NFL Regular Season Recap: Week 17 and Done…

Before we get into gear for the wild card round of the 2009 NFL playoffs (which will be coming Wednesday), let’s take a brief look back and Sunday and all that transpired in the world of NFL football betting.

Wes Welker Shreds Knee: Even though Bill Belichick won’t confirm it, it’s widely believed that New England’s leading receiver tore his ACL and MCL on Sunday against the Houston Texans, and will miss the remainder of the year. Welker caught a league-leading 123 passes this year and was often Tom Brady’s security blanket, running short crossing- and under-routes and getting the “tough yards.” Now if you’re thinking Welker would have little to no impact on the sports betting side of the Patriots, guess again. When he missed Weeks two and three with a knee injury, the Pats offense dried up (including a 16-9 loss to the New York Jets, when the Pats came in as -3.5 road favourites) and only managed 35 points in two games. In fact, some of New England’s biggest losses this season came when Welker was a non-factor. Case in point: He only caught six balls for 32 yards in a 38-17 whipping in New Orleans.

Broncos make history: Denver completed a rare feat on Sunday by losing 44-24 to Kansas City, becoming just the third team in NFL history to start a season 6-0 and then miss the playoffs. Denver’s crash and burn to finish the season was also mirrored in its record against the spread — the Broncos went 6-0 ATS to start the season but fell apart in the last weeks, going 3-7 ATS to close things out. Not only were the Broncos losing ATS, but they were coming into games as fairly large favourites yet still losing outright. There was a 20-19 loss to Oakland as a 13.5-point favourite and, of course, Sunday’s loss to Kansas City. The Broncs came in as nine-point favourites in that one and seemed a mortal lock because 1) They were at home and 2) They had to win to keep their playoff chances alive. It’s going to be a long, dark offseason in the Mile High City.

Bizarre rematches: It says a lot about how weird this season was that three Week 17 blowouts — Dallas beating Philly 24-0, the Jets ripping Cincy 37-0 and Green Bay blowing out Arizona 33-7 — would end up being wildcard playoff previews. Yet, here we are. There’s no real way to gauge what, if anything, these scores mean. Aside from the Week 17 Dallas-Philly contest, the last regular-season games had little to no meaning for the Packers, Bengals or Cardinals. Still, though, it has to be disconcerting to know that a team can literally lie down and play dead one week, only to pick it up and renew intensity the next. Will it have any impact on the sports betting side of things? Well, the Jets are now only listed as +3.0 road dogs in Cincy next week, and you have to wonder if any of that 37-0 shellacking played a part. Same goes with the Packers — Green Bay is just +2.5 in Arizona next weekend, this coming just a few hours after the Pack embarrassed the Cards in their own backyard.