Tom Brady Victory Forces Abrupt Shift in Betting Lines, Fantasy Football Lineups

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

Tom Brady is a game changer. At least gamblers and fantasy football enthusiasts think so.

The spread in the first four games of the Patriots’ season shifted by an average of more than five points when news that Judge Richard Berman vacated Brady’s suspension hit. The spread against the Pittsburgh Steelers for the NFL season opener rose from -2 1/2 to -7 with Brady behind center. The Week 4 road game against the Dallas Cowboys went from +6 1/2 with Jimmy Garoppolo as the signal caller to +1 with Brady as the starter.

ESPN reports that 75 percent of fantasy football moves since Berman handed down his decision involved Tom Brady.

The reigning Super Bowl MVP, who threw for 4,109 yards and 33 touchdowns against 9 interceptions last season, faced a four-game suspension for an alleged “general” awareness of a “more probable than not” scheme to deflate footballs before last season’s AFC Championship Game. Judge Richard Berman vacated the suspension, citing the NFL shielding information from Brady, meting out a punishment never promulgated, and conducting a far-from independent investigation.

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