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One would have thought that, with everything going on in Miami’s locker room, that that Dolphins-Bucs game would surely have moved by now. Yet, for the past few days, the Dolphins continue to hold fairly steady as a -3 favorite in Tampa Bay.
Over the weekend, following Miami’s win against Cincinnati last Thursday night, the Dolphins organization suspended guard Richie Incognito for allegedly bullying and harassing teammate Jonathan Martin via racially-charged text messages and voicemails. Martin abruptly left the team last week and the Dolphins have been the talk of the National Football League every since, not in a way the league or the team would like.
A statement was issued by the Dolphins organization following Incognito’s suspension.
"We believe in maintaining a culture of respect for one another," the Dolphins said in a statement released shortly before midnight on Sunday, "and as a result we believe this decision is in the best interest of the organization at this time. ... We will continue to work with the league on this matter."
All of this is an obvious diversion for Miami, made worse by the fact that the team will be without its starting tackle or guard, leaving the Dolphins extremely vulnerable come Monday night against a team desperate for their first win.
The good news is that Miami goes up against one of the worst teams in the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 70 percent of the betting public is still backing the Heat in Monday night’s game.
Initially this line did open in Vegas at -3.5 but dog money forced oddsmakers to push below the dreaded -3 as far down as -2.5 at some books.
Does anyone really want to wager on Tampa Bay though? Maybe under these circumstances, yes.
- Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
