If not for the presence of star quarterback Tony Romo and the recent revival of the Dallas Cowboys, the NFL would be serving nothing but lame leftovers for Thanksgiving.
There are three games today, and the first two feature double-digit favorites against two of the league's worst teams.
Tennessee is an 11-point road favorite over winless Detroit in the morning game, and Dallas is a 12-point home favorite over Seattle in the afternoon.
"If you look at the schedule of games, I guess there are two turkey dinners," Las Vegas Hilton sports book director Jay Kornegay said. "These games are not intriguing matchups, unfortunately.
"We anticipate the general public is going to play the two favorites, especially when you have two underperforming teams like the Lions and Seahawks. And when I said underperforming teams, I was trying to be polite."
The late game, in which Philadelphia is a 3-point home favorite over Arizona, should be more competitive. Donovan McNabb will start at quarterback for the Eagles after being benched at halftime last week.
Since Romo's return from a right pinkie injury, the Cowboys (7-4) have re-emerged as a postseason threat by winning and covering against San Francisco and Washington.
The Seahawks, 2-9 straight up and 5-6 against the spread, do have one trend in their corner. According to the closing lines at the Hilton, double-digit 'dogs are 17-2 against the spread in the NFL this season.
That's only part of what makes the Lions (0-11) attractive to Dave Tuley of Viewfromvegas.com.
The Titans, 10-1 straight up and 9-2 against the spread, could be emotionally flat after suffering their first loss last week.
"Just like the profitable angle where you bet against a college football team the next week after its perfect season is ruined, the last seven times an NFL team has started at least 10-0 and lost, they've gone just 2-5 against the spread in their next game," Tuley said.
Detroit, which has failed to win or cover in its past four Thanksgiving games, is 0-5 ATS at home this season.
The Hilton has posted proposition bets on all of today's games.
After Tennessee's loss to the New York Jets, Lucky's sports books posted a prop on a potential Jets-Giants matchup in the Super Bowl, with "No" as a minus-1,200 favorite and "Yes" returning plus-900.
• R-J CHALLENGE -- Two of 10 competitors in the Review-Journal NFL Challenge, which is published Sundays, are playing games today based on the Hilton SuperContest lines.
R-J sports editor Joe Hawk is siding with the Titans (-11) and Cowboys (-121/2). Tuley, who is taking the underdog Lions and Seahawks, is 37-22-1 against the spread for the season.
Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.
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