Packers' Point Spreads and Over/Under Announced

The casino sports books have early lines on each Packers game for the 2013 season.

By Evan "Tex" Western@TexWestern May 10, 2013, 12:00pm CDT

If you're like me, you probably are curious as to how the Green Bay Packers are being perceived by others outside of the fan base. One good way to understand unbiased impressions of the team is to look at the Over/Under numbers on total wins for the season as set by Las Vegas and other casinos' sportsbooks to get a feel for where they feel the team will end up.

As National Football Post wrote this morning, the Atlantis Casino in Reno, Nevada is the first sportsbook to publish their Over/Under numbers for the 2013 season, and their number for the Packers is a very confident 12. That's a pretty lofty number. Personally, I think that sounds about right, though, as we projected about 12 wins for the team in our schedule analysis. This is tied with the Denver Broncos for the highest number in the league this season, but keep in mind that these numbers are driven by expected betting trends - as a team that has a national fan base and receives a great deal of media attention, this number is probably inflated somewhat.

The point spreads for the individual games are also out there now as well, thanks to Covers.com (at least, they are all there for weeks 1 through 16). Each spread is shown below, relative to the Packers. Remember that the Packers are favored when the spread is a negative number.

Week 1: @ SF (+4)
Week 2: WAS (-4.5)
Week 3: @ CIN (Pick)
Week 5: DET (-4.5)
Week 6: @ BAL (+1)
Week 7: CLE (-7.5)
Week 8: @ MIN (-1)
Week 9: CHI (-4)
Week 10: PHI (-7)
Week 11: @ NYG (Pick)
Week 12: MIN (-4.5)
Week 13: @ DET (-1.5)
Week 14: ATL (-3)
Week 15: @ DAL (-1)
Week 16: PIT (-3)

That's right, the Packers are currently underdogs in only two of the 15 games with announced spreads, and those two opponents, the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens, played each other in the Super Bowl this February. One game which did surprise me was the game against the Giants in New York - that team has given the Packers fits and I fully expected to see them favored against Green Bay.

Take these numbers for whatever you think they may be worth (and note that we do not endorse illegal gambling), but it seems clear that Vegas likes the Packers this year.