As the Raiders and Eagles slogged through a sloppy, mistake-ridden fourth quarter Monday night in Philadelphia, all that seemed certain was that Philadelphia would fail to cover the 10-point spread.
When Eagles kicker Jake Elliott knocked home a 48-yard field goal with 27 seconds left to give his team a 13-10 advantage, two outcomes appeared safe: Philadelphia would win (thereby clinching home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs) and so would anyone who bet on Oakland against the spread.
Then things got crazy.
With time left for only one play, the Raiders tried a desperation lateral play, the type that pretty much never works. This one turned out to be an even bigger disaster than usual, with Oakland losing the ball and Philly linebacker Derek Barnett scooping it up and cruising to the end zone for a score.
https://twitter.com/Eagles/status/945519070379524096
That last-second touchdown seemed to be manna from heaven for anyone who had bet the Eagles -10 or -9.5. All Philadelphia had to do was kick an extra point to clinch what would have been a push, at worst, for those gamblers.
Instead, coach Doug Pedersen ordered his team to take a knee, thereby locking in a final score of Eagles — 19, Raiders — 10. Anyone who had Philly -9 salvaged a push, but most Eagles bettors were left with an extremely tough loss.
Eagles -10 pic.twitter.com/2ZQ8VN5vrP
— Jonas Knox (@TheJonasKnox) December 26, 2017
Of course, we shouldn’t feel too bad for people who picked the Eagles -10. They were lucky to have come so close, after the team they gambled on looked like a last-place squad for 59 minutes.
As for the people who won their fantasy leagues (Week 16 is typically the final round in fantasy) thanks to the Eagles’ last-second score… you all should go buy lottery tickets.
