Three weeks of regular season remain in the NFL and while the majority of games late in the year become meaningless, opportunities are still abound.
A particular angle that gamblers follow in the NFL is the time zone trend. Bettors like to fade teams traveling, especially to opposite coasts. I don’t consider a one-hour time zone difference to be a big deal, but when you have teams traveling from East to West coasts and vice versa, then you can see a big difference in play.
When you delve into it further, it’s been said that the tougher of the two trips is going from East to West. It makes sense since clubs in the Pacific Time Zone aren’t used to playing at 1:00 p.m. ET, which would be 10:00 a.m. ET for the West Coast team club. Most would believe it certainly seems a lot harder than playing at 1:00 p.m. PT for the East Coast clubs, right?
The obvious answer is yes, but that hasn’t been the case this season.
The NFL has five teams -- Arizona, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle-- that play in the Pacific Time Zone.
We checked the numbers and this group has done well when they host teams from the Eastern Time Zone.
| Sept. 11 |
Carolina Panthers |
-7 (37) |
Won 28-21 |
Push-Over |
| Oct. 2 |
New York Giants |
+1.5 (45) |
Lost 27-31 |
Loss-Over |
| Oct. 23 |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
+4 (46) |
Lost 20-32 |
Loss-Over | |
| Sept. 18 |
Dallas Cowboys |
+3 (41) |
Lost 24-27 |
Push-Over |
| Oct. 9 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
-3 (41) |
Won 48-3 |
Win-Over |
| Oct. 30 |
Cleveland Browns |
-9 (38) |
Won 20-10 |
Win-Under |
| Nov. 13 |
New York Giants |
-4 (43) |
Won 27-20 |
Win-Over | |
| Oct. 2 |
Atlanta Falcons |
+6 (39) |
Lost 28-30 |
Win-Over |
| Oct. 30 |
Cincinnati Bengals |
+1.5 (37) |
Lost 12-34 |
Loss-Over |
| Nov.13 |
Baltimore Ravens |
+7 (39) |
Won 22-17 |
Win-Push |
| Nov.27 |
Washington Redskins |
-3 (37) |
Lost 17-23 |
Loss-Over |
| Dec. 1 |
Philadelphia Eagles |
+3 (43) |
Won 31-14 |
Win-Over | |
| Sept. 25 |
New York Jets |
+2.5 (40) |
Won 34-24 |
Win-Over |
| Oct. 2 |
New England Patriots |
+6.5 (55) |
Lost 19-31 |
Loss-Under |
| Oct. 16 |
Cleveland Browns |
-7 (45) |
Won 24-17 |
Push-Under | |
| Oct. 2 |
Miami Dolphins |
-6.5 (45) |
Won 26-16 |
Win-Under |
| Dec. 11 |
Buffalo Bills |
-7 (49) |
Won 37-10 |
Win-Under | |
Head coach Norv Turner and the Chargers have underachieved this season – again – yet San Diego is 2-0 both straight up and against the spread against teams from the East.
San Francisco has been solid too, going 3-1 straight up and 3-0-1 against the spread. And, the lone loss could’ve easily been a winner against Dallas in Week 2.
The Cardinals (1-2 SU, 0-2-1 ATS) have struggled the most at home against East Coast clubs, but they managed to save face on the road. Arizona has gone 2-1 SU and 3-0 ATS when playing in the Eastern Time Zone this season and you should make a note that the club heads to Cincinnati next week.
Overall, the squads playing in the Pacific Time Zone have gone 10-7 SU (59%) and 9-5-3 ATS (64%) versus teams from the Eastern Time Zone. Also, the ‘over’ has gone 11-5-1 (63%) in these affairs as well.
So why do we tell you this information?
In Week 15, you have four matchups where teams are traveling from East to West, and two of them will be featured under the lights:
Cleveland at Arizona
Detroit at Oakland
Baltimore at San Diego
Pittsburgh at San Francisco
