A betting line and what it represents is rather mundane and straightforward to most bettors: they log onto their book, take a glance at the lines, and make their bets. But the reality is that those lines actually represent an evolving and nuanced market deserving of more attention from bettors.
This is especially true for the NFL, as the lifetime of a line for any given game spans nearly two weeks whereas in other sports a line may be on the board for 24 hours at most.
In the NFL, the chronology of a line usually looks something like this:
• Lookahead lines open two Tuesdays or Wednesdays before they kick-off• Lookahead lines close as that week’s Sunday games kick off• Lines reopen as the Sunday afte…