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It might not be the most exciting of games any more, but you can definitely find a way to make it a fun one.
When NFL schedule-makers were looking at the Thursday Night Football schedule before the season, a match-up of Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers facing off against Jimmy Garoppolo and the Las Vegas Raiders (under exciting head coach Josh McDaniels), they envisioned a different game than viewers will see this week. Fast forward to Week 15 of the 2023 NFL season, Josh McDaniels is fired, Justin Herbert is done for the season with an injury, and Jimmy G. is benched.
It doesn’t appear oddsmakers know what to expect in this game now. As it currently stands, DraftKings Sportsbook has the Raiders -3 home favorites to the Chargers (meaning the Raiders are expected to win by a point margin of only three points), it is generally accepted that home teams are spotted three points as a matter of course. For all practical purposes, this is considered a “pick ‘em” game with either team given equal chances of winning heading into the game.
Currently, DraftKings Sportsbook has the money line for a Raiders win at —155, meaning in order to win a $100 payout on the Saints winning the game, you would have to wager (and risk) $155 on the bet. On the flipside, if you were willing to bet on the Chargers pulling off a technical upset over the Raiders, a measly $100 bet would pay out $130 on the current +130 odds.
If a quarterback matchup of Aidan O’Connell and Easton Stick fails to inspire much excitement for you, you can string bets together in a series of bets on Thursday night’s game in what is known as a “parlay” to potentially increase your payout. You can head over to DraftKings Sportsbook for a full definition of what a parlay is, but essentially, a parlay is a string of multiple bets (each individual bet known as a “leg”), where for there to be any payout whatsoever, each leg of the parlay has to be correct. It is all-or-nothing. In a four-leg parlay, if one of the bets misses but the other two hit, there is no “partial payout.” It is simply a loss. But if all three bets hit, that is where there might be opportunity for money to be made.
So consider this four-leg parlay for tonight’s game:
UNDER 34 points (-110). With both teams missing the quarterbacks each envisioned to have playing at the start of the season, points could be hard to come by. Betting the “under” hear only needs one offensive to struggle. So even if the Raiders are able to put up points, for instance, if the Chargers offense struggles to move the ball, this bet could still hit.
Josh Jacobs ANYTIME TD (+130). When in doubt, bet on the best player on the field. Here, that is likely Raiders running back Josh Jacobs. Chargers WR Keenan Allen is arguably a better individual player than Jacobs, even at this point in their respective careers, but while Allen is dependent on a quarterback throwing him the ball, Jacobs only needs to be able to receive a hand-off.
NO field goal in every quarter (-700). It’s a recurring theme here that points will be at a premium in this game. Points in every quarter are not common in NFL games across the board in 2023, let alone in games with offenses that are expected to be less-than-stellar this week.
Chargers UNDER 21.5 points (-355). The Raiders have at least had the benefit of rolling with Aidan O’Connell for five weeks now. The Chargers, on the other hand, have only seen QB Easton Stick for less than a full game against the Denver Broncos last week, and it is unlikely they feel overly optimistic this week.
The parlay odds for this bet would be an even +500, meaning a $100 bet would pay out $600 (the original $100 bet plus an extra $500). Again, this takes all four individual legs of the parlay have to come true for this bet to pay out. But look at the odds: Instead of a $100 parlay, if four $25.00 bets were placed on each of these legs individually and all four were to come true, the total payout would be $165.84 (the original $100 bet plus an extra $65.84). By stringing these four bets into a four-leg parlay, a winning bet pays out over seven times more than the four solo bets by themselves.
Does this mean the parlay is a safe bet to make? Of course not. Every bet also presents risk. But stringing together a series of less-risky bets into a parlay, while the risk is greater because it presents more opportunities for the overall bet to miss, the potential reward is greater. Once a basic parlay bet is understood and made, the feeling of it hitting is like no other, and soon, a novice sports better can eventually start stringing together ultra aggressive parlays for a big-time payday. You can head over to DraftKings Sportsbook to try to make it happen.
If you like this material, make sure you’re subscribed to The SB Nation NFL Show podcast where we cover Thursday Night Football sports bets every week. You can catch us wherever you listen to your podcasts. As always, you can follow me on Twitter/X @ChrisDunnells. Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.
