Patrick Everson

FOX Sports Betting Analyst

Casual bettors tend to bet on favorites and also love to include them in parlays. But the NFL is one of the most unpredictable professional sports leagues in the world, and this lends itself to several surprising results every week.

Not this week.

Entering the Sunday night matchup between the Bengals and Giants, bookmakers were begging for Giants wagers due to the amount of losses they’d already taken from the earlier games. Week 6 favorites entered that game 11-1 straight up (SU) and 9-2-1 against the spread (ATS), resulting in a massive day for the public.

Joe Brennan Jr., Prime Sports executive chair stated, “What a s— day today in the NFL. If you know anyone who likes the Giants tonight, we have an account ready and waiting for them.” He wasn’t the only one to have those sentiments. 

“It’s the worst day of the season so far. This could get really ugly if the Bengals win and cover,” said Zachary Lucas, director of retail sports for TwinSpires Sportsbook.

To his and many others dismay, the Giants did not win or cover, which meant two things: favorites were now 12-1 SU and 10-2-1 ATS, and sportsbooks desperately needed a Jets win against the Bills on Monday night. 

Jeff Benson, Circa Sports director of operations, posted this on X, summarizing Sunday/Monday in the NFL:

Enter Monday Night Football.

The Jets trailed 20-10 with just eight seconds left in the second quarter before Aaron Rodgers unloaded a 52-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-17 at the conclusion of the first half. 

New York would kick a field goal in the third quarter to tie it up 20-20 headed into the fourth. Field goals were ultimately a huge factor in the outcome of the game, as Greg Zuerlein went two-of-four. After his miss in the fourth quarter, the Bills drove 64 yards down the field in 11 plays and kicked a field goal to take a 23-20 lead. 

Rodgers had just under four minutes to get it done for the sportsbooks, but was intercepted on a deep throw after Mike Williams fell just before he was about to snag the ball. Favorites finished the week 13-1 SU and 11-2-1 ATS. BetMGM senior trader Tristan Davis stated, “Bettors got the entire sundae this week, and they deserved it. It had been a rough start to the season for them.” 

Buffalo’s win also completed several parlays for the public. BetMGM Nevada’s Scott Shelton is quoted saying, “There are some parlays as long as my arm that will cash on Bills -1.5.” 

For perspective, this is just the third time in the Super Bowl era (since 1966) that only one favorite lost SU in Week 6 of the season (1975 and 2005). I’ll leave you with a final quote from Lucas, who was dreading a Buffalo win as mentioned earlier:

“With the Bills’ win, it’s like we have PIN-less ATMs at our sportsbooks. Everyone is cashing out.” 

Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.

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After four weeks away, Formula 1 returns for a frantic six-race run in eight weeks, with the United States Grand Prix a crucial weekend across the grid as 2024’s final upgrades emerge.

The race at the Circuit of the Americas is largely seen as the last major opportunity to unleash a batch of car upgrades this season. Austin is the start of a triple-header that includes Mexico and Brazil, making it logistically the easiest place to introduce new parts.

Then follows another triple-header of Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to close off a hectic season. Some teams might bring new low-downforce items to outlier Vegas, although it is expected teams will generally re-use their wing specifications from Monza and especially Baku. And by Qatar it will have been too late to get a big return on investment unless teams choose to trial parts for 2025.

So, whatever teams have had in the production pipeline over the last month will now start to emerge as they make one final push to improve their fortunes. Austin is a sprint weekend, giving teams less practice time to dial updates in, but they have become accustomed to the format so their reluctance to bring upgrades to a sprint event is not as big as it used to be.

“We all know that we already started the development of next year’s car and we try to do our best to have small upgrades,” said Ferrari’s Fred Vasseur. “I think it will be probably the last one for everybody; it will be true for us, but it will be true for the other teams. And now it’s so tight over the last four, five, six races, if you have a look on the grid, it may get tight and every single bit can make a difference.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“It’s a natural point in the year that all teams will bring something to Austin,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner added. “Ferrari has got something sizable. I think Mercedes, McLaren, they’ll all be bringing something.”

At the front, McLaren leads by 41 points and looks primed to keep its advantage until the end of the year, based on its performance gap with Red Bull in recent races. But Red Bull has offered glimpses that it has finally understood where it has gone wrong with the development of its RB20.

Yes, Max Verstappen finished a massive 21 seconds behind McLaren’s Lando Norris in Singapore but was still a clear second at Red Bull’s worst circuit. COTA’s flowing layout might offer a better picture of whether Red Bull has truly turned the corner.

That is the second reason why the Austin weekend is so key. It heralds a return to more traditional circuits featuring high-speed direction changes, contrasting with the most recent run of low-downforce tracks Monza and Baku, and a maximum-downforce but low-speed street circuit in Singapore.

Austin will therefore offer a clearer picture of what the form table might look like until the end of the year, with only November’s race on the Las Vegas Strip the odd one out that’s closer to Baku in nature.

“What we’re looking to do is to build on the understanding that we have and take a car there that’s well balanced between both of its axles, it inspires the confidence of the driver,” Horner said. “It’s a very different challenge. There is that first sector [which] is very high speed. They’ve resurfaced part of the circuit as well, so there’s another variable that’s thrown in.

“It’s a sprint weekend, so you’ve got to hit the ground running. But the whole team’s been working incredibly hard on understanding the issues, addressing them, and getting, hopefully, remedies on the car for Austin.”

While all attention has gone to McLaren’s battle against Red Bull, Ferrari may yet be in the fight, following just 34 points behind Red Bull in third. But the Scuderia is perhaps the team with the biggest question marks to answer this weekend, as it has struggled with high-speed bouncing on the most demanding circuits since the summer.

Maranello’s solutions to that crippling problem have gone unproven on the atypical run of Monza, Baku and Singapore, so Austin will be the litmus test on whether Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have the tools to compete on COTA’s demanding configuration.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

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“We are seeing the numbers that we expected, bringing those new parts on the car, but we still don’t have the definitive answer of how close we got to McLaren or Red Bull on a normal track,” Leclerc said. “I’m sure we did a step forward. How much? I think we’ll see that in Austin.”

Sainz remains cautious too until he sees Ferrari’s latest specification stretch its legs on “normal tracks”, but feels Vegas will be Ferrari’s best bet to take another win this year.

“I think every team has one more upgrade more or less in the pipeline that they’re going to try before the end of the year, so we could still see some swings in performance,” the Spaniard said. “At the same time, we’ve seen upgrades this year don’t [always] mean performance. It doesn’t always translate into lap time. It’s happened to us and other teams, Red Bull, Mercedes, except McLaren.

“What we need to see is if it makes a difference in Austin and Brazil, all the more old-school normal tracks, basically. And then Vegas I think is our next big chance.”

Heart of Midlothian have agreed a deal with Neil Critchley and are close to announcing the Englishman as their new head coach.

The 45-year-old has arrived in Edinburgh and is poised to succeed Steven Naismith, who was sacked last month after a winless start to the Scottish Premiership season and a run of eight straight defeats.

A media conference is expected to take place on Tuesday.

Critchley managed Blackpool between 2020 and 2022 then returned to the Lancashire club in 2023 after a three-month spell in charge of Queens Park Rangers.

He has won 77 of his 185 games as a manager, drawing 47.

He coached Liverpool at under-age level and was Steven Gerrard’s assistant at Aston Villa for a short spell in 2022.

B team boss Liam Fox oversaw the draw with Ross County in the Premiership, the Conference League win against Dinamo Minsk and the defeat by Aberdeen following Naismith’s exit.

Hearts are bottom of the Premiership with two points from eight fixtures and had held talks with Norway boss Per-Mathias Hogmo before talks broke down.

IT IS easy to forget, after eight serene years of Gareth Southgate, that the default mode for the England football team, and the FA, is one of utter chaos.

After last week’s bewildering, headless-chicken home defeat by Greece and the endless, dizzying ramblings from Lee Carsley about whether or not he wants to be Southgate’s full-time successor, it seems like deja vu all over again.

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Because this was what following England used to feel like.

Before Southgate took over — and the Three Lions became supremely competent and professional on and off the field — it really always was stark, raving bonkers.

Under Southgate it could be a little boring, a little too cautious, at times.

But England rarely lost football matches, always featured at the sharp end of tournaments and were always a serious, rational set-up.

It was never the long-running, hopes-up, trousers-down, clown show we endured for decades until one decent, intelligent man in a waistcoat arrived and decided enough was enough.

Southgate banked tens of millions as England boss and we can safely assume that he hasn’t custard-gunned it all on drink, drugs and loose women.

He confirmed he wants a sabbatical of at least a year before he returns to coaching.

And, therefore, he wouldn’t touch the Manchester United job with a bargepole, despite having significant allies on the Old Trafford board.

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England player ratings vs Finland

ENGLAND secured a commanding 3-1 win over Finland following their horror show at home to Greece

Here’s how SunSport’s Tom Barclay assessed the Three Lions’ stars performances.

Dean Henderson – 6

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Only his second cap after long-time No1 Jordan Pickford was dropped. Not a lot to do, but pretty assured when he was called into action, including a smart, first-half stop to repel a Benjamin Kallman strike – even if the Finn was later flagged offside. Could do little to prevent Finland’s goal.

Kyle Walker – 6

After the calamity against Greece, it was no surprise to see Lee Carsley turn to his most experienced defender. Now just nine caps shy of a century, Walker was solid. Could have had an assist late on but his cushioned down header was poor.

John Stones – 6

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England’s more conventional system meant the defence was far less exposed – though Carsley’s attacking approach did still see the Finns create chances. Stones made a good early block to deny Kallman after Angel Gomes gave the ball away.

Marc Guehi – 6

Our best defender in the Euros group stages, Guehi was back in here with Levi Colwill dropping out. Pretty assured for a player who by his own admission has not started the season particularly well for his club.

Trent Alexander-Arnold – 7

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We saw him in midfield at the Euros, and here the Liverpool right-back was shunted to left-back. Looked vulnerable defensively at times but who cares when he produces such quality on the ball – epitomised by his terrific free-kick to kill off this game.

Angel Gomes – 8

The big success story of the Carsley era, however long it lasts, has been bringing Gomes into the fold. He created Jack Grealish’s opener with a beautiful, flicked-pass round the corner and was excellent in possession – barring one sloppy early pass.

Declan Rice – 7

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Looked far more comfortable with Gomes playing in behind him, as opposed to the one-man defensive operation he was forced to put up against the Greeks. Looked proud as punch after stroking home England’s third from Watkins’ cross.

Cole Palmer – 5

Played in a more familiar wide right position compared to his central-midfield experiment against Greece. Yet it reduced him to a peripheral figure, adding more questions than answers as to where best to deploy him, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden.

Jude Bellingham – 6

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The Real Madrid superstar played off Harry Kane and had the occasional, exciting link-up with Grealish, but this was not one of his more memorable games overall.

Jack Grealish – 8

No doubt will be hoping Carsley does get the job full-time as his fellow Brummie seems to appreciate his talents. His composed finish was his second goal in three games under Carsley – doubling his overall haul from 39 caps.

Harry Kane – 6

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Cap 101 for the captain but not one he will remember particularly fondly. He offered the presence the team lacked against Greece when they played with no striker, but did not get much of a sniff in front of goal.

Subs

Noni Madueke (for Palmer, 69) – 7
This game was made for him to make an impact off the bench and he almost teed up Watkins after one fine run but the Finns cleared.

Ollie Watkins (for Kane, 69) – 7

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Low cross for Rice’s third was right on the money.

Rico Lewis (for Gomes, 80) – 6

Slotted in at centre midfield when coming on and looked busy.

