Football bettors are in a tough situational spot themselves heading into NFL Week 13.
We’re feeling the letdown off Thanksgiving while starting to look ahead to the chaos of Christmas.
Imagine how NFL teams feel at this point in the calendar.
A season’s worth of injuries and travel are taxing and motivations start to mix, depending on where clubs sit in the standings. That puts a little extra weight into situational handicapping — AKA spot bets.
I comb the Week 13 odds for the letdown, look-ahead, and schedule spots to consider when capping the latest lineup for NFL games.
Letdown Spot: Denver Broncos (+3.5) at Houston Texans
The Denver Broncos are the hottest team in the NFL right now, riding a five-game winning streak into a Week 13 road trip to Texas.
The Broncos, who have struggled to score all season, are coming off their biggest offensive output against the league’s top defense, beating the Cleveland Browns 29-12 in Week 12. That said, Denver did benefit from three Cleveland turnovers and only outgained the Browns by 25 total yards.
Denver is a road underdog at the Houston Texans and playing just its second away game since October 22 — a span of more than a month — and only its fifth road game of the season. The Broncos utilized the home-field edge of Mile High in four of those last five wins, with the solo away game coming in Buffalo in Week 10.
The Broncos enjoy a +3.1 average margin at home but sit -14 on the road — thanks in large part to that catastrophic loss at Miami back in Week 3 where they surrendered 70 points. Houston, on the other hand, is enjoying an extended stay with this being its third straight game inside NRG Stadium.
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Look-Ahead Spot: Arizona Cardinals at Pittsburgh Steelers (-5.5)
The Pittsburgh Steelers return home in Week 13 with a 7-4 record in hand after beating up on the Burrow-less Bengals this past weekend.
Pittsburgh is looking down the barrel of a look-ahead spot versus the Arizona Cardinals this Sunday, and the early action is a warning sign around the Steelers.
Pittsburgh opened as big as -6.5 and instantly got chopped down to -5.5, with early play saying "no way" and taking it down through some key numbers.
The Steelers are coming down off that much-needed divisional win and looking past the crappy Cardinals to a short turnaround to play the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football in Week 14.
That opens the back door for the underdog, considering this is a rather large spread for a Pittsburgh team that just doesn’t score many points.
Schedule Spot: Cleveland Browns (+4.5) at Los Angeles Rams
The Cleveland Browns travel to the left side of the land for what will be their second straight road game and third away stop in four weeks.
Bookies have them getting 4.5 points against the Los Angeles Rams in SoFi Stadium. Cleveland is coming off a bad loss at Denver and could be missing big pieces on both sides of the ball.
The Browns, who already lost QB1 Deshaun Watson for the season, might be without rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who left Week 12 with a concussion. Receiver Amari Cooper is also hurting after leaving with a rib injury versus Denver.
On the defense, star DE Myles Garrett was wearing a shoulder sling after Sunday’s loss and is questionable before more tests this week. He’s one of the few rare defensive players actually worth something to the spread.
This trip to Los Angeles is the final stop of a grueling chunk of schedule for Cleveland, which has played five of the last seven contests on the road — a stretch of 43 days.
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