The NFL Wild Card Weekend provided plenty of excitement and betting surprises. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Anyone who thought a wild NFL betting year would end in the Wild Card round had something else to worry about.
Amid the shock that the Houston Texans – who have a rookie head coach, a rookie offensive coordinator and a rookie quarterback – destroyed the Cleveland Browns and the Dallas Cowboys and lost their unbeaten home streak in historic fashion to the Green Bay Packers, there was some big betting surprises.
$7,505 for a $5 two-leg game
One of the craziest wins of the weekend at a major sportsbook saw a DraftKings bettor win $7,505 on a two-part $5 bet.
The bet involved both Packers running back Aaron Jones and Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson scoring 3+ touchdowns in the same game, a feat they had accomplished only three times in their entire careers (and not since September 2020 more).
Jones finished the game with 118 yards and three touchdowns on the ground on 21 carries, while Ferguson caught 10 balls for 93 yards and three scores. Ferguson scored twice in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter and cemented his ticket to victory after catching a 14-yard pass with 3:25 left.
While Jones and the Packers rejoiced in Sunday’s win against Dallas, top wide receiver Jayden Reed had huge goosebumps.
The 23-year-old caught 64 passes for 793 yards and eight touchdowns in the regular season, but failed to catch three targets on Sunday.
After the game, Reed posted up
Green Bay became both the first seven seed to win a game in the newly expanded NFL Wild Card format and a betting hero. The Packers were about +285 on the money line entering kickoff, but showed no mercy against a Dallas team that was 8-0 at home with an average points margin of +21.5.
Meanwhile, the Texans’ Super Bowl odds on DraftKings fell from +6000 to just +1700 following their upset win over the Browns.
