Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00But first let's begin last night and yet another seven point underdog going on the road and
00:09winning outright.
00:10It's happened at an incredible clip this season.
00:13Last night it was the Washington Commanders in command.
00:17No pun intended.
00:18From pretty much start to finish, Jaden Daniels looks like a superstar.
00:22The Commanders win 38 to 33.
00:24That 33 was a last minute or so touchdown from Zach Moss.
00:29But Daniels has really lived up to the billing of a Heisman Trophy award winner.
00:33You see Jamar Chase there.
00:34He threw a couple of touchdowns to him.
00:37And maybe the Commanders, as I said yesterday on the show, are indeed one of the big sleepers
00:41of the season.
00:42Still think that this is one of those teams we got to look out for this year.
00:46But everyone talking about the rookie of the year, at least early in the NFL, especially
00:50Dan Quinn, his head coach, really is impressed with his poise through three weeks.
00:55Yeah, for sure.
00:56He's a really cool customer.
00:58And he's got real poise about him.
01:00I thought going in, we knew the importance of the ball and the decision making for that.
01:05We just couldn't give them short fields and chances to go.
01:08So his ability to know when to, when not to, when to make a play with his legs, I thought
01:14we've seen a lot of this at practice.
01:16And now it's carrying over into the games where the decision making, sliding, going,
01:21taking your shot.
01:22But I thought it was a really strong performance tonight by him.
01:25On the flip side, the Cincinnati Bengals are now 0-3 and they'll take on the Carolina Panthers
01:31this week.
01:32Meanwhile, good thing there were two Monday Night Football games last night, because the
01:34first one was over in like five minutes.
01:38The Buffalo Bills throttled the Jacksonville Jaguars.
01:41Final score, 47-10.
01:44Josh Allen went bananas in this game, as usual, passing touchdowns all over the place.
01:50And the Jaguars simply couldn't get out of their own way.
01:52Jacksonville is now 0-3 on the season.
01:54And the Bills, by the way, with all the questions going into the season about not having Stephon
01:59Diggs, doesn't look like they miss him at all.
02:02Meanwhile, what's missing in Jacksonville?
02:04They started off a season with promise, thinking that they could get off to a good start.
02:08Is it time to hit the reboot button?
02:10Doug Peterson, the head coach, was asked that.
02:13Well, I don't necessarily think you go in an opposite direction.
02:20We've invested a lot of time, but there has to be changes, whether it's play design, personnel,
02:29everything.
02:30Everything's on the table.
02:31Let's call it.
02:32Right?
02:33And those are all things that we have to, you know, I have to look at.
02:38We have to look as a staff and make the adjustments.
02:43And no indictment, by the way, on any particular player in the NFL, but their right tackle,
02:48number 72.
02:49How many times I get called for a penalty in the last night's game, I was watching that.
02:54Stunning to see.
02:55A lot of mistakes there.
02:56Okay.
02:57Pac-12, they're building back up here, folks.
02:58They add another team to the Pac-12.
03:01They're going to stay alive and try and work this thing out.
03:03Utah State is the next team, reportedly yesterday, joining the Pac-12.
03:08Also, by the way, four teams did decline the Pac-12.
03:10They're going to stay in the AC, Memphis, Tulane, South Florida, and UTSA yesterday
03:19saying that they are committed to stay in the American Athletic Conference.
03:22Now, the Pac-12 has already announced additions of Boise State, Fresno State, Colorado State,
03:28and San Diego State, so now Utah State as well.
03:31Gonzaga, there are definitely some different reports going on about Gonzaga.
03:35Some say they're going to go.
03:36Some say they're not.
03:37As of right now, we don't know.
03:38But for the time being, we'll leave Gonzaga out of the mix.
03:41And also, the statement from Memphis, Tulane, USF, and UTSA is while we acknowledge receiving
03:45interest in our institutions from other conferences, we believe that this is our individual collective
03:51best interest to uphold our commitment to each other.
03:54So that's the latest with this conference realignment, which is constantly happening
03:58in college sports.
03:59Meanwhile, Reggie Bush, the beat goes on.
04:02Reggie Bush, who once upon a time had his Heisman Trophy taken away for improprieties,
04:06is now asking for money in a lawsuit.
04:08Why not, right?
04:10Filing it against the Pac-12, seeking compensation for his name, his image, his likeness during
04:14his time with the program.
04:16I'm sure that he was the single most popular jersey when USC was winning those championships
04:20with Pete Carroll.
