If you made it to the end of The D.K. Metcalf’s a Freak and Carson Wentz Gets Sacked Show on Monday night, also known as Seahawks at Eagles, you almost certainly wagered on the game or had some fantasy sports rooting interest.
We can debate (below) whether the result of the game on a completed Philadelphia “Hail Mary” with 12 seconds remaining and subsequent successful 2-point conversion, making the final score Seahawks 23, Eagles 17 (the closing line was Seahawks -6.5), ought to receive votes for the Bad Beats Hall of Fame.
Here’s how it went down (skip down if you want no introduction and just the tweets):
Eagles convert the Hail Mary with 12 seconds left. #FlyEaglesFly
📺: #SEAvsPHI on ESPN
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/zmAJGTFGBG pic.twitter.com/RbZdxGAsgx— NFL (@NFL) December 1, 2020
Line movement tracked by Vegas Insider shows that the game opened with Seattle as a 5-point road favorite. Then -5.5 and -6 were available for most of the week, including for large chunks of Sunday and even Monday at leading PA sportsbooks, with -6 available as late as one hour before kickoff at DraftKings Sportsbook.
More discerning price-and-line-sensitive bettors who shop around and avoid “bad” numbers, especially those around key football numbers (mainly 3 or 7, but 6 matters more in the 33-yard extra point era that encourages more 2-point conversion attempts), might chalk up the backdoor cover to poor judgment or an unwise investment. Analytics-minded Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has long ranked among NFL head coaches who most frequently attempt fourth down and 2-point conversions.
Of course, recreational bettors are much more likely to plunk down wagers on game day or close to kickoff, and on Monday, they overwhelmingly backed Seattle at -6.5. That cohort includes one lunatic who apparently had an unfathomable $500,000 riding on Seahawks -6.5. Considering all of the above, we submit that the money-swinging final act and 6-point margin was both a bad beat and a poor investment by Seahawks backers, for which they do not deserve sympathy. That debate aside, the Twitter reactions to the high-profile contest were pretty terrific.
Social media responds
Here are some of the best tweets (with some NSFW language, although aren’t most of you working from home?):
Betting Seahawks -6.5 pic.twitter.com/op3Q1DyCJ3
— PFF (@PFF) December 1, 2020
Seahawks-6.5 pic.twitter.com/EeiDwoYRsM
— Burtzloff (@TBurtzloff) December 1, 2020
Still not over Seahawks -6.5 @BSSportsbook (via ig:bet99university) pic.twitter.com/siCDnpQc8c
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) December 1, 2020
Eagles +6.5 pic.twitter.com/JOsaQsqkfz
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) December 1, 2020
#FlyEaglesFly backers have been resurrected!
After all that, we get a backdoor cover!#NFl #SPORTSBETTING pic.twitter.com/FFSBXPrXhS
— Covers (@Covers) December 1, 2020
Live look at #Seahawks -6.5 bettors pic.twitter.com/gaHDvWWdPJ
— Coolbet Canada 🇨🇦 (@CoolbetCanada) December 1, 2020
Seahawks -6.5 pic.twitter.com/L9BdhHP1qe
— Mike Miller (@profmikeimo) December 1, 2020
Sportsbook’s watching Eagles convert a 2pt conversion with 12 seconds left for a backdoor cover at +6.5#Seahawks (-6.5) beat the #Eagles (+6.5) 23-17 pic.twitter.com/coyKYHAyRV
— Dominick Borde™ (@DaNavigata) December 1, 2020
Everyone that had Seahawks -6.5 pic.twitter.com/eXBdcRtlgz
— Eric Thompson (@eric_j_thompson) December 1, 2020
Seahawks -6.5 pic.twitter.com/MovM8NCXMV
— chris (@chris_win_13) December 1, 2020
And finally, a couple of not exactly funny, but relevant, reactions:
I don't want to rub salt in the wounds for Seahawks bettors BUT…
You had -5.5 available on Saturday night.
You had -6 available all day yesterday.There is absolutely no reason you should be holding a losing Seahawks ticket right now.
— Rob Pizzola (@robpizzola) December 1, 2020
I had zero $ on this game. Imagine all the cappers I saw talking all kinds of shit about how could you take the Eagles +6.5? when u technically could’ve gotten the Seahawks at -5 1/2 or early on at -4 1/2 so really u got the shittiest number on SEA and the last laugh is on you😂 pic.twitter.com/Q8G9yooaQG
— phillyphan (@phillyphanSGD) December 1, 2020
Enjoy that Wednesday Afternoon Football, folks!