Steelers Cap Big Week for Visitors: 

Sunday was a very good day at the betting window for visiting teams in the NFL. For road chalks, though, not so much.

Baltimore and Green Bay were the only two road teams favored, and both lost outright, with the Ravens struggling in a 17-7 loss at Cincinnati, and the Packers yielding three fourth-quarter TDs in losing 38-28 to the previously winless Buccaneers.

Monday night, the Steelers were the road team, which boded well after visitors went 8-4 against the spread (ATS) on Sunday; Pittsburgh was also a 3-point favorite at Denver. It hardly mattered, though, as the Steelers scored the game's last 21 points and coasted to a 28-10 victory --- the first time in four tries this year that they've cashed on the road, and the defending Super Bowl champs were a chalk in all four games.

 Adding Up the NFL: 

Despite the Monday night letdown by the underdog Broncos, the pups still went 10-3 ATS in Week 9 and are 18-8 ATS the past two weeks. For the season, they hold a razor-thin 65-64 ATS advantage over the favorites.

The visitors' 9-4 ATS effort over the weekend boosted their betting-window lead over the home teams to 71-58 on the year.

And with the Steelers' rout, straight-up (SU) winners went 9-4 ATS in Week 9, improving to a money-printing 98-19 against the oddsmakers in regular-season play this season. That's a spread-covering clip of 83.8 percent. Add in all those preseason games, when SU winners also went haywire, and the total jumps to 162-28-4 ATS (85.3 percent).

One trend the Steelers and Broncos couldn't maintain was that of Monday night affairs going over the total. That said, the over is still 19-6-1 in the last 26 "Monday Night Football" contests, including 8-2 this year.

 College Football Two-Minute Drill: 

The Mid-American Conference is back in full form as the official conference of weekday college football. This week, a big MAC attack of five games will be served up, so I hope you're hungry for some middling mid-major football. It kicks off tonight with Ohio at Buffalo, so let's get to the numbers:

Ohio is on ATS upswings of 5-2 overall, 5-2 in conference action, 8-3-1 on the highway and 6-1-1 as a road pup.

Buffalo is on pointspread declines of 2-7 overall and 0-6 as a chalk, with all six of those ATS setbacks coming on the Bulls' home turf.

A couple more trends worth noting: SU winners are a torrid 29-7-1 ATS (80.6 percent) through 37 weekday contests this season; weekday dogs hold a 20-16-1 ATS advantage; and weekday visitors are 21-15-1 versus the oddsmakers.

 NBA Fast Break: 

We'll wrap things up today with a little sampling of the NBA

The Nuggets are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 contests against the Bulls and are on further ATS rolls of 25-10 overall and 9-3 on the highway, but they are 3-10 ATS in their last 13 starts against the East.

The Bulls are 12-3-1 ATS in their last 16 against the West, but they are in ATS ruts of 1-4 overall and 1-6-1 at the United Center.

The Mavericks are on an 8-3 SU and ATS tear in their last 11 clashes with the Rockets, and the SU winner has covered in 15 consecutive games in this Texas rivalry, heading into today's tilt in Dallas.

• Al DeMarco, General Manager of VegasAdvisors.com and the featured handicapping analyst on Comcast Sports TV in New York and Chicago, is a 25-year veteran of the handicapping industry. Get his daily advice and betting strategies at  VegasAdvisors.com

MORE FROM ODDS

Vegas Advisors on Gambling

Vegas Advisors on Gambling Odds: Find latest lines, more on each game Injury report: Who will, won't be playing Matchups: Breaking down each contest   Add Odds headlines to your news reader: