When betting the NFL, we’ve all had a parlay come up one leg short. We’ve also all lost bets because of horrendous officiating. It’s a hopeless feeling and at times, we wish there was someone out there who could hear our case and then decide to reward us.
One bettor in Arizona placed a three-leg parlay on his hometown Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. He needed Arizona to win (they did), he needed a James Conner touchdown (he scored), and he needed a defensive touchdown from Arizona.
The Cardinals win and James Conner touchdown were nice, but the majority of the payout of the parlay came from Arizona scoring a defensive touchdown. That was the least likely leg to hit. In total, the bettor risked $27.77. If all three legs hit, he would have profited a little over $1,008.
The issue for the bettor is that Arizona didn’t score a defensive touchdown. However, they would have if not for an officiating error. And with the bettor miffed about the call costing him a thousand dollars, he reached out to someone who also felt robbed by that officiating error, Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt.
Watt should have had a scoop-and-score touchdown
Late in the second half of the Rams-Cardinals game, Rams quarterback John Wolford dropped back to pass. Myjai Sanders, a pass rusher for the Cardinals, got to Wolford and hit him, forcing the quarterback to cough up the ball. J.J. Watt was in position to recover the fumble and scoot 30 yards to the end zone.
There was nobody in sight of Watt. It would have been an easy scoop and score. However, unfortunately for both Watt and the bettor, the officials originally deemed the play an incomplete pass. After reviewing the play, officials rightfully changed their call to a fumble.
The issue is that after a review, they couldn’t reward Watt a touchdown. In an ideal world, they let that play go on and then review it after allowing everything to unfold. In that situation, Watt would have his scoop-and-score touchdown confirmed. However, after blowing the original call, the best officials could do is award the Cardinals the ball at the spot of the original recovery.
Bettor reached out to Watt
The Cardinals held on to win the game, but their defense could not find the end zone. After enduring a bad beat thanks to an officiating call, the bettor, @JReyes92 on Twitter, decided to reach out to Watt for some sympathy. Watt saw the message and decided he’d take care of the bettor.
We highly doubt Watt will be mailing him a check for a thousand bucks. Maybe he’ll get an autographed football or jersey or something like that. Either way, it’s better than nothing, which is what the bettor was going to get from his bet originally. It’s also a cool story for the bettor to share.
It’s a classy move by Watt to take care of his fans. This bettor was clearly just your average Cardinals fan who had faith in his team despite what has been a rough start to the season.
These players are probably constantly bombarded by fans crying about their fantasy teams and bets. It’s nice to see Watt respond positively and make the best out of what was probably a frustrating sequence for him as well.