Happy New Year, fellow NFL investors! It's definitely been a happy start to the year for the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers, as both teams locked up the No.1 seeds in their respective conferences. These two teams appear to be on a collision course for a rematch of Christmas Night.
Y'all already know what time it is! Let's take a look at a crazy bet and a bad beat from NFL Week 17. May your 2024 be a winning one and we hope you achieve more crazy wins than bad beats this year.
Crazy Bet: Bettor at Caesars Racks Up HUGE Win on the Texans
No one was more thankful that CJ Stroud returned to the starting lineup for the Houston Texans than a big bettor at Caesars! Someone placed a crazy bet of $220,000 on the Texans -4 over the Tennessee Titans on New Years Eve. Luckily for this bettor, this wager was a "rocking-chair" winner since the Texans never trailed in the game.
After a fairly boring first quarter that ended with only a Texans field goal from Ka'imi Fairbairn, Stroud and the offense started heating up in the second stanza. The former Ohio State star hit Brevin Jordan for a 12-yard TD early on in the quarter. The Houston defense also helped the cause as Sheldon Rankins picked up a fumble and rumbled 13 yards into the end zone to boost Houston's lead to 17-0.
The rest of the game was all downhill for the Texans and our crazy bettor. After trading field goals just before the half, Houston's defense clamped down on the Tennessee offense the entire second half. The Titans didn't score a single point in the half, while the Texans added two more Fairbairn field goals to take home a 26-3 home win. Geez, how nice was it for this person to wake up $200,000 richer on New Years Day?
Bad Beat: Jets Break Big Bettor's Heart at DraftKings
It's been a heartbreaking season, to say the least, for Jets fans. They lost future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers in the first game of the season and the offense never found a rhythm without him. Things got even worse on Thursday Night Football, both for the Jets and a certain bettor at DraftKings.
Someone bet almost $66K on the Jets to cover the +7.5-point spread against the upstart Browns. The wager kind of made sense on paper because of Robert Saleh's pretty tough defense. Nevertheless, Joe Flacco and the Browns offense was NOT going to be denied their playoff berth win.
Though oddsmakers were expecting a low-scoring affair, the two teams combined for seven touchdowns in the first half. Two of those scores were defensive TDs, as both quarterbacks threw pick-sixes to their opposing defenses. Two Greg Zuerlein field goals gave our bettor at DraftKings a glimmer of hope in the fourth, but it just didn't work out.
Riley Patterson nailed a 33-yard field goal late in the game to stretch the Browns lead to 17 points. This may have clinched a playoff berth for the Browns, but it resulted in a bad beat for one particular bettor. We're betting (pun-intended) that this person probably made a New Years resolution to never bet on Trevor Siemian ever again.