04:21Does anybody remember how good USC was?
04:23I saw USC warm up for the, that right there, that picture right there, warm up for the
04:28national championship game, folks, in South Florida, where they were playing.
04:32I believe it was Oklahoma for the national championship.
04:34They allowed fans to come watch their practice right before a championship game.
04:41That's how good USC was.
04:42They were unbeatable.
04:43I mean, imagine that in this day and age, getting to watch a team in college, open practice
04:47before a championship, never happens.
04:49Everything's on lockdown now.
04:50You get to know nothing.
04:51Anyway, a bizarre story from the National Football League gets more bizarre.
04:54Christian McCaffrey, who was questionable going into week one of the National Football
04:58League season, has not played a game.
05:00He's on injured reserve.
05:01There was a social media report the other day saying that they saw him waiting for a
05:05flight to go to Munich, Germany.
05:07Indeed, looks like that's true.
05:09It's now being reported that he's seeing a specialist in Germany regarding his Achilles
05:12tendon.
05:13Certainly, that's not great news that he can't get help here, but he's on the IR, not expected
05:17back anytime soon.
05:19National Football League has suspended defensive back Derwin James of the Chargers for one
05:23game.
05:24This is for his hit to Steelers tight end, Pat Friermuth.
05:27It's a violation of player safety.
05:30Basically, he's had some tough hits over and over and over again.
05:34Bad news for the Chiefs continues.
05:35Herbert trying to get healthy, not going to have his key left tackle.
05:39Joe Ault has a sprained MCL.
05:40He's going to miss this coming game against the Chiefs.
05:42Good thing Chargers are off to a two-in-one start.
05:46No structural damage at all to Sam Darnold and that banged-up knee Kevin O'Connell announced
05:50yesterday.
05:52Expected to play and start.
05:53He'll be on the injury report in some kind, but they do play the Packers in week four.
05:58Fourth team in a seven-year career.
05:59Darnold's having the best start to his career, that's for sure.
06:01All right.
06:02Texas has an SEC showdown with Mississippi State this coming week.
06:06Kevin Ewers is questionable for the game, so that could mean Arch Manning ends up playing.
06:11But based on what we saw from Mississippi State last week, you will not be surprised
06:14to hear that the Longhorns are 38-and-a-half point favorites over Mississippi State this
06:19week.
06:20They lost to the Gators.
06:21Michael Hawkins Jr. is going to start a quarterback for Oklahoma.
06:24They've seen enough of Jackson Arnold.
06:25He did not play well against Tennessee.
06:27Kirby Smart is hopeful that Michael Williams can play against Alabama.
06:32He's one of the top NFL draft prospects on the defensive line.
06:35All-team SEC second team.
06:38And also the Mountain West is trying to keep their remaining schools, speaking of which,
06:42UNLV and Air Force trying to pay them off to keep them in the conference remains to
06:47be seen if they'll get that done with all this realignment.
06:49Celebration was on last night for the Philadelphia Phillies in the clubhouse.
06:52They win the National League East.
06:54They're a couple of wins away from clinching a first-round bye.
06:57They and the Dodgers look like the team that are going to get that done.
06:59The Mariners beat the Astros.
07:03They're still alive in the race for the AL West.
07:07Four games back in the division.
07:08A game-and-a-half back of the wild card.
07:09Tonight, the Orioles take on the Yankees.
07:12The Mets go to Atlanta.
07:13If the Mets win two out of three in this series, they clinch.
07:15Padres and Dodgers start the series.
07:17And a great career for Charlie Blackman is going to come to an end.
07:20He has decided to retire at the age of 38.
07:23Great player on the Colorado Rockies for more than a decade.
07:26WNBA tonight.
07:27Playoffs week could potentially get a sweep.
07:28New York Liberty, 12-and-a-half-point favorites over the Atlanta Dream.
07:31If they win, they move on.
07:33Las Vegas Aces, also 7-and-a-half-point favorites over Seattle Storm.
07:37Vegas wins tonight.
07:38They move on as well.
07:39NBA News, Mitchell Robinson is going to start the beginning or miss the beginning of the
07:43season.
07:44He's out until December.
07:45He's going to have surgery and could potentially come back sometime in December or January.
07:49The Knicks are not big in the middle, so they'll have to figure that out.
07:52And also, the Colorado Avalanche have signed Logan O'Connor to a six-year extension.
07:56For those of you who are big hockey fans, I get you.
