Cleveland was having problems with WR Odell Beckham Jr. He would be released the following Tuesday. Cleveland was +2.5 @ Cincinnati. Cleveland won 41-16.

Denver had just traded Von Miller to the LA Rams. They moved to +10 @ Dallas shortly after this trade. Denver won 30-16.

Arizona starting QB Kyler Murray was injured. Backup QB Colt McCoy took the reigns as Arizona closed at +4 @ San Francisco. Arizona won 31-17.

All the public sentiment against them, all these people betting against them, and they won - while the public lost.

Let's examine a game from the next week, week 10. Arizona won straight up as a road underdog @ San Francisco the week prior and came home as a big favorite (-8 to -9.5) against Carolina. Carolina had Cam Newton returning and their starting QB was out. Carolina romped, 34-10.

People need to stop wasting their time "analyzing" NFL games to death and understand the natural ebb and flow of a season. Carolina was not a better team than Arizona. Denver was not a better team than Dallas. And Cleveland certainly wasn't a better team than Cincinnati. But the timing was right for all this to happen.

There are some holes in the S&HR game. Notice back to back losing weeks 3 times. This sort of thing prevented me from winning first place, instead being relegated to 46th place. But a 63.33% win rate and standing above over 99.5% of the other contestants is not bad, much better than the average bettor did with NFL in 2021.

Next season I'll do more to share my selections before the games.

JHK