What happens when a stoppable force meets a moveable object? We'll find out tonight, when the struggling Seattle Seahawks and the staggering San Francisco 49ers meetup on Thursday Night Football at Lumen Field.
Accoding to the oddsmakers, the Niners are 3.5-point favorites for this one. It seems like most of the experts around the web are picking the 49ers. However, there's one group of people who disagree. Specifically, the people who move lines with their bets, commonly called sharps or wiseguys. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, most of the betting public is taking the 49ers. However, the sharps are all over the Seahawks at +3.5 points.
'Wise guys, for whatever reason, like Seattle'
“All the sharps took Seattle against the 49ers on the week-ahead line at 3½ or 4,” Westgate SuperBook vice president of risk Ed Salmons said. “And when we put it up Sunday as the Niners were winning and the Seahawks were losing, we opened it 3½ and they took 3½ again. Wiseguys, for whatever reason, like Seattle in this game.”
There's a reason why they're professional gamblers and we're blogging about the game, but our best guess is that it has something to do with the 49ers not looking anything like the juggernaut they have been over the previous five seasons. Coming into this game they're just 2-3, having blown a big lead against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday in addition to L's against the injury-riddled Los Angeles Rams and the surprisingly tough Minnesota Vikings.
Still, these Niners were supposed to destroy everybody in the NFC this year, and they're just not nearly as dominant on either side of the ball as we've come to expect. The situation is made worse by their current injury report - most of all Niners fans have cause to be nervous about their kicker Jake Moody being ruled out with an ankle injury.
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