07:59And guess what?
08:00Preseason games getting underway.
08:01In fact, this weekend, plenty of games in the National Hockey League on the preseason
08:06ice.
08:07Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:09We've got Sam McQuillan from Legal Sports Report in the house.
08:11We'll go over the very latest in the National Football League point spreads and also dive
08:15into some micro betting news.
08:17But first, let's bring Sam in.
08:18Yesterday, we found out the news we saw on social media.
08:22I saw, and I know that you guys wrote about this, Legal Sports Report, ESPN Bet is headed
08:25to New York.
08:26So, Sam, thanks for coming on the show once again.
08:28Tell us more.
08:29Yeah, absolutely, Craig.
08:31Always a pleasure.
08:32So, yesterday, ESPN Bet was approved to launch in New York, which is going to happen within
08:39the coming days, according to Executive Vice President Chris Rogers of Penn, who testified
08:44before the New York State Gaming Commission yesterday.
08:47Essentially, the Gaming Commission had to approve a transfer of license that WinBet
08:52has and has had since 2022, when the state launched, to Penn and to ESPN Bet in order
08:58to get everything squared away.
09:00They bought this license back in February and had been pretty vocal about wanting to
09:04launch in New York before football season started.
09:07Obviously, we are now in the middle of football season.
09:10They've missed about the first four weeks of NFL.
09:14They might soft launch before this weekend, according to Rogers.
09:17So that would mean they would probably end up missing most of week four as well if they're
09:22not fully launched by then.
09:25Pretty interesting that they say they still have to check a couple boxes before they launch
09:29because about a month ago, when CEO Jay Snowden was addressing investors, talking about New
09:35York, talking about how great it was going to be, he was saying that, you know, once
09:38we're approved, we'll be able to go live the next day.
09:41So sort of a strange delay that happened in New York.
09:44Now, often, the commission does drag their feet on a lot of issues and just doesn't get
09:48around to things.
09:49I don't think they felt particularly felt a particular sense of urgency on their end
09:54because they already have a ton of operators in New York.
09:57Penn obviously probably felt a lot more urgency until they started submitting their paperwork
10:02in early May and it ended in August, even though there was no deadline.
10:06So they'll get up and running eventually.
10:10We'll have to keep monitoring ESPN.
10:13And when they do, we're probably going to have some different promos than we've seen
10:16in the past.
10:17ESPN launched in 17 states at once in the middle of last NFL season, which led to a
10:22ton of downloads, a ton of people using them.
10:24But that's also because they're a new sports book for many people and people were using
10:28the free promos.
10:29Jay Snowden has been vocal about not doing the same thing in New York, which obviously
10:33is a much more expensive state to do business with a 51 percent tax rate.
10:37So we'll see how they lean into ESPN's branding power into their audience once they do eventually
10:43launch in New York.
10:44And it comes at a critical time when many investors are calling for a sale of the company
10:49amid their slow sports betting gains.
10:51So New York should be a really big key piece in trying to gain some share on the draft
10:56games and fan duels of the world, which hold about 47 to 35 percent of the market in New
11:01York.
11:02Yeah, really big market share for those two companies.
11:05We'll see if ESPN bet can even make a dent there.
11:07All right.
11:08Making a dent in sports betting has been difficult for some people, Sam.
11:12If you're taking the favorites in the NFL, you're getting crushed.
11:15And if you're taking overs, you're probably even doing worse.
11:18So the totals are right now, a lot of them in the NFL are well under 40 for September,
11:23which is highly unusual.
11:25And any team that's six or seven point underdogs pretty much, Sam, in the NFL, I mean, they're
11:30almost all winning and winning outright.
11:32So this has been a crazy season for the odds makers.
11:36And that's why I think a lot of these lines, as you see this week, are three and four and
11:39close.
11:41Yeah, it's kind of been the same story over the last few weeks.
11:44You have these big favorites of minus five and a half or more are now two and 14 to start
11:50the season against the spread, including losing losing 10 outright games.
11:55You have the Bengals, the 49ers, the Bucks, the Raiders all had over 70 percent of the
12:00public bets this week and each lost outright, which obviously knocks out a bunch of survivor
12:05pools.
12:06And even more notable, bettors often add favorites to parlays or teasers, tease it down.
12:13So you're not doing the actual spread.
12:14You're just taking them to win outright.
12:16And sportsbooks are really cleaning up on those as well.
