a meaningless game unless they were simply resting for the playoffs. It's strange to see," John Murray, vice president of the SuperBook, told ESPN. "Kansas City has so many injuries on offense, but, of course, the main thing is the downgrade from Mahomes to [backup quarterback Gardner] Minshew. The Titans are just so bad, and they also have nothing to play for. Kansas City still has some proud veterans, and they won't care about where they pick in the draft."
Buffalo rallied from a 21-0 deficit to beat the New England Patriots and stay in the AFC East race. The Bills' odds to win the game got as long as 9-1 at halftime, when they trailed 24-7. Buffalo rallied in the second half for a 35-31 win.
The Patriots, who would've clinched the division with a win, are -260 favorites to win the AFC East in DraftKings' updated odds, with the Bills listed at +210.The Bills' rally spoiled a generous $1.05 million money-line bet on the Patriots placed by Boston IT entrepreneur Evan Loring with Fanatics Sportsbook. Loring said in a news release announcing the wager that he would be donating $500,000 to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, win or lose.
The Carolina Panthers (-2.5) lost their 12th consecutive game when favored, falling to the underdog New Orleans Saints 20-17. It's the longest such streak in the Super Bowl era. No other team has ever lost more than nine consecutive games as a favorite (Seahawks 1979 to 1981).
NFL favorites went 8-5 against the spread in the Sunday afternoon games. Seven games went over and six games went under, ahead of the Sunday night game.
Other odds & ends
Boxing: Jake Paul begins the week in an unfamiliar position -- a massive betting underdog.
DraftKings has Paul listed as a 7-1 underdog against Anthony Joshua in a heavyweight boxing match slated for Friday in Miami. It's the first time in at least his past four fights that Paul has been an underdog.
Feazel of Caesars Sportsbook said the action on the fight has been "steady," with the betting public siding with Paul.
NBA: The New York Knicks opened as 2-point favorites over the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup final on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
College football: Three of the four home teams -- Miami, Ole Miss and Oregon -- remain favored in their opening round College Football Playoff games. Alabama, which faces Oklahoma, is the only road team favored to start the week. The Crimson Tide are 1.5-point favorites over the Sooners.