Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.
Here are our best bets for Sunday, Jan. 15:
TOP PLAY
The play: NFL wild-card game, Giants +3 over Vikings
The odds/bet: -114
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: 4:40 p.m. (Fox)
Our take: Take a look at the first game these two teams played just a few weeks ago, and it tells a story. Daniel Jones passed for more yards (334) than Kirk Cousins (299). Saquon Barkley rushed for more yards (84) than Dalvin Cook (64).
The Vikings needed a 61-yard field goal to keep this game from going into overtime.
In other words, everything points to this not only being a close game once again, but the Giants potentially pulling an upset as a 6 seed in the NFC, where the 6 seed has won five consecutive games against the 2.
We’re not quite ready to pull the trigger on the money line, and as we said in our NFL best bets column earlier in the week, we absolutely LOVE the G-Men in a teaser (with either the Bucs or Bengals), but this has final drive written all over it.
SAME GAME PLAYER PROP
The play: Giants running back Saquon Barkley to rush for more than 73.5 yards
The odds/bet: -113
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Our take: We already told you Barkley rushed for 84 yards in the first matchup, and he is more rested in this one and should get the ball potentially 20 times. There’s little question that as long as the Giants don’t fall behind, their star running back is going to get plenty of touches – AND they would have to fall behind big early.
We don’t see that happening, and this could be the best player prop of the entire wild-card weekend.
HOW WE’VE FARED
NFL, Elijah Mitchell OVER 38.5 yards rushing (LOST)
NFL, Keenan Allen OVER 80.5 yards receiving (LOST)
Saturday’s record: 0-2
Total for the week: 7-5
Total for January: 16-11
Total for 2023: 16-11
NOTE: If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)
Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).
