Oddsmakers Expecting Fewer Points in Week 15 As Scoring Slows From Historic 2020 Season, According to TheLines.com
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5 than any other week this season, with a remarkable 12 games featuring projected point totals of 45 or less, according to TheLines, which tracks odds in the U.S. regulated sports betting market.
Thursday night's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers (over/under of 50.5) is the lone matchup with a projected point total of 50 or more, according to a consensus of that nation's largest legal online sportsbooks — including DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars, and PointsBet. That is unusual.
Wintery weather and injuries can always slow down offenses this time of year. But scoring is also down significantly this season compared with the record-shattering 2020 season. So far, teams have scored 414 points while averaging 23.04 points per game. By contrast, teams scored 24.8 points per game in 2020 for a record total of 12,692 points. That offensive outburst broke the scoring record set in 2013, when teams scored 23.4 points per game and 11,985 total points.
We are seeing a return to historically normal levels of scoring, said Brett Collson, lead analyst for TheLines.com. 2020 was so unusual in so many ways that a reversion to the mean was a near certainty. It's not as if the NFL has morphed into a defense-first league.
The consensus point spreads for Week 15 games, as of Monday, Dec. 13:
Kansas City Chiefs (-3.5) at Los Angeles Chargers; over/under 50.5
Las Vegas Raiders at Cleveland Browns (-6); over/under 42.5
New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts (-2); over/under 45
Carolina Panthers at Buffalo Bills (-11.5); over/under 43.5
New York Jets at Miami Dolphins (-8.5); over/under 43
Washington Football Team at Philadelphia Eagles (-4); over/under 43.5
Arizona Cardinals (-13.5) at Detroit Lions; over/under 47.5
Dallas Cowboys (-10.5) at New York Giants; over/under 45
Tennessee Titans (-2) at Pittsburgh Steelers; over/under 41.5
Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars (-3); over/under 41
Cincinnati Bengals at Denver Broncos (-1.5); over/under 44
Atlanta Falcons at San Francisco 49ers (-8); over/under 45.5
Green Bay Packers (-6.5) at Baltimore Ravens; over/under 43
Seattle Seahawks at Los Angeles Rams (-7); over/under 47.5
New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-11); over/under 46.5
Minnesota Vikings (-4) at Chicago Bears; over/under 43.5
To access updated lines and a betting guide for every NFL team, visit www.thelines.com/betting/nfl. To access Week 15 odds, visit www.thelines.com/nfl-week-15-odds-2021/.
✔️ Oddsmakers Expecting Fewer Points in Week 15 As Scoring Slows From Historic 2020 Season, According to TheLines.com
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