In the wake of the May 12 schedule release, Week 1 matchups are the talk of the NFL sports betting town. But multiple books quickly stretched further, posting NFL Games of the Year odds.
And unquestionably, there’s no shortage of marquee matchups. Perhaps most notable, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs on back-to-back weekends.
Props.com dives into odds for NFL Games of the Year, with insights from Station Sports’ Chuck Esposito and PointsBet USA trading manager Sam Garriock.
2022-23 NFL Games of the Year Odds
| Matchup | Time | Spread |
| Bengals at Cowboys | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 18 | Cowboys -2 |
| Packers at Buccaneers | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 25 | Buccaneers -2.5 |
| Chiefs at Buccaneers | 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 2 | Buccaneers -2 |
| Rams at 49ers | 8:15 p.m. ET Monday, Oct. 3 | Rams -1 |
| Bills at Chiefs | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 16 | Bills -1 |
| Packers at Bills | 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 30 | Bills -4 |
| Rams at Buccaneers | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 6 | Buccaneers -2 |
| Cowboys at Packers | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 13 | Packers -4 |
| 49ers vs Cardinals* | 8:15 p.m. ET Monday, Nov. 21 | Cardinals -1 |
| Rams at Chiefs | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 27 | Chiefs -2 |
| Chiefs at Bengals | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 4 | Chiefs -1 |
| Chiefs at Broncos | 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 11 | Pick |
| Rams at Packers | 8:15 p.m. ET Monday, Dec. 19 | Packers -1 |
| Buccaneers at Cardinals | 8:20 p.m. ET, Sunday, Dec. 25 | Buccaneers -2 |
| Bills at Bengals | 8:30 p.m. ET Monday, Jan. 2 | Bills -2 |
Odds via Station Sports and updated as of 2 p.m. ET May 18.
* Neutral-site game at Mexico City
Back-to-Back With the Bucs
Station Sports, which operates solely out of Las Vegas, put up more than three dozen matchups in its NFL Games of the Year odds market. Those contests stretch from Week 2 through Week 17. For purposes of brevity in this article and the table above, we took the liberty of narrowing it down to 15 games.
Not surprisingly, when you’re talking about marquee matchups, a few teams regularly pop up. Like, say, Tom Brady and the Buccaneers, with five contests making Station’s 37-game cut. That includes back-to-back biggies at home: Sept. 25 against the Packers, in Week 3; then the Week 4 Sunday nighter Oct. 4 against the Chiefs, whom the Bucs beat in Super Bowl 55.
In both instances, the Bucs are laying less than a field goal: 2.5 points against the Pack and 2 against the Chiefs.
“It’s always tough when you have back-to-back games against top teams. However, you’d rather play them at home,” Esposito said. “I’m guessing that the prime-time game will definitely draw one of the biggest handles early in the year.”
Chiefs, Bills Challenge Bookmakers
As Esposito and Station’s oddsmaking team pored over all the games, a couple of teams proved more challenging than others in setting such early numbers. And those teams just so happen to not only be very good, but also faced each other in easily the most outstanding game of the 2021-22 season. And arguably one of the greatest playoff games ever.
“There were several marquee games involving both the Chiefs and Bills that I thought were more difficult for our team, and that caused more internal discussions,” Esposito said. “Based on the way the Bills were bet last season, it’s difficult to ever make them the underdog. In the Chiefs’ case, they clearly play in the toughest division. And losing [wideout] Tyreek Hill, [safety] Tyrann Mathieu and [defensive end] Melvin Ingram are all big losses, while the other three AFC West teams all really improved.”
To Esposito’s point on the rest of the AFC West, the Denver Broncos added Russell Wilson at quarterback, in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks. And the Las Vegas Raiders nabbed star wideout Davante Adams from the Green Bay Packers.
Kansas City is featured seven times in Station’s NFL Games of the Year odds, with only the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams having as many such games. Buffalo has five Games of the Year, including a biggie on Oct. 16: A rematch against the Chiefs in Kansas City. In last season’s AFC Divisional Round, Patrick Mahomes and K.C. outlasted Josh Allen and Buffalo 42-36 in overtime.
Perhaps appropriately, Station opened Bills-Chiefs at a pick ’em. And the line has already moved to Bills -1.
Holiday Games of the Year
This season will include the standard three Thanksgiving Day games, though the spreads could be a bit long in the first two: Bills at Lions, and Giants at Cowboys. That has PointsBet USA trading manager Sam Garriock looking to the New England Patriots vs. Minnesota Vikings in prime time.
“Patriots at Vikings is probably the closest of the Thanksgiving games, as we expect the Cowboys and Bills to both be near touchdown favorites by the time kickoff rolls around,” Garriock said.
Perhaps more intriguing than the Turkey Day football buffet is the bonus three-game Christmas Day NFL slate. Stocking stuffers feature the Green Bay Packers at Miami Dolphins, followed by Broncos at Rams. Then the potential big gift on Christmas night: Brady and the Bucs against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals, at Arizona.
“The Bucs on the road against the Cardinals could very easily hold heavy playoff implications on Christmas Day,” Garriock said.
Esposito believes that game — which Station opened at Bucs -2 — will have much more importance for the Cardinals. Arizona might still have ground to make up, after not having stud wideout DeAndre Hopkins for the first six weeks of the season. Hopkins was suspended for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.
“Both the Cards and Bucs are interesting teams. In the Cards’ case, every game in the second half will be so important, since they’ll be missing Hopkins for the first six weeks, and they play in a tougher division,” Esposito said. “For the Bucs, they may clearly be in control of the NFC South by Christmas. After the Bucs, the Saints are improved, but there is a huge drop-off after that with the Falcons and Panthers.”
Other Notable NFL Games of the Year Odds
Right out of the gate, the Thursday night regular-season opener of Bills at Rams is certainly a popular matchup. Even 3.5-plus months out, PointsBet USA is seeing action on it.
“We currently have this lined Rams -1 and think the Bills are probably very slightly the sharp side here,” Garriock said. “If it gets to pick, then I’d expect a lot of recreational money to come in on the reigning Super Bowl champions.”
Garriock also pointed to another Week 1 contest on PointsBet’s marquee matchup menu, among two teams who didn’t even make the playoffs last season.
“Denver laying 4.5 on the road to Seattle,” Garriock said of the Week 1 Monday night clash. “Seattle is typically such a tough place to play, and these two teams trading quarterbacks in the offseason adds to the intrigue. How to factor in the familiarity of Pete Carroll with Russell Wilson is tough to handicap. I’m very interested to see what bettors do with that game.”
Meanwhile, Esposito pointed to an NFC East rivalry that he thinks could prove spicy this season.
“Both matchups between the Cowboys and Eagles are super intriguing. Is there a changing of the guard in the NFC East? Those two are both very public teams,” Esposito said. “Also, the Week 13 rematch between the Chiefs and Bengals in Cincy should be interesting.”
Indeed. The Bengals notched a 27-24 overtime upset of the host Chiefs in last season’s AFC Championship Game. Station has K.C. as the slimmest possible favorite in the rematch, at -1 for the Dec. 4 showdown in Cincinnati.
The first Cowboys-Eagles meeting is Oct. 16 in Philadelphia, in the Week 6 Sunday night game, which has moved from Dallas -1 to pick. Then on Christmas Eve in Week 16, Station Sports opened the Cowboys as 5-point home favorites and is already down to -4.
