Those of us who follow college football are used to seeing massive point spreads in the lead-up to lopsided matchups. But most of the time, NFL opponents are much more evenly matched, even when talking about the league’s best against its cellar dwellers.
That’s not the case leading up to Week 3’s game featuring the Buffalo Bills on the road facing the Minnesota Vikings. OddsShark released its opening lines, which show the Vikings are favored to win by an absurd 16.5 points.
NFL Week 3 Opening Lines (@betonline_ag):
NYJ @ CLE -3
IND @ PHI -6
CIN @ CAR -3
TEN @ JAX -6.5
NO @ ATL -3
DEN @ BAL -5
OAK @ MIA -3.5
GB @ WAS +3
BUF @ MIN -16.5
SF @ KC -6
LAC @ LAR -7
CHI @ ARI +4.5
DAL @ SEA -3
NE @ DET +6.5
PIT @ TB +2.5— Odds Shark (@OddsShark) September 17, 2018
A one-touchdown spread in the NFL is significant. Anything over 10 points is a huge gap. This spread is gargantuan, by NFL standards.
That being said, it’s hard to poke holes in the logic here. Minnesota is among the league’s most dominant teams and features All-Pro talent on both sides of the ball. Buffalo, on the other hand, is competing with the Arizona Cardinals early this season for the No. 1 overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Making matters worse for the Bills, starting running back LeSean McCoy might not even play in Week 3 after suffering what’s reported as cracked rib cartilage in Week 2’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.