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When the betting line opened for the Detroit Lions’ season opener against the Arizona Cardinals, Detroit was a slight favorite. Vegas was giving the Lions three points, which is usually an indication of an extremely close matchup in which the edge is given to the home team. That’s obviously a safe number to put on this game, considering both teams finished last year a game away from .500 and have many questions heading into this season.
But this week something changed. The line has shifted over four points and now the Cardinals are 1.5 points road favorites for this Sunday’s game.
Typically when a line shifts this much, it isn’t a sign Vegas doesn’t believe in the Lions, but rather they’ve been getting a lopsided amount of wagers on one side. This move seems to indicate that most people betting on this game were overwhelmingly taking the Cardinals +3 when the odds originally came out.
In other words, the people betting on this game don’t have much faith in the Lions this week.
Originally, we saw the Lions favored in just six of the first 15 games this season. Now that number is down to five. But with a win on Sunday, the Lions could certainly regain the trust of Vegas and their customers.