An overwhelming majority of bets for Thursday night’s game were in favor of the Dallas Cowboys. Among all the money we bet on the spread. at BetMGM85% were on the Cowboys as of Thursday afternoon.
That means there were a lot of angry people going to bed Thursday night.
The Cowboys didn’t play that well, but the way the end of the game played out was seemingly perfect for all those people who accepted the Cowboys. Dallas closed as a 5.5-point favorite and led 20-15 at the end of the game. Dallas bettors needed one more score to cover. The Giants failed on a fourth down attempt and the Cowboys’ drive failed to consume the rest of the clock. They decided to send in Brandon Aubrey for a 51-yard field goal in the final minute. It seemed like a stroke of luck.
Aubrey has been practically automatic during his NFL career. He had never missed a field goal of 50 yards or longer before lining up for that field goal in the final minute. He had a 60-yard kick early in the game and has made 60-yard kicks look easy. A 51-yard goal for Aubrey looked like a chip shot, as Al Michaels made jokes on the Amazon Prime Video stream about how some people were very happy to see Aubrey come in for the kick.
Then those people watched in horror as Aubrey missed a long field goal for the first time in his career. The kick immediately went to the right and stayed there. The Cowboys got an interception in the final seconds and the final score was a 20-15 Cowboys victory.
Let’s hope that Post Malone, who has been known for betting on the Cowboys and showed up to Thursday night’s game wearing an Aubrey jersey because the musical artist and kicker are friends, he didn’t pick his favorite team and score the points. Everyone else seemed to do it.
85% of people felt confident about the Cowboys and were prepared to win a bet with less than a minute left. Of all the ways to lose, the best kicker in the NFL, missing a field goal, was not on his radar.