Sharp bettors back side, total in Raiders-Jaguars game

The Raiders seemed to hit rock bottom in last week’s 24-0 loss at New Orleans. But bettors haven’t given up on them.

In fact, sharp bettors at Circa Sports are banking on the Raiders to bounce back this week. They are consensus 2-point road favorites over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

“We’ve seen multiple sharps take the Raiders,” Circa sportsbook director of risk Chris Bennett said. “I think the thought is the Saints game was an aberration and the Raiders are just better than the Jaguars. Preseason ratings would certainly say that is true.”

The Raiders (2-5, 3-4 against the spread) opened as 1-point favorites at the South Point and are up to -2½ at Station Casinos, where 65 percent of the tickets are on the Silver and Black. The ticket count is 5-1 in favor of the Raiders at BetMGM.

“We’ll definitely be Jags fans on Sunday,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “It’s more public backing at this point, but it is trending up industrywide. This is a must-win game for the Raiders.

“Last week in a similar scenario with the Raiders as a small road favorite, it became our largest decision of the day.”

Jacksonville (2-6), which lost 21-17 to Denver last week in London, is tied with Tampa Bay for the NFL’s worst ATS record at 2-6. The Jaguars have lost and failed to cover their last five games.

The Raiders, who have the league’s worst road record at 0-4, had covered three straight before getting shut out by the Saints.

“Most of the money is on the Raiders, but nowhere near as one-sided as the Saints game was last week,” Westgate SuperBook director John Murray said. “I think that scared some people off.”

The total is 48 after it opened at 46 at the Westgate, which reported sharp money on the over. The Raiders are one of the league’s top over teams with a 4-2-1 over-under record. The Jaguars have a 4-4 over-under mark.

“There was some sharp money on the total when it was at 46 that pushed it up,” Murray said.

Professional sports bettor Jeff Whitelaw said he leans to Jacksonville.

“I would’ve taken Jacksonville at +3,” he said. “Neither team has played very well. The Raiders stayed on the East Coast, and I personally don’t like it when teams are away from home that long. I don’t think it’s a good thing. It cuts down on the travel, but at the same time you’re living in a hotel. It’s a little bit of a distraction.”

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr has struggled as a road favorite, going 0-7 ATS in the last seven games in that role and 1-10-1 ATS since 2017.

One trend in the Raiders’ favor, courtesy of WagerTalk’s Ralph Michaels (@CalSportsLV), is that NFL teams coming off a shutout loss have gone 27-10 ATS (73 percent) in their next game.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.