NFL Week 4 heroes and villains

Every NFL Sunday there are players who capture and break hearts across America. BetAmerica's weekly Heroes and Villains feature will highlight the players who made and lost money for NFL bettors. Let's take a look at Week 4.

Villain: Stephen Gostkowski

The New England Patriots could not have defeated the Buffalo Bills without their accurate placekicker, however, he gave Buffalo bettors tickets to cash.

A nasty defensive showcase between AFC East foes, the Bills electrified Orchard Park for four quarters. The immortal Tom Brady was no longer invincible, and he completed only 18-of-39 passes for 150 yards. The Pats leaned on their defense and special teams to get two first-quarter touchdowns. A blocked punt was returned for a score and an interception gave the Patriots a short field. Brandon Bolden's 4-yard run gave New England the lead, but Gostkowski failed to covered the PAT. It was the one point the Pats needed to push.

Matt Barkley could not lead the Bills to a victory, but he did enough to cover the seven-point spread.

Hero: Kenny Golladay

In a clash between two unbeaten teams, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs were favored against the Detroit Lions. A fool would invest heavily into the reigning NFL MVP. A wise man would take the home team that is getting seven points.

Detroit came out firing and took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. The Chiefs responded with a 20-3 run, before Matthew Stafford and Kenny Golladay created a couple of red-zone connections. The 6-foot-4 target scored from 9 and 6 yards out, and the latter gave Detroit a four-point lead with 2:26 to play.

It was two more minutes than Mahomes needed to put together a game-winning drive and two more points than Detroit bettors needed for the cover.

Villain: James Winston

Surely, the guy who once ate a W could not keep up with Sean McVey's high-powered offense, right? Wrong.

Bruce Arians' Tampa Bay Buccaneers put on an offensive clinic in Los Angeles, as James Winston threw for 385 yards and four touchdowns. The Bucs hit the Over (48.5) by themselves and scored a franchise-record 55 points in the win.

Betting on the NFL can humble even the best bettors. "Humbling" is a nice way to describe this 95-point experience at the Coliseum.

Hero: Austin Ekeler

The Miami Dolphins have become the most profitable team to bet against, even with astronomically high spreads. On the verge of covering for the first time in 2019, Austin Ekeler silenced the Fins.

With a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter, the Chargers needed a touchdown to cover the 14.5-point spread. With Melvin Gordon's return looming, Ekeler rose to the occasion and punched the ball into the end zone from the 1-yard line to give Los Angeles a 17-point lead. Ty Long added a late, 51-yard field goal to give bettors more reassurance. Along with the touchdown on the ground, Ekeler had 60 rushing yards, 60 receiving yards and another score.

Miami has now failed to cover spreads of 7, 14.5, 18 and 22.5. What number will it take for them to finally cover? It's probably wise to continue betting against them until we learn what that number is.

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