As invented by SGPN’s Sean Green and Ryan Kramer, a close-your-eyes special is when a team underperforms the spread by 21 or more in the previous week and is getting points as an underdog the following week. Basically, looking at a close-your-eyes special, you know it’s ugly, and you don’t want to take it, but you close your eyes, trust the process, and let it ride.
It’s time to check in on the first teams qualifying for the best NFL betting trend, the Close Your Eyes Special. Trying to figure out what a CYES is? Want to know who qualifies for the first CYES of the NFL season? Is your team one of the two teams who qualify for the CYES? Make sure to keep reading to find out!
Football is back, and Week 1 is already in the books. There were a lot of expected victories that happened, but there was also a few upsets that occurred in Week 1. How about the Giants in Week 1? Yikes. How about the Bengals losing to the Browns? Didn’t expect that.
I also didn’t expect the Seahawks to lose to the Rams, but Puka Nacua seems to be the real deal, at least after one week, as yelled from the mountains by SGPN’s Andrew Raub at least 100 times in the preseason. Didn’t expect that, as I also didn’t expect the Steelers to get beat as badly as they did. I thought there was a decent chance that the Steelers could make it a game and potentially even win.
10 receptions. 119 yards. Roll the @AsapPuka highlights. 🎥 pic.twitter.com/3PGJi3c6V8
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 11, 2023
Speaking of the Seahawks and the Steelers, they are the close-your-eyes specials (also known as the best NFL betting trend!) heading into Week 2. Let’s dive in!
The Best NFL Betting Trend Around: Close Your Eyes Special
Who’s Qualified in Week 2?
To qualify for a close-your-eyes special, as mentioned above, a team must underperform the spread by 21 or more in the previous week and be getting points the following week as an underdog. Looking at the results last week, you would expect the Giants to be a candidate for a close-your-eyes special this week, but they aren’t because they are still favorites against the Cardinals in Week 2.
The two teams who qualify for the CYES in Week 2 are the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks.
The Steelers lost to the 49ers by 23 but were 2.5-point underdogs against the 49ers, so even subtracting the 2.5, the Steelers lost by 21 and underperformed the spread. (For the record, I want to remind everyone that the 49ers are still a bunch of complainers. Go Birds.) The Steelers are currently 2.5-point (DraftKings) underdogs against the Browns on Monday Night Football for our first CYES in Week 2.
uh oh….@gnewsii and this defense put the league on notice in Week 1
📺: https://t.co/T000xrVKFC pic.twitter.com/HKaiL2k948
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) September 13, 2023
The Seahawks lost to the Rams by 17 points but were also the favorites to win against the Rams, giving them +5 at the start of their week one match-up. Taking the five and adding it to the 17 the Seahawks lost gives us 22, making them our second team qualified for the CYES. Our second CYES match-up has the Seahawks as 5-point underdogs (DraftKings) against the Detroit Lions.
Close Your Eyes Special Analytics Against the Spread and Straight Up:
Straight from Ryan Kramer himself, here’s a breakdown of the CYES over the past four years:
2022:
Against the Spread: 6-3, 67%
Straight Up: 5-4, 56%
2021:
ATS: 7-6, 54%
S/U: 6-7, 46%
2020:
ATS: 7-3-2, 70%
S/U: 5-7, 42%
2019:
ATS: 8-8-1, 50%
S/U: 1-16-0, 6%
Overall:
ATS: 28-19-3, 60.00%
S/U: 17-34, 33%
So, above is an official breakdown of the metrics. ATS is hitting 60% of the time, while straight-up is trailing, but the 2019 S/U does skew the overall record as an outlier. It is worth repeating ATS is hitting 60%, which means it’s winning 6 out of 10 times on average. Again, it’s not the prettiest game at times and can be ugly at times, but you have to trust Sean and Kramer, trust the process of the best NFL betting trend, and let it ride. Oh, and Go Birds.
LET’S GO BIRDS! 🦅 pic.twitter.com/hyylQfjLsk
— Action News on 6abc (@6abc) September 15, 2023
