Sports betting: Bookies agree on one thing ... Eagles-Patriots will get a ton of action

The initial line posted by Pointsbet on Sunday’s Eagles-Patriots game was Patriots -1. It came out just after Week 9; it was a look-ahead line that gauges the market. The line is now Patriots -3.5. The action has been heavy on New England, and not just at PointsBet.

“This game already is shaping up as a showdown between public Pats money and sharp play on Philly,” Matt Chaprales, PointsBet USA head of content said on Thursday. He added that nearly two-thirds of the tickets were Patriots’ plays, but 60 percent of the money was on the Eagles.

» READ MORE: Paul Domowitch’s scouting report, prediction

The action will be fluid and heavy leading up until Sunday’s late afternoon kickoff as New England and the Eagles are two of the teams most popular with casual bettors. The Patriots, especially, tend to draw a ton of interest.

“[This] game is gonna be a monster handle," said Nick Bogdanovich, the director of trading at William Hill. “We’re going to need the Birds [to cover] pretty good. Hope Wentz reverts to his old form.”

The Eagles are 4-5 against the spread this season, but have covered their last two, according to numbers collected at VegasInsider.com. At home, the Eagles are 3-1 straight-up, 2-2 ATS.

New England had been on a four-game run of covers before lumped up in Baltimore. The Patriots are 8-1 overall, 6-3 against the spread and 3-2 ATS on the road.

The Eagles are 1-2 both SU and against the number under coming off a bye with Doug Pederson as coach. This is the fifth time in six years Tom Brady and the Patriots are on the road immediately following their regular-season bye. They’ve won and covered each of the last four.

Ohio State is laying more than 52.5-points this week to poor Rutgers, a team that has covered twice this season — once against UMass, the other against Liberty (the school, not the famous bell). Betting on Rutgers games is prohibited in New Jersey which is a shame.

In addition to the Scarlet Knightmares being able to score just three touchdowns in six Big Ten games, Ohio State is on an 8-0 run of covering. The Buckeyes laid 42.5 to Maryland last week and won 73-14. The biggest road number they’ve had is minus-27 at Northwestern. They won that one, 52-3.

“Fifty-point spreads in [power] conferences is indeed very rare,” said Bogdanovich, who mentioned this could be a first a team was favored by 50 on the road. The actual line is closer to 53 ... and climbing.

“But we will get a ton of action regardless,” he continued. “Ohio State has been an ATM, and betting against Rutgers has been too.”

♦ The Flyers are consensus -$145 favorites for Friday night’s game in Ottawa. It likely will be the largest they’ve been favored by on the road all season. Also, the under has hit in each of their last five games. Carter Hart once again will get the start in net.

♦ FanDuel’s line on the Week 12 game between the Seahawks and Eagles is Eagles -3. The Sunday, Nov. 24 kickoff was moved from a night game to 1 p.m.

♦ LSU quarterback Joe Burrow was 200-1 to win the Heisman Trophy at some houses in the preseason. This week, he’s such a prohibitive favorite (-910 at DraftKings), he’s not even worth betting.