Phil Foden (for Bellingham, 80) – 5

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Embraced the post ruefully after Madueke opted to shoot instead of crossing to him for a tap-in seconds after Finland’s goal. Was marking Arttu Hoskonen when the Finn headed home a consolatio.

Conor Gallagher (for Rice, 89) – 6

His first appearance under Carsley but too late to make an impact.

Lee Carsley – 7

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His tactical gamble backfired against Greece but he held his hands up and went more conventional here. It paid off as England were relatively comfortable – although his teams have looked defensively vulnerable at times in all four of his games and this was no different.

But the three best players, Gomes, Grealish and Alexander-Arnold, were all given starring roles by Carsley when used sparingly or not at all by predecessor Gareth Southgate – and for that, the interim boss should take credit.

Southgate is enjoying life away from the madhouse.

He’s been seeing the family, walking the dogs, watching the cricket and plans to give a talk at Harvard University.

Those sort of Gareth things. And good for him.

Some of us knew England would miss Southgate dearly but perhaps we didn’t realise quite how soon, and quite how deeply, we would regret his exit.

The FA relied on him to a greater extent than they ever realised.

As a statesman, a figurehead, a beacon of good sense and decency, as well as a very useful football manager, who was extremely popular with his players.

And whatever happens next — whether more interim Carsley, or Graham Potter, or perhaps the colourful loose-cannon Thomas Tuchel arrives from Germany — history tells us that we will probably go back to bedlam.

Pep Guardiola? Now that might be a different, if unlikely, prospect.

Because the England manager’s role wasn’t called ‘the impossible job’ without good reason.

Remember Sam Allardyce resigning after one match, having been caught out acting exactly like Sam Allardyce, boasting over a pint of wine during a covert sting?

Remember the Iceland debacle and, before that, the disastrous Brazil World Cup campaign under Roy Hodgson — which had been pretty much predicted by FA chief executive Greg Dyke performing a throat-slitting gesture when the draw was made?

Remember the John Terry fiascos under Fabio Capello — when the Chelsea man was stripped of the captaincy for having allegedly diddled the former girlfriend of the reserve left-back, only to be reinstated as captain.

And then to be accused of racially abusing the brother of his central defensive partner and for Capello to resign rather than sack Terry as captain again?

That was Capello, who claimed he only needed to know 100 words of English and who agreed to take extra money for rating his own players out of 100 in something on the internet called ‘the Capello Index’ at the 2010 World Cup.

Yes, kids, all this actually happened.

And before that, Steve McClaren, under an umbrella, failing to qualify for the 2008 Euros.

And before him, the late Sven-Goran Eriksson and the peak era of low farce — the fake Sheikh, the Beckham circus, the WAGs table-dancing in Baden-Baden, the Faria Alam scandal which ended with FA chief executive Mark Palios resigning after he and Eriksson had both diddled the same secretary.

And that was after Kevin Keegan quit in the Wembley toilets, after Glenn Hoddle had resigned for making bizarre comments about disabled people and reincarnation, having employed faith healer Eileen Drewery to lay hands on his players.

And dentist chairs and turnips and gambling cultures and missed drug tests and threatened players’ strikes and so on and so, so farcical.

Thirty years of hurt have turned into 60 years because Southgate — despite reaching successive Euros finals and overseeing two very decent World Cup campaigns — couldn’t quite get his hands on a trophy.

And now the impossible job feels impossible again.

Because this is a nation obsessed with the game.

Because this is a nation which — I think we’re still allowed to say — was the birthplace of organised, competitive football.

Because this is a nation which is home to the richest and most popular league on the face of the Earth.

And because this is a nation which still craves the ultimate glory of a first major international title since 1966.

As Southgate has frequently reminded us, the England manager’s job brings a uniquely sharp focus.

There are 60 million armchair bosses and, when it’s an international break or a summer tournament, England is the only show in town.

