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STN Sports Weekly Rundown

December 8, 2021

It’s early, but the gift giving has begun at Station Casinos and on the STN app. The gifts included the Rams, Buccaneers and Colts, all teams the public pounced on over the weekend, and all teams that covered the spreads. Last Sunday was a tale of two halves for the Station Casinos Sports Book, as it saw loss after loss after loss during the morning session (a good thing for bettors,) but the Book damn near swept the board in the latter half of the day. The day was more improbable than Antonio Brown’s vaccination status. On the heels of a big sports week and with a massive NFL weekend in sight, let’s look back at the past few days, and look ahead to what we can expect in the sports world.

Lower Expectations
Under bettors continued to cash in on Denver and Jacksonville. Sunday marked the seventh straight under for the Jags, whereas Denver went under the total in its sixth straight affair. Both teams have perfectly mastered the limbo dance. And, like most people, both teams are falling on their faces. Denver’s unexpected undefeated start is nothing but a memory, as they’re in last place in the AFC West. “Denver prides itself on its defense, and Jacksonville just doesn’t score,” said Chuck Esposito, Station Casinos Sports Book Director. Miami, by the way, is also on the under train, going low on five of its last six games.

Buc Beat
So, you took the Buccaneers -6 in the first half against the Falcons. All was well in your world, as Tampa Bay was up 20-10 with under 30 seconds to go and Tom Brady had the ball in his hands. It seemed likely they’d just run the ball, kill the clock and go into halftime with a double digit lead. Shots for everyone! Shots, Shots, Shots… Oh, Sh*t!! Rather than running the ball, Brady threw a screen pass. The pass, though, was picked off and returned the other way for a touchdown. Halftime score: 20-17 Bucs. Falcons covered the halftime line in insane fashion. To make matters worse (on the other side of the coin,) ATL bettors looked like they were sitting pretty with their +10.5 or +11 tickets as the minutes wound down in the game. The Bucs let off the gas in the second half, and they seemed more than content to go home with a 10-point win. But, as Tampa Tom does, he took the ball deep in his own zone and methodically marched his troops down the field. With under two minutes to go, Tampa punched in a field goal, hereby punching Atlanta bettors in the gut. Final 30-17. This game had more swings than a playground.

Last Is Best
Last. Men. Standing. Plural. Not one, but two men won Station Casinos’ Last Man Standing NFL contest. The men were the last two remaining in the contest, and both bet Dallas on Thanksgiving, meaning the Cowboys gave both men the bird on Turkey Day! Still, the winners, both Palace Station bettors, split the $150,000 prize and each took home $75,000. Palace Station Sports Book Manager Joe Bromelia said, “It was a wild finish for these two in the Last Man Standing, with both losing on Dallas.” Big D stands for Big Disappointment. Still, an extra $75,000 in your pocket ain’t bad. That’ll come close to getting you a tank of gas in this day and age.

Football Team Dreams
Pop quiz: who has the longest winning streak in the NFC? If you guessed the Washington Football Team you’d be right (and smarter than almost anyone… or just a diehard fan.) WFT has rattled off four wins in a row. They have a massive test on their hands this weekend with Dallas. Washington is an underdog of more than a field goal at home. “I still think Dallas is the best team in the NFC East, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re playing in February,” Esposito said. “They’re not quite as dominant as they were early in the season, but Washington is making a serious push for the postseason. They win kind of ugly, but they get the job done.” There’s no such thing as style points in the NFL.

Los Angeles or Loss Angeles?
Don’t get it twisted, this is a make-or-break week for the Los Angeles Rams. A Super Bowl favorite to begin the year, they have fallen behind the pack and take on the league-leading Cardinals on Monday night. This is far from easy for L.A., as they’ve only beaten two teams with winning records, and that was in week two and three (Bucs and Colts.) “I think a Rams loss on Monday night is catastrophic. It means they are going to be a wildcard team, meaning that they’re going to have to play three games on the road,” Esposito said. “The Cardinals, if they win here, they solidify themselves as the top team in the NFC. But, I think it’s a much bigger game to the Rams because if they do happen to win, it kind of makes the NFC West a little more interesting over the last four weeks of the season.” The Book, for what it’s worth, favors the Cards.

