Biggest Underdogs for NFL 2018 Week 1

Many love putting money down on a good underdog when booking football action. Taking favorites every week is both boring and lazy, not to mention unprofitable over the long run. If you’re always going to play it safe, why even bet in the first place? The term thrown around with reckless abandon is any given Sunday, which is obviously shorthand for “on any give Sunday, any team can win”, and sometimes they do just that.

Most NFL upsets come in the first few weeks of the season when teams are still sleeping (San Diego Chargers), or when the gambling public hasn’t realized that a team has made the jump to a higher level (Jacksonville Jaguars), or who’s on their way to stumbling down the ladder (Seattle Seahawks). It happens every year without fail.

Some harder questions to answer at the beginning of this season are:

• Was Jacksonville a fluke in 2017?
• Is this the year when New England finally falls down and can’t get back up?
• What week will the quarterback controversy start in Philadelphia?

Of course, everyone always has the same question: How bad will the Cleveland Browns be? Thankfully, we can bet on the worst team in the NFL and have some fun cheering them on to another heartbreaking campaign. You have to feel bad for Browns fans, but strangely they aren’t even close to being the biggest “Dog” on the board in Week 1.

So who are the biggest  underdogs to get down on? Well, the largest spread involves the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are taking 10 points against the New Orleans Saints at the always-generous Bovada betting site as it seems as if bookmaker Pat Morrow isn’t convinced in Ryan Fitzpatrick’s abilities on the road. This is a frisky division rivalry that would have been interesting if Jameis Winston was playing, but with him suspended, this figures to be a fairly easy game for New Orleans. If you want to stake Drew Brees and the boys, do it at BetOnline to get an extra half point at -9.5.

Another half point difference is found with the next-biggest underdog this Sunday, with Bovada giving Buffalo 8 points against Baltimore and BOL giving them 7.5. This should be an easy win for veteran Joe Flacco as he’s facing 2nd year quarterback Nathan Peterman, who has yet to prove himself as a proper starter thus far.

Things then get crazy as the Packers, Lions, Vikings and Patriots are all favored by either 6 or 7 points over their opponents. With lots of games having big odds like these, you can just smell a few upsets brewing, (49ers outright win, anyone?).

Here are the full odds for Week 1 from BetOnline Sportsbook for U.S. players, who accept all types of action, including live betting throughout every game:

Sunday

***All odds correct as of September 8, 2018.***