12:19They're holding about 21 percent on spreads to start the season, which is just insane,
12:24considering the average is usually about seven point five percent.
12:28And even more notable, when you account for parlays, sportsbooks are holding 16 percent
12:33across all sorts of NFL bets.
12:34And yes, scoring is down.
12:36Originally thought to start the season, oddsmakers theorized that perhaps with the new kickoff
12:40rules, teams were going to be scoring more.
12:42It would be closer to the end zones.
12:43But teams are just averaging 21 points per game through the first four weeks, which is
12:49the fifth straight year of scoring going down and the lowest start since 2006.
12:54So yeah, the public loves to bet overs and is not doing a great job right now.
12:58Unders are hitting about a 58 percent rate this year.
13:01So between all of the upsets, between the favorites losing outright and between the
13:05low scoring again, sportsbooks are really cleaning up and we'll have to see if that changes.
13:10There's only a couple big favorites this week.
13:13We'll see if those lines go down a bit as people start to look into this stuff, as the
13:18trends start to go out on social media.
13:20But it'll also be really interesting to see what happens, what the sportsbooks do with
13:24the money.
13:25Some analysts think the high margin start is going to result in sportsbooks, you know,
13:30reinvesting that in promos, marketing and trying to get people to bet more and more.
13:34They've actually spent twenty three million dollars on linear TV ads this year, which
13:39is down 15 percent from last year.
13:41So they're saving money in that department while betting in general is going up.
13:45I think it's up about 16 percent in terms of handle this year, which obviously accounts
13:50for some new states as well.
13:51And viewership is up as well.
13:53So it's a really, really just a great mix all around for sportsbooks to start the year.
13:57But obviously it's a very long season.
14:00We'll have to see what happens.
14:01Pre-stock is pretty much up right now and getting an outperformed rating.
14:05But historically, that's kind of dipped as we go into November.
14:07So it'll be interesting to see how they react and what they do to prepare going forward.
14:12Yeah, it's really hard to determine.
14:14Every season is different.
14:15A lot of the analysts say that teams are just playing no break defense, just putting defenders
14:20all the way back in the defensive end.
14:23So then therefore teams can't throw deep and we just really haven't seen a lot of breakout
14:27plays in the NFL this season.
14:29Maybe that's part of it.
14:30All right.
14:31Let's talk a little micro-betting.
14:32Now, this is really interesting, Sam, as we close this out, because if there was ever
14:36a sport that had these lulls in play, it's definitely tennis, where the latency time
14:42could really give you an opportunity to use micro-betting to your advantage, or at least
14:47be able to bet that way on each individual serve or hit, volley, et cetera.
14:52Tell us more about micro-betting and how it could affect the sport.
14:55Yeah, you make a great point, hitting on latency.
15:00Allowing people to have the time to bet on what's going to happen next.
15:04If the sport is going 100 miles per hour, there's no stops, it's really hard for people
15:09to get in and get into these markets.
15:11But because tennis has all these stops and starts, it's been kind of the perfect model
15:15to really get micro-betting and live betting off to a great start in the US.
15:20I think it counts for something to 80 to 90% of handle, depending on the market, is on
15:26micro-betting on live betting markets.
15:28You see companies like Sport Radar now making deals where they're going to have new micro-betting
15:32markets and more things to bet on during the game in tennis, which is going to start in
15:36October.
15:37You're going to be able to bet on next breakpoint, next serve result, who will serve the next
15:41ace.
15:42Other things like point outcomes, even what the stroke type is going to be, a forehand,
15:46a serve return.
15:47You're seeing micro-betting really becoming popular, starting with tennis, and live betting
15:52in general has been a really big emphasis of sports books in the NFL as well and in
15:57sports across the board.
15:59I'm sure they would love to take the success from tennis and turn it in there, but it kind
16:02of seems like they're starting off with what just really fits well for the sport.
16:06DraftKings just bought a micro-betting provider at SimpleBet.
16:10You have more and more promos and marketing around live betting and micro-betting, allowing
16:15people to bet more frequently, more often, more types of markets, which in turn keeps
16:20their bankroll in the account.
16:21They can then spend it and keep betting it more and more.
16:24So it's really a huge emphasis, and tennis especially has been kind of where we've seen
16:29this.
16:30All right.
16:31Well, Sam, great stuff as always.
16:32Thanks again for coming on NewsHour.
16:33We'll catch up with you again next week.
16:34Thanks for coming on.
16:35Thank you, Craig.