Sharp money moves line on Raiders-Giants

After the abrupt resignation of coach Jon Gruden on Oct. 11, the Raiders regrouped and won, covered and went over the total in back-to-back games before their bye week.

Now the team returns to action on the road against the New York Giants five days removed from Tuesday’s fatal car crash involving Raiders receiver Henry Ruggs that claimed the life of Las Vegas resident Tina Tintor.

“With everything that happened, I’m hoping this is a circle-the-wagons game and not a letdown game,” Treasure Island sportsbook director Tony Nevill said.

Sharp bettors are banking on the Raiders (5-2, 4-3 ATS) to be resilient and cover against the Giants as consensus 3-point favorites. The line had climbed to 3½ on Friday at the South Point, Treasure Island and Circa Sports, which took sharp money on the Raiders.

“(From) a sharp market follower,” Circa sportsbook manager Chris Bennett said in a text. “And we hadn’t seen anything significant on the Giants.”

Bettors are all over the AFC West-leading Raiders at Station Casinos, where 82 percent of the tickets are on the favorite.

“The money wagered and the ticket count are both huge in favor of the Raiders,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “The Raiders are coming off their bye, which gave Josh Jacobs and Darren Waller time to get healthy. And they’re playing a Giants team that’s banged up and not very good right now.

“Maybe getting out of town for a road game will be good for them.”

New York (2-6, 4-4 ATS) has covered its last two games: a 25-3 home win over Carolina followed by a 20-17 loss at Kansas City on Monday night.

But the Giants are expected to be without running back Saquon Barkley and receiver Sterling Shepard, among others, though wideout Kenny Golladay hopes to play after missing the last three games with a knee injury.

The total is at 46½ after opening at 47½.

“The total is down because the Raiders’ wide receiver corps is clearly worse without Ruggs,” Bennett said. “They don’t have a deep wide receiver corps. He was their No. 1 wide receiver and was playing pretty well this season.

“That hurts the Raiders’ chances in this game and for the rest of the season.”

Westgate SuperBook vice president of risk Ed Salmons said the Raiders are in a tough spot for several reasons besides the Gruden resignation and tragedy involving Ruggs. The team has to travel across the country for a 10 a.m. body-clock game and might start slow coming off their bye.

“There are a lot of things working against the Raiders,” he said. “They had the bye week where they were feeling really good about themselves and now they have this going on.

“Sometimes a team has a bye week and instead of working hard for the next game, they just essentially celebrate what they’ve done. It’s a young team.”

Salmons has been impressed with the Giants’ defense the last two games and, barring turnovers, expects New York to cover.

“I would take the Giants or leave the game alone,” he said.

At Caesars Sportsbook, bettors are backing New York.

“We saw some early action for the Giants after they gave Kansas City their all,” Caesars vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said. “Nothing heavy or super sharp. Will definitely need the Raiders come Sunday as bettors tend to oppose teams in turmoil.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.