NFL Playoffs Super Wild Card Weekend betting recap: Inside the week's biggest upsets and best bets

Call them the Dallas Trend-Busters.

In the NFL's newly expanded Super Wild Card Weekend, underdogs were 4-1 against the spread and Overs were 5-0 entering the Monday close-out game.

Then the 'Busters — make that the Cowboys — broke up the pattern. At -2.5, they demolished Tampa Bay 31-14. And, with a helping hand (or foot) from errant placekicker Brett Maher, they delivered by the tiniest of margins an Under, which was 45.5.

The other totals, with one exception, were not close. Three games soared into the 60s, another into the mid-50s. Cincinnati and Baltimore, which collaborated for 41 points, exceeded the number by a lone point.

Here is a deeper dive into round one of the playoffs. 

Top 'Dogs

All three substantial favorites survived and advanced. Two of three narrow picks were not so fortunate.

Jacksonville wound up at +2 against the Chargers. The Jaguars took an unconventional path to an outright win 31-30. Details to come, as they say on the news.

The Giants' 31-24 victory over Minnesota came in more routine fashion. Unlike the Jags, who trailed after less than 90 seconds had run off and never led until the final tick of the clock, New York (+2.5) never fell behind the Vikings. (There were a few segments in which the game was tied.)

Bad Beats

Only twice in postseason history had teams wiped out a deficit of at least 27 points to win. That was the monumental task facing the Jaguars when they were down 27-0 near the end of the first half. For Los Angeles, outright and against-the-spread wins seemed in the bag.

Then the bag sprung a leak. Jacksonville chipped away and finally went ahead on a buzzer-beating field goal.

A parcel of plays did in Chargers backers, none more so than an unsportsmanlike conduct flag against Joey Bosa following a Jags touchdown that trimmed the margin to 30-26. Had Jacksonville kicked the point-after, L.A.'s fate appeared no worse than entering overtime, which would still allow for a cover. However, Jacksonville took advantage of the flag and punched in a two-point conversion from the 1-yard line to make the score 30-28, a precursor to the field goal that capped a comeback for the ages.

Not nearly as bad was a hurtful beat involving Baltimore. The Ravens appeared poised to surge ahead on a sneak by quarterback Tyler Huntley from just outside the end zone in the fourth quarter. A TD and point-after would put the Ravens ahead by seven, all but clinching a cover.

Huntley held the ball aloft in an attempt to reach it into the end zone, only for the Bengals to swat it away and rumble 98 yards for a touchdown that essentially flipped the score.

Cincinnati's 24-17 win paid off for Ravens supportersk, who seized the game-time line of +7.5 or a higher spot offered a few days before. But the early-week spread was 6.5, and the stunning turn of events proved costly for the takers — especially one client at Caesars sportsbook. The deep-pocketed bettor plunked down $880,000 on the Ravens at +6.5 before QB Lamar Jackson was declared out. 

Ouch. 

How the Books Fared

That Ravens wager paled in size to the $1.4 million money-line play accepted by DraftKings at halftime of the Chargers-Jaguars game. The bettor would only net $11,000, with the applicable in-game odds listed at -12,500.

Such massive bets for small returns are surprisingly (and mystifyingly) common. In this case, the big winner was DraftKings, much as Caesars was on the Cincy-Baltimore miscall.

At Caesars, the most enthusiastically wagered-on team was the Ravens, which produced a win for the book. Ditto with Minnesota failing to cover — or even win — against the Giants. Completing the trifecta on lopsided plays for Caesars was the Bills falling a half-mile shy of a cover versus Miami.

The only victory for the public in one-sided action was the Cowboys, backed by roughly seven of every 10 dollars.

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