NFL Week 2 Officiating Angles: Finding Edges in Ravens-Bengals, Chiefs-Jaguars and Browns-Steelers
SportsLine expert Larry Hartstein dives into the betting trends to know involving this week's referee assignments
This brand-new column at SportsLine started 2-1 as officiating angles helped us cash Under 44 in Raiders-Broncos and the Buccaneers (+5.5) over the Vikings. We totally whiffed on the Steelers (+2.5) vs. the 49ers.
This season, Joe Gibbs (not the Hall of Fame coach, the NFL referee expert who tweets @NFLrefstats) is collaborating with SportsLine to provide weekly officiating angles. He analyzes the NFL referee assignments from the moment they are released each Tuesday.
Before you make any Week 2 NFL picks or NFL parlays, you need to see what Gibbs and SportsLine senior analyst Larry Hartstein have to say about the officiating crews' tendencies.
A former lead writer for Covers and The Linemakers, Hartstein combines a vast network of Vegas sources with an analytical approach he honed working for Pro Football Focus. Larry tied for 52nd place (out of 1,598 entries) in the 2022 Westgate Las Vegas SuperContest, going 53-34-3 ATS. Those selections formed the basis of his SportsLine NFL best bets, which finished 36-26-1 last season and began the 2023 season 2-1.
We can tell you Hartstein and Gibbs are laying -3 (-122) with the Bengals over the visiting Ravens. Baltimore will be without starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley and starting center Tyler Lindenbaum, who were injured in the Week 1 win over Houston.
That doesn't bode well with Shawn Hoculi as the referee. "Hochuli called 42% of his overall penalties on the offensive line via false start and offensive holding flags in 2022, and currently sits tied for No. 1 in calling offensive holding penalties after one week of the 2023 season," Gibbs noted.
Hartstein also is sharing key officiating angles in Chiefs-Jaguars and Browns-Steelers. You need to see this key referee data before locking in your picks!
So which side of Chiefs-Jaguars has the edge? And what other officiating edges can be found on the Week 2 slate? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Larry Hartstein's Week 1 NFL officiating trends, all from the expert who went 53-34-3 in the SuperContest last year!