NFL Week 12 Odds

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a turkey drumstick in one hand and a grease-stained betting ticket in the other.

The turkey day NFL games are a tradition with hardcore and square bettors alike, mostly because you’re home, you’re full, and you want nothing to do with that cackling group of mutants, otherwise known as your family, in the other room. You might as well make the most of this.

There are three Thanksgiving Day games on the schedule, including a battle between the reigning Super Bowl champs and a team that thought they were the Super Bowl champs.

The New Orleans Saints head to Big D to face the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday, and oddsmakers are obviously buying into what they’ve seen from Dallas since firing its head coach three weeks ago. Books opened with the Cowboys as field-goal underdogs at home, but sharp money quickly jumped on that line and is pushing it upwards, sitting at 3.5 at most markets.

Sure, Jason Garrett has this team buying into what remains of their season. But Dallas benefited from two sloppy opponents, in New York and Detroit, and won’t get any breaks from a Saints squad that is quickly returning to its championship form.

New Orleans has won three straight games since losing to Cleveland in Week 7 and is coming off a 34-19 beatdown of the Seattle Seahawks. Even better, the Saints have covered in all of those wins and have a coach, Sean Payton, who won’t mind running up the score on his former employer.

Here are some other Week 12 lines catching the eyes of early-bird bettors:

Pittsburgh Steelers at Buffalo Bills (+6, 43 at BetUS Sportsbook)

Current form is the most important thing oddsmakers consider when setting the spreads, but do the Bills’ back-to-back wins really deserve this much respect? Buffalo has dropped Detroit and Cincinnati, two hopeless teams, and now faces the league’s top defense as just a 6-point underdog.

Granted, the Bills have been able to move the chains in the past two weeks, mostly due to Fred Jackson’s resurgence. However, Pittsburgh is the best run-stop unit in the land, allowing only 63 rushing yards per game. And it’s coming off a 35-3 smashing of the Oakland Raiders, in which it locked up the Silver and Black to 61 yards on the ground. I’d be surprised if Buffalo beats that effort.

Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins (-3 at BetUS Sportsbook)

Ding dong the Chill is gone!

Vikings fans have been calling for head coach Brad Childress’ shiny, bald head for some time now, and last Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Green Bay Packers was the straw that broke owner Zygi Wilf’s back.

Oddsmakers held off as long as they could when news broke of Childress’ firing, eventually opening with the Vikes, now under defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, as 3-point underdogs in Washington this weekend.

Add to that the uncertainty of quarterback Brett Favre, who is probably the happiest person to see Childress get canned after butting heads with the coach since arriving in Minnesota. Bettors will have to decide if the Vikings will mail it in for the final month and a bit, or pick up the pace for their interim head coach, much like Dallas has done.

Other Week 12 odds at BetUS Sportsbook:

New England at Detroit (+6.5, 51)
Cincinnati at N.Y. Jets (-9, 44)
Carolina at Cleveland (N/A)
Tennessee at Houston (N/A)
Jacksonville at N.Y. Giants (-7.5, 45)
Green Bay at Atlanta (-1.5, 47.5)
Kansas City at Seattle (+1, 44)
Miami at Oakland (N/A)
St. Louis at Denver (N/A)
Tampa Bay at Baltimore (-9, 41)
Philadelphia at Chicago (+3.5, 42.5)
San Diego at Indianapolis (N/A)
San Francisco at Arizona (N/A)