Unlikely Heroes Shake Up NFL Playoff Races

Our tenth NFL Sunday has come and gone, and what a wild one it was. For the first time in league history as many as five games were decided by game-winning field goals as the clock expired.

The Arizona Cardinals beat the Atlanta Falcons, covering the spread. The Cleveland Browns shocked the AFC North with their game-winning field goal to beat the Baltimore Ravens. The Detroit Lions keep on winning, kicking a last-second field goal at the Los Angeles Chargers to beat L.A. and cover the 2.5-point spread. The Seattle Seahawks, after allowing the Washington Commanders to tie the game late, won with a 43-yard field goal. And the Houston Texans ended the four-game winning streak of the Cincinnati Bengals with a 38-yard field goal.

It was a fun and nail-biting day to be an online NFL bettor.

C.J. Stroud Beats Joe Burrow

We were all incredibly impressed by C.J. Stroud’s record-setting day in Week 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But his win on Sunday at the Bengals and against one of the best quarterbacks in the league in Joe Burrow puts Stroud on another level.

The money has been rolling into online football betting sites across the country on Stroud to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Bovada.lv now has him at -1800 to win the award in an unprecedented blowout.

But he’s not just a runaway favorite to be the best rookie in the league. Stroud is now at +3300 to win the NFL MVP award, giving him shorter odds than Dak Prescott, Tyreek Hill, and A.J. Brown. In 1957, Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown became the only rookie to win the MVP award.

Rookies have led their teams to the playoffs, however, and the Houston Texans, who had all of four wins last season, are now at +250 at BetUS.com to win the AFC South. Less than two months ago, they were at +1350. They are now +105 to make the playoffs.

Before the NFL Draft last spring, it was leaked that Stroud had scored just 18 out of 100 on the S2 cognitive test. Pre-draft analysts openly wondered if he would be able to adjust to the speed and complexity of the NFL. That test should be thrown in the garbage, never to be used again.

The Legend of Joshua Dobbs

The Minnesota Vikings didn’t need a last-minute field goal to get their win on Sunday, because they have a cheat code at quarterback in Joshua Dobbs. After leading them to victory in Week 9, when he didn’t even know the names of the players he was throwing to, he won again in Week 10, even though he needed to ask for directions to the home locker room.

In Dobbs’ first game with the Vikings he accounted for 224 yards of offense and three touchdowns, including the game-winner with 27 seconds left to play. In his second game with the Vikings, he had 312 yards and two touchdowns against a very good New Orleans Saints defense.

Minnesota has now won five straight games, the longest current winning streak in the NFL. And if you are an online Minnesota sports bettor who had given up on this team after they lost Justin Jefferson and Kirk Cousins to injury, get back on board. The Vikings are currently in the playoffs as a wild card, and BetUS.com has them at -200 to make the playoffs. In the NFC, only Seattle. San Francisco, Dallas, Detroit, and Philadelphia have shorter odds.

Last November, Dobbs was waived by the Cleveland Browns. He then bounced from the Lions to the Tennessee Titans, back to the Browns, and has since been traded twice for seventh-round draft picks.

Now he is the most legendary Minnesotan since Paul Bunyan.