Doug Pederson gave a large segment of sports bettors quite a Christmas gift on Monday night.
Pederson’s Philadelphia Eagles struggled for most of the night at home against the Oakland Raiders and appeared to have no shot at covering the 10-point spread in their game. They got a field goal to take a 13-10 lead in the final minute. And just when you thought that would be the final score, the Eagles gave hope to bettors who backed them to cover the spread.
With 3 seconds left, the Raiders ran a final play to try and win the game. They tried to use some laterals but Derek Barnett picked up a fumble and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown to make it 19-10.
But the story doesn’t end there! By rule, even though time had expired, the Eagles had to attempt an extra point. Had they elected to kick, they likely would have won 20-10 and pushed on the spread. Instead, Eagles head coach Doug Pederson kneeled on the extra point, keeping the final score at 19-10.
Since the point spread was 10, those who had the Raiders and the points still came out winners, which was the outcome that should have happened all along. At least this will not be another entry to our long list of bad beats.
