Winless Giants now have same Super Bowl odds (300-1) as Jets
The betting public could not get enough of the New York Giants in the offseason.
The G-Men have not lived up to those expectations.
By mid-August at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas, only three teams -- the Oakland Raiders, Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys-- had attracted more bets to win the Super Bowl than the Giants. At 12-1, New York began the season with better Super Bowl odds than the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons.
One month later, the Giants find themselves with the same odds of winning the Super Bowl as the New York Jetsat300-1.
The Giants fell to 0-5 with Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and saw star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. suffer a fractured left ankle.
Oddsmakers estimate Beckham is worth 1-3 points to the betting line. The Giants were listed as 6-point underdogs to the Denver Broncos in an early line posted before the Beckham injury. When the Westgate reopened betting on this week's game at Denver, the Giants were 10.5-point underdogs.
"I don't know if the Giants will be favored in another game this year," a sportsbook manager for Caesars Palace told ESPN.
Beckham missed the season opener against the Cowboys, dealing with an injury to the same ankle. Without him, the Giants' offense managed just 233 total yards in a 19-3 loss to the Cowboys.
"He's probably one of the most impactful players, non-quarterbacks, to the line in the league," said Jason Simbal, vice president of risk for Las Vegas sportsbook operator CG Technology. "We've already seen what they look like without him."
In addition to Beckham, receivers Sterling Shepard, Brandon Marshall and Dwayne Harris also left Sunday's game with injuries, adding to the early disappointment for the Giants, who drew consistent support from bettors in the offseason. At MGM's sportsbooks, the Giants' season win total opened at 8.5 and was bet up to 9. The Giants were bet down from 25-1 to 12-1 to win the Super Bowl at the Westgate this summer.
"It wasn't big money. It was almost all smaller bets, but it was just a steady stream of action [on the Giants]," Ed Salmons, assistant manager at the Westgate, said. "It just kept coming and wouldn't stop, no matter how much I lowered their odds."
