NFL final results ATS, week 14 (The Under is Back in Style Edition)

11 December 2018

Judging by the public lamentations of losing bets in week 14 – mostly centered on the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers SU losses for sure, with a healthy dollop of punishment doled out by the Kansas City Chiefs ATS loss. NFLbets was happy to stay away from picking stuff like the outcomes of New England-Miami, Baltimore-Kansas City and L.A. Rams-Chicago. In fact, we’re damn close to become an under born-again as teams rediscover defense in 2018.

Below runs a complete list of results for week 14 in NFLbets’ standard format, i.e. adjusted for the point spread; all results listed in boldface indicate games in which the SU winner did not cover the spread. Comments, questionable humor and the occasional salient point courtesy NFLbets writer/editor Os Davis.

• Tennessee Titans 25½, Jacksonville Jaguars 9. Well, that was a short Golden Age in Jacksonville, eh?

• Baltimore Ravens 24 at Kansas City Chiefs 20½. Because the dominant narrative about the NFL pushed by the talking heads is all about how Offense Rules and The Kansas City Chiefs Are Nearly Unstoppable, fans are bombarded with stories about the Ravens “surprising” in this one. How about this: Despite the SU loss, Baltimore still holds tiebreakers over all over 7-6 teams, the defense is actually quite good and Lamar Jackson ain’t half bad. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are coming back down to Earth, the Andy Reid-led second-half swoon hastened and exacerbated by Kareem Hunt’s expulsion. K.C. better hope they don’t see the Ravens again in the playoffs.

• Oakland Raiders 24, Pittsburgh Steelers 10½. Speaking of teams falling off, anyone who reckoned the Steelers were peaking too early with their 6-game September/October winning streak (ahem) was correct. With vs New England, at New Orleans and vs Cincinnati the remaining games on the schedule, Baltimore might yet nip Pittsburgh for the division itself while Indianapolis sneaks into that no. 6 seed.

• New York Jets 27 at Buffalo Bills 18½
• Detroit Lions 14½, Arizona Cardinals 3. These two games plus the Oakland SHOCKER! against Pittsburgh appear to indicate that no one is really 100% committed to landing that no. 1 overall pick...

• Green Bay Packers 30, Atlanta Falcons 20. OK, let’s see if NFLbets has this right. Interim coach comes in, blows both challenges within 90 seconds of game time, has his quarterback improvise his way through a game played at 20° to 25° against a warm-weather team left for dead a month ago and we’re somehow supposed to believe the Packers are still in the playoff hunt? Come on.

• Dallas Cowboys 25½ at Philadelphia Eagles 23
• Seattle Seahawks 18, Minnesota Vikings 7
• Chicago Bears 15, Los Angeles Rams 3. Tell us one more time that defense doesn’t matter in the NFL in 2018 – and we’ll all have a good chuckle during the Seahawks/Bears or Cowboys/Bears NFC Championship game.

• Cincinnati Bengals 21 at Los Angeles Chargers 9. If the NFL weren’t so ashamed, they’d release real attendance figures for these Chargers games – and NFLbets’d take the under every time.

• New York Giants 37, Washington 16. So this is what it looks like when your entire offense is made up of practice squad guys.

• San Francisco 49ers 20, Denver Broncos 11
Cleveland Browns 26, Carolina Panthers 19. Can we now all agree that neither the Broncos nor the Panthers are very good? Come to think of it, a merger would make one pretty good team.

• Miami Dolphins 34, New England Patriots 23½. Why are the Belichick/Brady Patriots so bad (8-10 SU/7-11 ATS) in Miami? Why was Rob Gronkowski on defense for the game’s final play? How did the Dolphins pull that play off? See, this is why you couldn’t have dragged NFLbets to bet this game.

• New Orleans Saints 18, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14
• Indianapolis Colts 24 at Houston Texans 17. (Does quick check of point spreads.) Yep, the Saints (-6 at Carolina) and Colts (-2½ vs Dallas!) are underrated and overrated based on these ATS/SU wins. Can’t wait to start betting week 15!

For an updated version of the NFL standings by ATS record, click here.