nfl question

acetoten · January 2018

A friend told me today that he heard over the years in the nfl, the team that wins the game outright
covers the spread 82% of time. So, any dog that wins of course covers and I would think on favorites
that win straight up cover half the time. So , I'm calling b.s, I'd say over they years it has to be lower,
maybe low 60's percentage. Where would you go to find this or how would you look it up? thoughts?

thanks,
ace

TommyL · January 2018

82% sounds a lot more accurate than the low 60s. Basically, that means that about 18% of games have the favorite win straight up but not cover the spread. Pretty reasonable I'd think, but I don't do anything with NFL so don't have data to back it up.