When Justin Herbert nosed the edge of the football across the goal line to secure the Los Angeles Chargers' overtime victory on Thursday night, he also put a dagger in the Las Vegas Raiders' playoff hopes.
The Raiders entered the night a game behind the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens in the battle for the final wild-card spot in the AFC. While 81 percent of the bettors at DraftKings (NASDAQ:DKNG) were backing Las Vegas at +440 to make the playoffs, 59 percent of the total money was backing the Raiders at -625 to miss the postseason.
The odds of Las Vegas making the playoffs lengthened to -10000 by DraftKings by Friday, with the Raiders now a +2200 long shot of rallying for a wild-card spot after falling to 7-7.
The Dolphins (8-5) can put the Raiders on the brink of elimination with a win at home against New England this weekend ahead of playing host to Las Vegas in Week 16.
Miami faces a difficult regular-season finale at Buffalo, while Las Vegas closes with a trip to Denver.
The Ravens (8-5) play host to 1-12 Jacksonville and the 5-8 New York Giants before a road trip to 2-10-1 Cincinnati.
Miami currently owns the third wild-card spot ahead of Baltimore in the AFC due to tiebreakers.
However, with their final three opponents owning a combined 8-30-1 record, the Ravens are being offered at -1250 to make the playoffs by DraftKings compared to the Dolphins being +200.
The Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts (9-4) are -1115 and -1250, respectfully, sitting in the top two wild-card spots while still fighting for their division titles.
The wild-card spots in the NFC currently belong to Seattle (9-4), Tampa Bay (8-5) and Arizona (7-6).
With Seattle a virtual lock even if it should lose its final two games, DraftKings is not offering odds on the Seahawks reaching the postseason. The Buccaneers are -3335 while the Cardinals are -152.
Minnesota and Chicago, both a game behind Arizona at 6-7, are being offered at +305 and +400.
(Field Level Media) OLUSSPORT Reuters US Online Report Sports News 20201218T192231+0000