Even if Sean McVay had different intentions, he should still answer for his spread-covering field goal.
Welcome to the Winner’s Circle, where senior writer for BetFTW Prince J. Grimes shares his weekly observations on the latest happenings in sports betting.
After sending his kicker out to attempt a pointless field goal at the conclusion of the Los Angeles Rams’ defeat to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, head coach Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams gained some notoriety among sports bettors.
With four seconds remaining, the Rams were behind by ten points and had little hope of pulling off a comeback. Nevertheless, McVay covered a +7.5 spread by adding three points to his team’s score as time ran out, as opposed to trying to milk the clock on second down.
As you can guess, the outcome infuriated 49ers bettors. What looked like bank money turned out to be a terrible beat with no clear explanation. Aside from the betting spread, the choice to kick a field there didn’t make much sense.
Naturally, people started to wonder if McVay was just attempting to cross the boundary. The issue is that, as no one questioned him about it at his postgame news conference, nobody genuinely knows. If there’s no more investigation in the next few few days, we could never find out what his actual goals were. And it might be more of an issue than the choice itself.
To be really honest, I chose to cover the Rams. I therefore supported those who were pleased with the outcome. However, I wouldn’t necessarily object to McVay or any other coach playing to a cover,, even if that weren’t the case. We say we want teams to play to the very end, and that’s exactly how it seems to work. However, McVay ought to be forced to respond to inquiries regarding the significance of the spread if, for clear reasons, he was attempting to conceal it. The stakes are just too great. Particularly after so many players were suspended for placing bets on football and other sports during the offseason.
I can think of quite a few explanations for why McVay kicked the field goal that don’t include his playing in the game, but angry Niners bettors might want to go to the most dramatic ones. We would be stupid to believe that all players, coaches, and even executives are unaware of betting lines and records and do not use them as motivational elements. Betting lines and records are a more common topic of conversation these days.
McVay was 3-10 ATS going into Sunday against 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, including 0-7 since 2020. Perhaps he just wanted to end that run and take away the advantage, knowing that both teams would play each other again in Week 18. Or perhaps he saw a chance to return the favor to Rams supporters and wagerers who were placing money on the team. I never claimed there had to be compelling arguments in favor of trying a pointless field goal. However, they don’t have to represent the worst-case situation in which a coach breaks the rules.
The issue is that we can only guess as to why he did it; the explanation might be anything from “oh no” to completely unrelated to betting. The conversation that has ensued on sites such as X serves as a lesson for the media: we ought to be posing these queries to ensure complete clarity.
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