NFL Odds: Three Betting Favorites To Avoid In Week 15

On paper, Week 15 in the NFL looks like it could be a pretty competitive slate of football.

Looking at the opening betting lines, there are just three games with a point spread of more than a touchdown, which certainly seems rare for late-season action.

It also made trying to identify betting favorites to avoid a little more difficult than usual, but we still gave it our best shot.

Here are three betting favorites to avoid in Week 15.

(-3) Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens
If this is what the Browns offense is going to be with Deshaun Watson under center, Cleveland will have made one of the worst trades and given out one of the worst contracts in NFL history. The Browns have the NFL’s 28th-ranked offense by EPA in two weeks with Watson at the helm. It almost certainly will get better. Watson was out of the building for months and basically came back off the street with the rest of the league in its respective groove. But there hasn’t been any real progress over two weeks, and it’s hard to believe that will come this week against the Ravens. Baltimore’s defense continues to come along, and the unit has been especially stout against the run. The Ravens could struggle to score in Tyler Huntley’s second start, but it might still be too early to lay points with Watson.

(-14) Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans
It certainly seems oddsmakers got it wrong last week with Houston as a 17-point underdog in Dallas. So that correction is seemingly factored in here. But it still might be too many points. It might not look it, but Lovie Smith has at least made Houston competitive in these spots. The Texans have been underdogs of 10 points or more four times this season and have covered in three of them. In fact, the Texans are 7-3 against the spread as 10-point dogs or more since last Halloween, including a pair of outright wins. They’re a relatively feisty bunch. Meanwhile, the Chiefs continue to seemingly pace themselves with an eye on the playoffs.

(-7.5) Green Bay Packers vs. Los Angeles Rams
At what point this season has it looked easy for the Packers? It just hasn’t really happened all that much. The Rams might be the worst team Green Bay has played all season, especially given LA’s recent tough-luck run of injuries. Yet, the Packers’ inconsistency this season is impossible to ignore. Green Bay has been favored by a touchdown or more four times this season. The Pack is just 2-2 straight-up in those games and has covered just once. A big reason for that has been defensive issues, with the Packers allowing at least 24 points in those three games they failed to cover. The Rams offense is decimated, and Baker Mayfield’s game-winning drive last week probably was an aberation, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sean McVay cook up something for Joe Barry’s defense with the latter having used to work for the former.