Las Vegas Raiders -1.5
Washington is on a 3-game winning streak, though not sure beating Carolina and Seattle is that impressive. Las Vegas has finally ended their 3-game slide with a win @ Dallas on Turkey Day. Cowboys were without their top-2 WR’s though and a few questionable penalties, contributed to that Las Vegas win in OT. Still, they beat a quality opponent on the road, in a short week. Coming into this one, Las Vegas has had 10-days to rest/prepare while Washington is on a short-week (6 days) after playing on Monday Night. This line is interesting, as the number indicates that Washington is a better team. Sure they beat Tampa after their BYE, but outside of that, their other wins are against NYG (by 1, should have lost), ATL (by 4), CAR (by 6), and SEA (by 2)…all some of the worst teams in the league. Against ‘playoff level’ opposition this team is 1-6 with a margin of victory of -9.4 PPG. Las Vegas is 6-5 and is in the thick of a playoff race, so they’re one of these, so-called “playoff caliber” teams. They have wins against BAL, PIT, DEN, PHI, and DAL this season, so much better overall quality-of-wins than Washington. Plus they’re at home, and more rested, a already mentioned earlier. My model has this one at LV -4. No idea why the spread is this low.