NFL Week 6: Market moves in favor of Patriots, Ravens from look-ahead lines
Comparing look-ahead lines to current numbers can be instructive and Week 6 has some significant movement.
Week 5 of the NFL season is officially in the rear view mirror and there were several interesting results. As you may expect, what actually transpired on the field leads to market reactions, or even flat-out corrections, in the ensuing hours and it is always interesting to evaluate things across the league from the standpoint of where look-ahead lines once were.
In advance of Week 6, several games saw significant movement between their opening and current numbers, including the Thursday night battle between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets. Westgate Las Vegas opened with the Patriots as 14-point favorites on Thursday evening but, after a New England win and a New York loss in Week 5, that number is already out to 16.5 points. It isn't a surprise to see money already moving in favor of Tom Brady and company but, with a stand-alone window, there will be plenty of action on that particular game and line movement could follow.
Elsewhere, the Baltimore Ravens are now 11-point favorites over the Cincinnati Bengals, which is a significant move from the opening number of 8.5 points. Some of that likely stems from another hapless performance from the win-less Bengals but, considering Baltimore struggled a bit in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, a move through the key number of 10 is noteworthy.
Two other games moved three full points, with the Kansas City Chiefs now 5.5-point favorites over the Houston Texans and the Washington Redskins only 3.5-point favorites over the Miami Dolphins. The Chiefs scuffled in a prime-time window in Week 5, losing outright to the Indianapolis Colts and, while the Redskins have the pleasure of facing the Miami Dolphins, they will do so on the road with coaching instability after the firing of Jay Gruden.
Full Week 6 odds can be found here but there is often value to be extracted when comparing look-ahead numbers to current prices, especially when it appears as if the market has over-corrected.