Expectations, which had dipped after all those years of nut-casery, are now limitless because Southgate came so close, so often.

All of this is surely too big for Carsley. It feels too big for Potter, too.

And for Tuchel, or most unsuspecting overseas candidates, all of this lunatic history feels too big to comprehend.

So if Guardiola really wants a serious new challenge.

And if he is really prepared to take a major pay cut, then he is one of the few men truly capable of being up to the job.

If not, it will just be back to bedlam again.

If not, we might be missing Southgate for a long time to come.

The Buffalo Bills piled further misery on the New York Jets with a 23-20 victory at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The Jets were playing for the first time since head coach Robert Saleh was dismissed, but interim coach Jeff Ulbrich was unable to steady the ship.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen threw for two touchdowns and ran another to help his side to victory after two successive defeats.

“We found a way to win,” Allen told ESPN.

“We got sloppy in the second half, we’ve got to find a way to put more points on the board, but it was a team victory.”

Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for 294 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception in a back-and-forth encounter.

Rodgers’ efforts helped New York to a 10-7 lead after the first quarter but they trailed 20-17 at half-time, despite a stunning Hail Mary pass from the four-time NFL Most Valuable Player, which was claimed by Allen Lazard.

Greg Zuerlein kicked the Jets level in the third quarter, but Tyler Bass registered a field goal of his own with three minutes and 43 seconds remaining to deliver victory.

It is a third straight defeat for the Jets, who fall to third in the AFC East on 2-4, behind the Miami Dolphins and the Bills, who lead the division on 4-2.

A host of former players would return, including defender Cedric Yambere and midfielder Younes Kaabouni. Such was the club’s desperate need to register names that former France international Rio Mavuba – a Bordeaux youth graduate who now coaches at the club – briefly came out of retirement to play for the reserves, as did ex-defender Paul Baysse.

Bordeaux were eventually able to field a team, albeit with just 14 players on the squad sheet. Played behind closed doors at the Stade Sainte-Germaine, a nondescript 3,000-seater in the outskirts of the city, the match ended with goalkeeper Lassana Diabate heading in a last-minute equaliser.

Another goalkeeper in Over Mandanda (the younger brother of former international keeper Steve) was brought on to play in midfield to see out a Coupe de France tie last month, which prompted an unsuccessful appeal against the 5-0 result from their ninth-tier opponents.

Endearingly eccentric as the Bordeaux story might be, the six-time French champions’ nosedive into amateur football has been a dramatic one.

A conflict between the two main groups of fans has meant many of the matches at lower-league grounds are played behind closed doors for security reasons.

The North Gate fans notably accuse the Ultramarines of being overly complacent with owner Gerard Lopez, the much-contested Spanish-Luxembourgish businessman who took over in 2021.

The 52-year-old would provide the funds to keep the club running, but has nevertheless overseen a three-tier drop all the while scarcely remedying what was already a critical financial situation.

Protests against his ownership have intensified, with fans gathering at the club’s old stadium last month for a day-long demonstration which was supported by former players and included mayor Pierre Hurmic among its speakers.

While many are relieved that the worst-case scenario was avoided this summer, the ire towards Lopez – who presided over financial debacles at Lille and the Lotus F1 team as well – does not look like letting up anytime soon.

One group of fans has sought to carve out some control in the club’s fate by setting up a Socios project – a fan ownership initiative inspired by Spanish and German football. With close to 3,000 members signing up and nearly a quarter of a million euros raised since August, the group hopes to act as a fan-led voice and a safeguard against future mismanagement.

“We want the club to be united,” explains Donatien Rodriguez, one of the co-founders. “But everything needs to go through a vote among the Socios. If I were one of the members, I don’t see why I’d be voting in favour of helping Lopez.”

The Girondins Socios have now turned their attention towards saving the women’s team, which has been left by the wayside.

The Girondines – who were playing in the Women’s Champions League only a few years ago – have paid the price for the mismanagement of the men’s team, and were excluded from the national-level leagues this summer.