National Football League

NFL odds Week 17: Wacky wins and bad beats

Updated Jan. 2, 2023 4:30 p.m. ET

Stop us if you've heard this before: Tom Brady led his team to a comeback victory, much to the chagrin of some NFL bettors.

Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers spotted the Carolina Panthers a 14-point lead midway through the second quarter.

The final score? Buccaneers 30, Panthers 24.

That means Brady's Bucs outscored the Panthers 30-10 in the final 33 minutes to pay off for Brady backers and, once again, crush the souls of those who bet against TB12.

Welcome to the world of wacky wins and bad beats in sports betting.

Each week, we'll recap the betting plays that had some people cashing in and others tearing up their tickets in frustration. To paraphrase famed broadcaster Al Michaels, "Those plays are significant to some."

Let's dive into this week's craziness!

Tom Brady, Buccaneers clinch the NFC South

Tom Brady had himself a day, accounting for four touchdowns in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 30-24 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

Brady does it again

After falling behind by two touchdowns, it appears Brady decided to encourage his teammates to play better.

It apparently worked, as the Buccaneers roared back for a 30-24 win to clinch the NFC South Division title.

Carolina took a 21-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. Brady and the Bucs (specifically receiver Mike Evans) responded by outscoring the Panthers 20-0 in a span of 11:51 of the fourth quarter, as the Panthers went six-and-out, three-and-out, and lost a fumble on the first play from scrimmage deep in their own territory.

Two plays later, Brady scored on a 1-yard sneak to make it 30-21.

Lamenting Brady's latest heroics were Panthers bettors who took the 3.5 points, moneyline players (+160 at FOX Bet, bet $10 to win $26 total) and Under speculators in the Over/Under (40.5 combined points), who saw their wagers destroyed by Tampa Bay's 20-point outburst.

Brady threw for 432 yards and three touchdowns — all to Evans — and a 127.3 passer rating.

Koo is cool again

Bettors who are fans of Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo cashed in again, as the Falcons edged Arizona 20-19 on Sunday.

The Cardinals took a 19-17 lead on Matt Prater's 57-yard field goal with 4:57 to go.

The Falcons, behind rookie QB Desmond Ridder, took over at their 25. A 22-yard run by Cordarelle Patterson and a 14-yard pass from Ridder to MyCole Pruitt help Atlanta move the ball down the field.

The Cardinals burned their three timeouts during the drive and could only helplessly watch as the seconds ticked down and Atlanta kept pushing the football down the field.

The Falcons called timeout with two seconds to go before Koo kicked a 21-yard field goal on the final play.

That was music to the ears of Falcons moneyline bettors (-303 at FOX Bet, bet $10 to win $13.30 total).

On the flip side, it was agony for Over bettors in the Over/Under (O/U) as it was 40.5 combined points. Arizona missed a 43-yard field goal attempt late in the third quarter.

Koo paid off for bettors in Week 11 when his late field goal gave the Falcons a 27-24 win over Chicago on Nov. 20.

Falcons use a late 72-yard drive to beat the Cardinals, 20-19

Younghoe Koo's 21-yard field goal beat the Arizona Cardinals, 20-19.

Missed XP costly

The New England Patriots kept their playoff hopes alive by rallying for a 23-21 win over the reeling Miami Dolphins.

New England took a 16-14 lead late in the third quarter on Kyle Dugger's 39-yard interception return. But the ensuing extra-point attempt by Patriots kicker Nick Folk that clanged off the upright turned out to torment bettors who laid the three points.

As they say, every point counts.

Hopefully, bettors who covered didn't try to celebrate like Miami star Tyreek Hill.

Score!

Hat tip to this bettor who put $25 on the Giants beating the Colts 38-10.

That $25 at +20000 turned into a cool $5,025!

The bettor had to sweat out the final 12 minutes being scoreless. New York's final drive went to the Colts' 30 with two minutes to go, but the Giants passed on a field-goal attempt and turned the ball over on downs.

First-half blues

The Dallas Cowboys (-6.5 points first half) seemed in control against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night, leading 10-0 in the second quarter, as the first two drives for Tennessee didn't get beyond its 29-yard line, then the Titans lost a fumble and had a three-and-out.

