Washington’s Ron Rivera, Alex Smith favored to win NFL awards

After the Steelers beat the Ravens to improve to 11-0, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin was a heavy favorite at Circa to win the NFL Coach of the Year award.

Two straight Steelers losses later, Tomlin has dipped to the third choice in what’s shaping up as a close race down the stretch.

Washington’s Ron Rivera emerged as the +275 favorite this week, and the Dolphins’ Brian Flores is the +315 second choice.

Also in the mix are the Bills’ Sean McDermott (+695) and the Rams’ Sean McVay (11-1).

“Five guys have got a great shot, and there’s only three weeks left,” Circa sportsbook manager Chris Bennett said. “The market has changed significantly from week to week. It’s been a fun and challenging pool to manage.”

Tomlin, as high as -290 before dropping to +340, has Pittsburgh (11-2) back in top form after it went 8-8 last season.

“Had the Steelers gone undefeated or 15-1, that’s guy’s probably going to get Coach of the Year,” Bennett said. “But they still could finish 14-2. It’s not like I’m counting out Tomlin because he lost two in a row.”

“A resurrection”

Rivera’s Football Team dealt Pittsburgh its first loss and has won four straight games to take the NFC East lead. Washington is 6-7 in Rivera’s first season after finishing 3-13 last season.

“There are lots of things going in his favor, including the emotional angle, as Rivera had cancer and recovered from that,” Bennett said. “I figure that’s going to factor into the voting.”

Jimmy Johnson is the only person to win Coach of the Year with a losing record. He guided the Cowboys to a 7-9 record in 1990 after they went 1-15 in 1989. He’s also the only coach in the last 41 years to win the award without double-digit wins (not including the shortened 1982 season and interim coach Bruce Arians in 2012).

“Usually the winner of this thing is a guy who does a resurrection and turns a (bad team) into something decent,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “They usually never reward a guy who has a really good team and maintains it.”

If Washington finishes 8-8 or 9-7 and wins the division, Bennett likes Rivera’s chances.

“That would be three wins above their season wins (total) and making the playoffs dealing with three quarterbacks during the season,” he said. “And just the state of the franchise being so horrible the last few years. There’s a lot of things there.”

Worst results

Not that Bennett is rooting for “Riverboat Ron.” Rivera would be the worst result for Circa, which took a notable bet on him at 40-1 in August and had him higher than 100-1 at one point.

Flores would be the worst case at the Westgate, which took a $1,000 wager on him at 30-1 and closed his odds at 25-1. He has directed the Dolphins to an 8-5 record after going 5-11 last season.

“You’ve got to figure that Dolphins team gets to 10 wins,” Bennett said. “Even if they don’t win their division, where that team was at the beginning of last year to where they are now, Flores has a great chance to win.”

Buffalo (10-3) and the Rams (9-4) have matched their win totals from last season and are leading their divisions.

Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski was one of the favorites before dropping to 30-1 after the Browns lost to the Ravens on Monday night. Still, long-suffering Cleveland is 9-4 after going 6-10 last season.

Comeback Player of Year

William Hill and the Westgate closed betting on the Comeback Player of the Year award with Washington quarterback Alex Smith as the 3-1 favorite.

Smith opened at 60-1 at the Westgate, which took a $1,600 wager to win $19,200 on him at 12-1. William Hill would lose almost $100,000 on Smith if he wins the award.

“It sounds like he’s a lock to win,” Westgate vice president of risk Ed Salmons said. “It sounds like everyone wants to give it to him.”

Smith returned to action this season after overcoming a broken leg that required 17 surgeries and led to a life-threatening infection.

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger closed at 4-1 and Browns QB Baker Mayfield at 25-1 at William Hill.

“We wrote more on this than we did for Coach of the Year,” Bogdanovich said. “This award will probably go to the more heartwarming story of Alex Smith because it was life threatening.”

MVP

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is the -175 favorite at Circa to win the NFL MVP award. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is the +175 second choice.

“It’s looking pretty unlikely that anyone else can win this thing,” Bennett said.

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