Big Ben’s injury just beginning of ugly day for betting public

At the moment Ben Roethlisberger was carted off the field with yet another injury, bettors on the Pittsburgh Steelers should have expected the worst. Roethlisberger's health was not the concern. The point-spread cover was in critical condition.

Could the Steelers protect a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter without their star quarterback? The answer: Big Ben's injury was the beginning of a pretty ugly Sunday for the betting public.

The Oakland-Pittsburgh result went down to the wire and, like most other big decisions, it went against the bettors.

"Unbelievable," said Jimmy Vaccaro, oddsmaker at the South Point sports book. "We obviously got lucky with that."

Lady luck plays a big factor in NFL wagering, and she can be with you one moment and leave you the next. What happened in Pittsburgh was something rarely seen, but part of the league's attraction is we see something new and wild every week.

The Steelers blew the lead, of course. The score was tied at 35 when Antonio Brown hauled in a pass from Landry Jones and turned it into a 57-yard gain to the Raiders' 15-yard line. At that point, with 45 seconds remaining, Oakland was a near lock to cover as a 6-point underdog.

DeAngelo Williams took a handoff and ran for 5 yards. With 11 seconds to go, Williams took another handoff, broke free to the outside and headed for the end zone — to the horror of bookmakers and bettors on the Raiders.

"I don't understand why the Steelers were running the ball," Vaccaro said. "What are they doing running the ball on those two plays to begin with? Kneel down at the 15-yard line and kick the field goal."

As luck would have it, Williams appeared to pull up and was shoved out of bounds about an inch from the goal line. Pittsburgh won 38-35 on Chris Boswell's 18-yard field goal.

"We did need the Raiders to cover," Sunset Station sports book director Chuck Esposito said. "But the Titans' upset of the Saints was by far the biggest game for us."

New Orleans was the setting for the day's biggest disaster for bettors. The Saints, 7-point favorites, led 28-20 after Drew Brees' third touchdown pass with 11:32 remaining. To make a long story short, a high percentage of parlay and teaser tickets were thrown into the trash when Marcus Mariota passed for a 5-yard touchdown in overtime to lift Tennessee to a 34-28 victory.

In New York, the Jets, popular 7½-point favorites, took a 28-16 lead on a Ryan Fitzpatrick-to-Brandon Marshall touchdown pass with 2:41 to go. Twenty-five seconds later, Blake Bortles' touchdown pass got Jacksonville in the back door in the Jaguars' 28-23 loss.

In Carolina, Aaron Rodgers tried to lead Green Bay back from a 23-point deficit with nine minutes left. But the Packers, popular 2½-point favorites, fell short when Rodgers was intercepted near the end zone. The Panthers improved to 8-0, and still most bettors don't believe in them.

In San Francisco, Blaine Gabbert played the hero role, and that was hard to believe. His two touchdown passes helped the 49ers, unpopular 8½-point underdogs, pull off a 17-16 upset of Atlanta.

"The best two games for us were the Packers and Falcons, exactly the same as last week," Vaccaro said. "There were no real bad games."

Underdogs went 6-5 with four straight-up wins. Indianapolis staged the most significant upset by beating Denver 27-24. It was not Peyton Manning's lucky day. Not only did he lose to Andrew Luck and his former team again, he fell 3 yards shy of becoming the NFL's career passing leader in the Broncos' first defeat. Sharp money surfaced on the Colts, driving the line from 5½ to 3½, but the public played the favorite.

"We did need the Colts to cover. The public clearly was on the Broncos," Esposito said. "I thought Luck kind of woke up in the fourth quarter against the Panthers on Monday night. This was a gut-check game for the Colts. I still think Denver is the second-best team in the league."

Colts coach Chuck Pagano is far from the best game manager in the league. The Broncos' Omar Bolden returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown as time expired in the first half because Pagano was not smart enough to direct his punter to boot the ball out of bounds.

"It's really a head-scratcher," Esposito said. "That play before the half could have been catastrophic for Pagano. If the Colts had lost that game, that very well may have sealed his fate."

The best team in the league, New England, kept rolling. The Patriots, 14-point favorites, rocked the Washington Redskins 27-10. Buffalo, Minnesota and the New York Giants also covered as favorites.

The Giants were involved in the craziest play, scoring on Trevin Wade's 5-yard fumble return as time ran out. Wade scooped up a loose ball as Tampa Bay attempted a desperation lateral that went wrong. New York won 32-18, with its last touchdown putting the score over the total of 49.

"I didn't see the end of the game," Esposito said. "I looked at the score and said, 'What happened?' "

The night ended in Dallas, where the betting majority finally got lucky and cashed in on Philadelphia's 33-27 victory over the Cowboys. The Eagles, 3-point favorites, escaped on Sam Bradford's 41-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Matthews on the opening drive of overtime. Twenty-six points in the fourth quarter pushed the score over the total of 44.

According to reports out of Pittsburgh, Roethlisberger has a sprained foot and will miss only a couple of games, so the Steelers got lucky, too.

— Las Vegas Review-Journal sports betting columnist Matt Youmans can be reached at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts "The Las Vegas Sportsline" weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM). Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.