Mike Florio on 'The Dan Patrick Show' discussing the NFL's partnership with sportsbooks. Photo Credit: The Dan Patrick Show on X.
By Reice Shipley on

Sunday’s Week 3 matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Los Angeles Rams featured one of the worst bad beats of the season and perhaps in recent NFL history, which Mike Florio believes is a stark reminder that the league may have gone too far with sportsbooks.

With the Eagles leading 27-26, Philadelphia defensive tackle Jordan Davis saved the day, blocking a game-winning field goal attempt from Rams kicker Joshua Karty as time expired in the fourth quarter. However, instead of simply falling on the live ball after blocking the kick, which would have resulted in an Eagles victory with no risk involved, Davis proceeded to return the blocked kick 61 yards for a touchdown, giving the Eagles a 33-26 victory.

This ruined any bet placed on the Rams spread, which closed at +3.5 at the start of Sunday’s game, from almost a sure thing into a loser.

Discussing this during an appearance on Tuesday’s edition ofĀ The Dan Patrick Show, Florio explained why the Eagles’ miraculous covering the spread on Sunday is a perfect example of why the NFL’s partnerships with sportsbooks create a negative reputation for the league.

“This is a direct result of the NFL going from hating and shunning anything to do with gambling to jumping right in bed and loading the pockets,” he said. “They are the guy in the game show where the money is flying everywhere, grabbing as many dollars as they can while it’s there. We’re all aware now of the point spread. We’re all aware of the ramifications. How many millions of dollars changed hands because Jordan Davis decided to do… Not the smart thing, the smart thing is, the game is over, just fall down. You’ve got the win. In theory, someone comes up from behind, does the Don Beebe to Leon Lett, the ball goes out. The Rams take it the other way.

“The smart thing to do is to go down. He runs it in for a touchdown, the Eagles cover. It was perfectly legitimate. But when you open Pandora’s box, this is the kind of stuff that flies out. People are aware of this. So it’s just part of the stuff that the NFL needs to be concerned about. And sometimes I wonder, Dan, are they as concerned as they should be?”

Florio would add that while he doesn’t believe there was anything fishy going on with Davis’ fumble recovery touchdown, conspiracy theories are naturally born due to the league’s and individual owners’ involvement in the sports gambling industry.

“Back in the days that the NFL was actively fighting (gambling), that’s when the Commissioner would say… For example, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘If legalized gambling is widespread, normal incidents of the game will be suspected to have been influenced by other things.’ Whether it’s a bad call or a guy not going down when basic football expectations would be, you have won the game, go down,” said Florio. “The normal instances of the game become fodder for ‘The fix is in.’

“The one thing that never gets talked about is that owners are allowed to separately own up to five percent of a company that operates a sportsbook. Ā And they won’t tell you who owns what. But they are allowed to be the house too. They don’t just have the sponsorships with all the major sportsbooks; the owners can own up to five percent of a company that operates a sportsbook. That’s where the money is. It’s always follow the money.

“Look, I’m a capitalist, I’m not saying it’s wrong. But that’s what happened. They realized, ‘You know what, we hated this, we fought against it. If it’s gonna be inevitable, let’s turn it into a revenue stream.’ And they have turned it into a massive revenue stream.”

Both the NFL and league networks have dived headfirst into sports gambling in a way that opens the league up to accusations of fixed games and player gambling. It doesn’t help given that it hasn’t been that long since an NFL player was found guilty of betting on NFL games.

However, given that the NFLĀ generatesĀ billions annually from its sportsbook partnerships, don’t expect things to change anytime soon.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley