Broncos-Jaguars Game Ties Highest Point-Spread Ever
When a league’s best team matches up against its worst team, the point-spread tends to rise, but in the case of the Broncos-Jaguars game this weekend, it’s hit a historic level.
According to The Gold Sheet, via ESPN.com, the 28-point spread in favor of the Denver Broncos ties the highest of all time for an NFL game. Some odds makers have the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars listed as just a 27-point dog, but the Las Vegas Hotel opened the line at 28 this week, which matches the number the Baltimore Colts were favored by over the Atlanta Falcons in a 1966 game that set the original record.
Not only are the Broncos (5-0) the undisputed best team in the league so far this season, they have been a point-scoring machine, averaging more than 40 points per game. Meanwhile, the Jags have looked absolutely miserable at 0-5 and haven’t mustered more than 20 points in a single game this year, scoring fewer than 10 three times.
“The Jaguars are just so awful, and the interest in betting on the Broncos has been pretty consistent,” Jay Kornegay, who runs the sports book at the Las Vegas Hotel, said Sunday night. “There’s a group of us here who put together the lines for each week, and it took us 10-15 minutes to debate what this number would be. Some folks didn’t feel that good about making history with this.”
Considering the Broncos have covered every spread and every over-line put upon them this season, betting on Denver has been irresistible. However, any time bettors see a large spread – and most have never seen one in the pros like this – it’s sometimes difficult to go with the favorite. After all, the Jags certainly don’t want to get embarrassed and have a team full of their own prideful professional players.
Jacksonville will be starting Chad Henne, who began the season as a backup, but he’ll up against the worst rated pass defense in the league (347 yards allowed per game) and one that got scorched by Tony Romo and the Cowboys for more than 500 yards through the air last week. When you add in the fact that Jacksonville’s offense has improved – albeit slightly – in the past few weeks, it’s reasonable to think that Jacksonville could could the massive spread simply be scoring 10-20 against Denver. What’s also noteworthy here is that Denver has allowed 20 or more points in every game this season.
With the league’s best pass offense and 15th best run game, there’s no doubt that the Broncos will light up the scoreboard again this week at home against the Jags, but they’ll likely need to score in the mid-high 50s to cover this historic spread. The Broncos have reached 50 or more points twice this season, but tallying such a total is never easy.
Denver will likely come close to covering this record-tying spread, but I’d go with Jacksonville to cover +28 in the loss here.
