It's been awhile, but Panthers finally reward their betting backers

The Carolina Panthers may have been named to honour a beast from the cat world, but they were one of the liveliest underdogs on the Sunday betting board.

Not only did Baker Mayfield and Carolina cover as three-point home underdogs to the Saints, they won outright, 22-14.

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Of note, the Panthers ended a dubious streak of nine consecutive games without rewarding their betting backers with a cover, the longest active skein in the league. According to Caesar’s, it was the longest such streak since the Raiders had 10 consecutive non covers extending from 2005-2006.

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Some other Week 3 observations:

• Beware Aaron Rodgers as an underdog. Though it was a defensively dominated game on both sides, Rodgers and the Packers got the best of Tom Brady and the Bucs in a 14-12 win in the marquee late start. With the Pack covering as one-point road dogs, since 2019 Rodgers is now 9-3 against the spread when his team is getting points.
• Another QB who is dynamite as a dog would be the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa, who is now 9-3-1 against the spread in the underdog role (also since 2019.) Tua was helped generously by the loss of almost the entire Bills defence to injury in a game that saw Buffalo favoured by six (before the injury report) and 4.5 points (at kickoff.) Of course the Fish won outright, 21-19.
• Under bettors are often said to be on the “right” side – in terms of value as opposed to the “fun” side – in terms of betting entertainment. Prior to the Sunday nighter, the under went 7-6 on Sunday continuing an impressive run so far. Through three weeks, under have a 28-16-1 edge to the score-loving over crowd. No surprise, really, since through Weeks 1 and 2 games were averaging just 42.8 points, the lowest average in a decade.
• Helped by a 3-1 record in the late Sunday afternoon starts, underdogs had a 7-6 edge against the spread on the day. Of note – all three of the covering dogs (Green Bay, Jacksonville and Atlanta) also won outright.
• Another spot where underdogs had been shining was on prime time games, holding a 5-0 record against the spread heading into last Monday night. That screeched to a halt, however as both MNF faves covered, as did the Browns against the Steelers on Thursday.

• Timing is everything, right? When we made our selections we took the Texans as 2.5 underdogs, only to see the line close at Bears favoured by three. You guess it – Chicago won on a late field goal to at least create a push for Houston bettors who got the better line.