NFL Monday Night Football Betting
For the second week in a row Monday Night Football serves up a pair of games. The first of the Week 3 MNF tilts features two of the nine unbeaten teams and is the only contest on the slate between clubs without a loss. Most expected the Philadelphia Eagles to win a lot of games and being 2-0 isn’t much of a surprise. However, seeing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers undefeated is a shock to some after most pundits had their win total around 7 at the start of the year. Oddsmakers have the Eagles positioned as a 5.5-point favorite stay undefeated.
For the first time since Super Bowl LVI the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals hook up bringing the betting week to a close. The Rams won the last meeting claiming the Lombardi Trophy with a 23-20 win getting a late touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to MVP Cooper Kupp. Stafford is slinging to a bunch of other receivers in Kupp’s absence with rookie fifth-round draft pick Puka Nacua leading the NFL with 25 receptions through two weeks.
NFL Monday Night Football Betting Odds
Philadelphia Eagles -5.5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers +5.5
Total 46
Money Line: Eagles -240, Buccaneers +199
The sign of a good team is winning games when not playing your best. We could argue that we’ve yet to see the Eagles at their best. It’s quite possible the extended week will benefit them. Philly beat Minnesota, 34-28, in Week 2’s Thursday night game and get a few extra days before tangling on Monday. Jalen Hurts hasn’t put up the numbers we saw from him last year throwing for 193 yards against the Vikings. He’s yet to throw for more than 200 yards in a game despite averaging 28 pass attempts.
The Eagles got a boost from D’Andre Swift in the ground game. Swift rushed for 175 yards and a TD on 28 carries after having only one rush attempt in the opener. Hurts had little success throwing the ball against the Vikings, but he really didn’t need to. Sparked by Swift the Eagles rushed for 259 yards and three TDs averaging 5.4 yards per pop.
I’m going to hold off on backing the Bucs for the NFC South title right now. Their two wins are against teams that have yet to win a game so they might just be the best of the worst. However they are getting inspired play from former No. 1 overall draft-pick Baker Mayfield. In last week’s 27-17 win over the Bears, Mayfield was a methodical 26 of 34 for 317 yards and a TD. He’s also yet to turn the ball over as he attempts to resurrect his career. Behind Tom Brady the Bucs won the most recent meeting, 28-22 in 2021. Hurts ran for two TDs and threw another scoring pass to account for all the Eagles scoring.
Los Angeles Rams +1
Cincinnati Bengals -1
Total 43.5
Money Line: Rams +100, Bengals -120
While they lost last week’s game to San Francisco, the Rams made their backers some coin with a backdoor cover. Closing as a 7.5-point dog, the Rams trailed 30-20 late in the fourth and elected to kick a field goal on second down with five seconds left on the clock. Brett Maher made the kick giving the Rams a third straight payout while improving to 7-2 ATS in their last nine games. The Rams opened as a slight 1-point dog in this matchup.
Injuries are always something to keep an eye on when betting the NFL. Joe Burrow aggravated a calf injury that kept him out for most of training camp and his status for Monday is unknown at this time. Burrow and the Bengals had a better game offensively in Week 2 amassing 282 yards in their 27-24 loss. They failed to score a touchdown and totaled just 142 yards in the season opening setback to Cleveland.
Being in different conferences the teams don’t meet that often. This will be the first regular season meeting since 2019 when the Rams scored a 24-10 win and payout in LA. Cincy last hosted the Rams in 2015.
Monday Night Football Betting Schedule
Access live betting lines and NFL Betting Lines from your mobile device at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform.
