Jets’ Upset Of Bengals Wreaks Havoc In NFL Survivor Pools

A controversial penalty aided the Jets' 34-31 upset of the Cincinnati Bengals
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Chris Altruda was a sportswriter with ESPN, The Associated Press, and STATS for more than two decades before joining Better Collective in 2019. When not crunching iGaming and casino revenue figures, he is usually listening to Iron Maiden or exploring Chicago neighborhoods. His Twitter handle is @AlTruda73 and can be reached via email at [email protected]

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It is likely that adjectives harsher than the ones Julian McGrath spoke in “Big Daddy” were used across the country Sunday when describing the New York Jets, especially among the thousands of sports bettors who were eliminated from NFL survivor pools following their 34-31 upset of the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Jets (2-5) became the first double-digit underdog to record an outright victory in the NFL this season. In fact, no team that was an underdog by more than 7.5 points won outright through the first seven weeks. New York looked poised to again contribute to that total, as Mike White was making his first NFL start at quarterback for injured rookie Zach Wilson.

The early lookahead lines before Wilson was injured had the Bengals as 4-point favorites, but that jumped to -9.5 when betting began in earnest Oct. 24 after the Bengals (6-2) flattened the Baltimore Ravens 41-13 on the road, while the Jets were overrun 54-13 at New England. Money poured in on Cincinnati during the week, driving the line to the Bengals -11.5 by kickoff as they looked to complete a three-game road sweep.

White, however, had other plans. He led the Jets on their first first-quarter touchdown drive of the season, staking them to a 7-0 lead. But interceptions on New York’s next two possessions, as part of a run in which the Jets had three giveaways in five possessions, seemed to point to the “same old Jets” as the Bengals grabbed a 17-7 lead late in the first half.

An unlikely rally and blown call create Cincinnati chaos

The Bengals kept the Jets at arm’s length for most of the second half and even looked like they had a chance of covering after Joe Burrow’s third touchdown pass provided a 31-20 advantage with 7:29 to play. At the 4:50 mark, ESPN’s real-time win probability chart had the Bengals with a 98.5% likelihood of victory, as the Jets faced a 1st-and-10 at the Cincinnati 22 down two scores.

Two plays later, though, White hooked up with Ty Johnson on a 19-yard touchdown, though the Jets still trailed 31-26 after failing on the two-point conversion. Defensive end Shaq Lawson then delivered a huge defensive play, intercepting Burrow to give New York the ball at the Cincinnati 13. Another two plays later, White this time found Tyler Kroft wide open in the end zone, and the Jets ran a variant of the “Philly Special” for the two-point conversion, with White catching a pass from wide receiver Jamison Crowder to make it 34-31 with 3:50 to go.

The Bengals reached their own 40 on the ensuing possession, but were forced to punt with 2:19 to play. The Jets showed then why they entered the game 1-5, as they could not get their offense aligned on a 2nd-and-6, calling timeout to stop the clock before the two-minute warning and then throwing an incomplete pass that made it 3rd-and-6 while the Bengals still had all of their timeouts.

Then came one of the most controversial penalty calls of the NFL season: a helmet-to-helmet infraction against the Bengals when it was clear the Jets’ runner initiated the head-to-head contact. The penalty provided a fresh set of downs and allowed White, who finished with 405 passing yards, and the Jets to run out the clock for the victory — decimating survivor pools in staggering fashion.

The howls of outrage across the Twitter landscape were loud, amplified, and intensified by some of the bigger celebrity names of sports wagering:

The carnage … oh, the carnage

All told, the swath of destruction was widespread. More than 40% of Circa’s survivor pool entries for Week 8 were riding the Bengals. And given how many other entrants are riding a slumping Kansas City Chiefs team — also a double-digit favorite — at home Monday night against New York’s other semi-hapless pro football team, there is a chance that Circa could lose three-quarters of its pool thanks to the Jets and Giants.

 

Of course, not everyone was broken up about seeing such chaos unfold. And others who survived unscathed may want to think twice about picking the Indianapolis Colts, who host the Jets to start Week 9 on Thursday night.

Photo via Shutterstock

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