Raiders cover on safety; Niners, Eagles bettors battered in upsets

There are no more NFL unbeatens after a wild Sunday that saw PJ Walker and the Browns knock off the 49ers and Zach Wilson and the Jets upset the Eagles.

The Raiders (-3) bailed out their backers with a backdoor cover on a late safety in a 21-17 win over the Patriots.

But bettors lost big overall after San Francisco (-9½) was defeated 19-17 at Cleveland and Philadelphia (-6½) fell 20-14 at New York.

“It was the best Sunday of the year for our side of the counter,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “Any time you can get two undefeated teams that are heavily bet to both lose outright — which kills straight bets, teasers and money lines — that usually bodes extremely well for our side of the counter.”

The Bills, the biggest favorite on the board at -15, barely held off the Giants in a 14-9 win on “Sunday Night Football” as New York quarterback Tyrod Taylor threw an incompletion in the end zone from the 1 with no time remaining.

Niners-Browns was the week’s most heavily bet game by a wide margin at Caesars Sportsbook, where bettors lost money-line wagers on San Francisco of $150,000 to win $27,000 and $110,000 to win $20,000.

“People see it as an opportunity to buy money,” Caesars vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said.

Brock Purdy suffered his first regular-season loss as a starter, and the Niners, who squandered a 10-0 second-quarter lead, saw their 15-game regular-season winning streak end when Jake Moody missed a 41-yard field goal with six seconds left.

Cleveland, which won with Walker replacing injured quarterback Deshaun Watson, went ahead with 1:40 left on a field goal that capped a drive helped by a disputed unnecessary roughness call against the 49ers.

“The outright Browns win was one of our better results we’ve seen in quite a long time. It was by far the biggest one of the year,” Westgate SuperBook vice president Jay Kornegay said. “The Browns were having quarterback issues, and the Niners just destroyed the Cowboys. It was hard to imagine the Browns beating that team.”

Hurts so bad

The Eagles, who blew a 14-3 second-quarter lead, appeared on their way to a 6-0 start with a 14-12 lead and the ball at midfield with 1:50 left. The Jets had no timeouts. But rather than run time off the clock on third down, Jalen Hurts threw his third interception of the game, and Tony Adams returned it 45 yards to set up Breece Hall’s 8-yard TD run.

“It was an interesting play call not running the 40 seconds off the clock,” Caesars assistant director of trading Adam Pullen said. “You make it, and it’s over. You don’t, and you’re punting it back. But that’s (Eagles coach Nick) Sirianni. He’s a gambler.”

Safety dance

The Raiders led the Patriots 19-10 with 3:43 left, when it appeared they had forced New England to settle for a short field goal. But a roughing the passer penalty gave the Patriots a first down at the 1, and Centennial product Rhamondre Stevenson scored on the next play to make it 19-17.

After the Raiders punted, things did not look good at all for Silver and Black bettors laying three points. But a play after DeVante Parker dropped a deep pass from Mac Jones, a New England delay of game penalty put the ball at its own 4.

On the next play, Raiders bettors got a miracle cover when Jones was sacked in the end zone by Maxx Crosby and Bilal Nichols for a safety that put the Raiders up 21-17 and sealed their win.

The safety resulted in a swing in favor of bettors at Station Casinos and the SuperBook.

“It was a game we thought we were going to win. We clearly needed the Patriots,” Esposito said. “That was just a really bad safety to take by Mac Jones. But he throws a great ball the play before that DeVante Parker drops. This Patriots team is not very good.”

Favorites, unders

The game also stayed under 41½ on a day in which unders went 10-2-1. The only games that went over were the Jaguars’ 37-20 win over the Colts (44) and the Dolphins’ 42-21 rout of the Panthers (47).

Carolina (0-6), the league’s only winless team, led 14-0 early in the second quarter as a 14-point underdog. But Miami, which was still -2½ on the live line, then exploded for 35 consecutive points. The Panthers scored on a pick-six of Mike White with 4:26 left to push the spread. But the Dolphins punched in another TD with 2:31 left to cover.

Favorites finished 8-5 ATS.

“We had a few dog bites today,” Kornegay said. “And the books were overdue for some of those.”

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