Point Spreads Tighten for NFL Week 14, According to TheLines

As the NFL playoff races heat up, the week 14 schedule offers among the most competitive slate of games so far, according to TheLines.com, which tracks odds in the U.S. regulated sports betting market.

A consensus of the nation’s largest legal online sportsbooks — including DraftKings, FanDuel, PointsBet, PlaySugarHouse, BetMGM, Unibet, and William Hill — have 15 of the 16 games on this week’s schedule feature point spreads of 7.5 points or less.

The one outlier this week is the Seattle Seahawks, who enter this week as 13.5-point favorites over the hapless New York Jets. But the Seahawks are no sure thing, a fact made clear after their 17-12 upset loss to the New York Giants on Sunday. In fact, while favorites of 13.5 points or more have overwhelmingly won their games straight up since 2010, against the spread they are just 47-56-1.

Of course, the 0-12 Jets have found themselves big underdogs in almost every game this season, and yet they are just 4-8 against the spread so far this season. At 2-9, only the Dallas Cowboys have been worse against the spread. Conversely, the Miami Dolphins enter this week with the league’s best record against the spread at 9-3. That could be a good sign as they enter the week as 7.5-point underdogs to the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs.

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“Wide point spreads draw a lot of attention, but with all that goes on in an NFL game, they can produce unpredictable results. However, with 13 weeks of data to draw from, oddsmakers know well these teams and their tendencies. So, we’re seeing closer agreement on the lines themselves,” Brett Collson, lead analyst for TheLines.com, said.