Bad Beats - Week 3: Ryan Fitzpatrick, garbage-time hero
Week 3 of the NFL season is nearly in the books and the week featured a number of memorable comebacks and exciting finishes. Big comebacks have been a regular occurrence this season – four teams have overcome 17 points to win a game, tied for the most through the first three weeks of the season since the 1970 merger.
Here's a recap of some of the toughest beats bettors endured on Sunday.
St. Louis Rams +2 vs. Dallas Cowboys
Result: Cowboys 34, Rams 31
The Rams were installed as favorites in this game at a time, and there were many that wondered how a team as bad as the Rams could be favored against a public team like the Cowboys.
The Rams ran out to a 21-0 lead in that one, which surely had backers hovering around the ticket window, but the Cowboys clawed their way back and eventually matched the biggest comeback in franchise history.
In the end, it was Dallas coming away with a 34-31 victory.
Houston Texans at New York Gians, total: 41.5
Result: Giants 30, Texans 17
The garbage-time king sunk bettors again.
Texans quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick sunk under bettors with a late touchdown that had no impact on the game whatsoever; finally finding a semblance of competence on a late drive with his team down 20 points, converting on a pair of third downs en route to the score.
With 40 points scored in the game to that point, Fitzpatrick's late rushing score bumped the combined score for the game over the total, shifting a lot of money around in Vegas.
The final score of 30-17 for the Giants isn't entirely indicative of how close under bettors were to cashing their tickets.