Chill Out
Blizzards aren’t only available at Dairy Queen. On Monday night, the Patriots and Bills played in miserable conditions: snow, high winds and temperatures colder than Nick Saban’s heart. In regard to the Buffalo/New England game, the total for that game dropped nearly a touchdown from the time it was first posted on the board. Some of that certainly had to do with normal line movement, but the conditions also played a huge part. Now that we’ve entered into winter, weather is something that bettors should look into, particularly in regard to outdoor games in cold climate cities. Think of it like a third team. “It’s something bettors should be paying attention to. We clearly look at it all the time and monitor, make adjustments and talk about it internally,” Esposito said. “That’s part of the information era, wherein the bettor should do their homework on that. I mean, if you bet that Buffalo/New England game over, you surely didn’t know the weather report.”

Going Bowling
Things are getting awkward in college football. It’s that magical time of year when coaches often jump ship and head off to greener pastures. It’s basically a rite of passage for an in-demand coach to pack up and leave their now-former program without a leader. The Oklahoma-Oregon game, for instance, will feature interim coaches on both sidelines, as Lincoln Riley and Mario Cristobal both left for USC and Miami, respectively. While coaching matters, so too does player availability. It’s become commonplace for top-line players to opt out of playing in lesser bowl games, something to keep in mind for bowl game betting. Oregon stud Kayvon Thibodeaux, a likely top five pick in April’s NFL Draft, won’t play. In bowls, especially lower tier bowls, the better team doesn’t always win. There’s a “Who’s more motivated to win this game” line of thinking when it comes to these games. In Oregon’s case, they were a shoo-in for the College Football Playoff just a couple weeks ago, but lost. Then, they had a shot at the prestigious Rose Bowl, but lost. Now, they’re spending their holiday at the Alamo Bowl. Oh yeah, their coach took his talents to South Beach, too. The Alamo doesn’t have a basement, but Oregon probably feels like it’s in it (shout out to the Pee-Wee Herman fans who get that joke.) Oklahoma seems to be in a better situation motivation-wise, as Sooners legend Bob Stoops will coach the team for the game. Players step up for coaches in bowls. “In Oklahoma’s case, this is a big deal to have Stoops step in,” Bromelia said. “He’s a legend and they’re definitely going to play hard for him.” Notre Dame might be the opposite of Oklahoma, and not just in terms of religion. The Irish lost its all-time winning coach in Brian Kelly, but social media showed the players going nuts for new head coach Marcus Freeman. Those kids are motivated to play for him. That wasn’t fake. Brian Kelly’s newfound Louisiana accent, however, is fake.

Huge Win
You win some, and you win some! A Station Casinos bettor cashed a $250,000 ticket over the weekend after hitting on a multi-team money line parlay. The unnamed bettor had one college football game on his ticket, and several NFL teams. The last team he needed for the quarter of a million dollar win? The Chiefs on Sunday night. It was evident quickly that that outcome was never really in doubt. Celebrate good times!

Ice Chaos
What’s happening in Philadelphia and Long Island? Back in the NHL Playoff bubble, which was only last year, the Flyers were the top seed. Last season, the Islanders made it to the semifinals. This year neither of them seems to realize the season started, as both having rattled off impressive losing streaks. There was some thinking that the Isles might turn things around when they finally began playing in their own barn, having played all of their early games on the road. They haven’t, having lost 11 straight before finally netting a win against Ottawa on Tuesday. The Flyers, meanwhile, are really in the crapper. In just 24 hours, they lost their ninth straight game, fired their coach and a dog took a dump on their logo at center ice (that’s a true story and perfectly exemplifies the season.) That is a bad day by any standards! “More than any other league, you see that happen early in the season where teams make the adjustment quick,” Esposito said. “Sometimes you see success. St. Louis canned their coach early in the season a few years ago and went on to win the Cup.”

Bets To Know

UFC 269 is this weekend with some great fights to look out for on the STN Sports App.

There are plenty of ways to bet the fights, and it’s not just simply picking winners outright. On certain fights, the app offers props of submissions, decisions, KOs, and more on specific fighters. So whether you like a submission specialist or are rooting for knockouts, you have plenty of options to make things interesting.

STN Sports Weekly Winners

A bettor hit this 5-team parlay over the weekend playing Pro Football. They bet:

– Dolphins -6.5
– Cardinals -7.5
– Bucs -11
– Chiefs -9
– Rams Moneyline