Then two interceptions thrown by Dallas' Dak Prescott — both to Kevin Byard — ruined the half for those bettors.

A 33-yard completion from third-string QB Joshua Dobbs to running back Julius Chestnut led to a Titans field goal with 1:03 left before halftime to make it 10-3.

Run some safe plays, go to the locker room, Dallas bettors cash their tickets — but it's the Cowboys who rarely do the easy thing.

With less than 30 seconds left from the Tennessee 39, Prescott threw an interception to Byard, who returned it 28 yards to the Dallas 41.

But there were only 12 seconds left. What can happen?

Dallas gave up a 30-yard catch-and-run to Treylon Burks to the Cowboys' 11-yard line with two seconds left. Timeout, Titans.

Randy Bullock kicked a 29-yard field goal, his second FG in just over a minute, as time expired. Cowboys 10, Titans 6.

That's six points scored by the Titans in a span of just over a minute after being scoreless for the first 28-plus minutes of the half.

Welp.

Parlay bettor's pain.

The NFL shared the stage this week with college football bowl games.

The No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs held off the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes 42-41 in the CFP semifinals at the Peach Bowl on Saturday.

One person who feels as bad (or worse) than the Ohio State faithful is a bettor in Indiana, who put $25 on a four-leg in-game parlay at +810.

Three of the legs: Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud over 288.5 passing yards (he threw for 348), Marvin Harrison Jr. over 88.5 receiving yards (106) and Harrison anytime TD (he scored twice).

The fourth leg?

Ohio State moneyline.

We all know how that ended. The bettor would've received $227.50 total.

Irish end up covering

The South Carolina Gamecocks (+4.5) were in decent shape late in the third quarter in the Gator Bowl, leading Notre Dame 31-24 on Friday.

But the Irish tied it on a 44-yard touchdown catch by Braden Lenzy with 31 seconds to go in the third to tie it at 31.

The teams swapped TDs, with the Gamecocks tying it at 38 on O'Donnell Fortune's 100-yard interception return midway through the fourth.

Those Gamecocks backers were still in decent shape with the 4.5 points.

But Notre Dame dashed the hopes of those bettors with an 11-play, 80-yard drive, ending with Tyler Buchner's 16-yard TD pass to Mitchell Evans to make it 45-38 with 1:38 to go.

Any hopes of the Gamecocks covering were dashed by three incompletions and a sack.

Better call Sauls

The Sun Bowl between the UCLA Bruins and Pittsburgh Panthers had one of the more intense finishes of the bowl season on Friday.

Pitt's Ben Sauls kicked a 27-yard field goal to give the Panthers a 34-28 lead with 4:24 to go.

Remember Sauls' name.

UCLA then turned the ball over on downs at its own 37 with 2:21 to go.

Three plays — and three timeouts by UCLA — later, Pitt lost a fumble at the UCLA 30.

With the clock winding down, UCLA marched down the field, sparked by T.J. Harden's 34-yard run. Harden scored on an 8-yard run with 34 seconds to go to give the Bruins a 35-34 lead.

UCLA, despite Pitt being out of timeouts, let the Panthers get into field-goal range by allowing pass completions of 18 and 17 yards, then a nifty 11-yard scramble to the Bruins' 29 by quarterback Nick Patti, who then spiked the ball with 10 seconds left.

Sauls came on and calmly kicked the winning 47-yard field goal with four seconds to go, as Pitt spread (+6) and moneyline (+260, bet $10 to win $36 total) gamblers cashed in. UCLA was -357 on the moneyline (bet $10 to win $12.80 total).

Sauls went 5-for-5 on field-goal attempts, including three in the fourth quarter.

State Covers With Late Lateral

Talk about a lateral gone wrong!

Bettors who took Illinois to cover the 3.5 points were well on their way to cashing in after Mississippi State kicked a field goal that gave them a 3-point lead. But the very wacky, final play of the contest was an Illini lateral that ended in a Bulldog touchdown with no time left on the clock.

Stay tuned for more of the wackiness!

And if you want to join in on the fun (or madness), head over to FOX Bet for all your wagers.

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