Ricky Dimon
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Week 8 of the NFL season gets started with Thursday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals. Green Bay comes in at 6-1, while Arizona is the last remaining undefeated team in the league at 7-0. This is, of course, the biggest game on the entire Week 8 schedule. However, some star power will be missing because Packers receiver Davante Adams was placed on the reserve/Covid-19 list on Monday. Allen Lazard joined Adams on the same list less than 24 hours later.
Who will pick up the slack and find the end zone for Green Bay on Thursday? Here are some of our best touchdown scorer bets.
First touchdown scorer: DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Arizona Cardinals (+650)
In most cases I am not a fan of backing the favorite to be the first touchdown scorer. Unless someone like Derrick Henry is involved, this prop is generally a crapshoot. Even though the odds often suggest as much, most favorites don’t come with good enough value to find the endzone first.
DeAndre Hopkins, however, is a different story. His dominance is right up there with that of Henry, to the extent that Arizona’s WR1 has already scored 7 touchdowns this season to go along with his 420 yards on 33 receptions. The Packers have surrendered 14 TDs through the air already in 2021 (tied for 7th-most in the NFL) compared to only 5 on the ground. At +650 odds, it is worth taking a shot on Hopkins.
Anytime touchdown scorer: Randall Cobb, WR, Green Bay Packers (+190)
You know Aaron Rodgers and company are going to score points regardless of the weapons he has, or does not have, at his disposal. Aaron Jones has decent value at -110, but let’s go a little bit bigger here with Randall Cobb at +190. With Adams and Lazard out, Cobb should get a ton of targets on Thursday night. Marquez Valdes-Scantling (hamstring) may be able to return for this one, but even if he does Cobb should be WR1. The former University of Kentucky standout scored twice against Pittsburgh earlier this month and that was even with Adams and Lazard playing.
Anytime Touchdown Scorer FAQs
What does “anytime touchdown scorer” mean?
Anytime touchdown scorer is a popular player prop bet that NFL bettors can wager on throughout the season. But what is it, and how do you win?
As the name suggests, placing a wager on the anytime touchdown scorer market is when you tip a particular player to score a touchdown during a game. This can be a rushing or receiving touchdown for an offensive player, or you can wager on a team’s defense/special teams to score a touchdown by interception return and fumble return or kickoff and punt returns.
If your player or defense scores a touchdown, you win! The odds will differ from player-to-player depending on the sportsbooks’ calculated probability of that player scoring.
Does anytime touchdown scorer include passing touchdowns?
Not for a quarterback, no. A player must get into the endzone, himself, in order to qualify as an anytime touchdown scorer. If a quarterback throws a touchdown pass, only the player who caught it counts as the scorer. If Matt Ryan throws a touchdown pass to Calvin Ridley, wagers placed on Ridley as an anytime touchdown scorer will cash. However, those placed on Ryan as an anytime touchdown scorer will not (unless he also runs for a TD). See below for more on what the anytime touchdown scorer market means for quarterbacks.
What does anytime touchdown scorer mean for a QB?
For a wager on a QB to be an anytime touchdown scorer to cash, he must follow the same rules as a running back, tight end, or receiver. He must get into the endzone himself, either as a runner or a pass-catcher.
In the age of the mobile quarterback, QBs such as Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray, and Josh Allen are often seen rushing in for a touchdown on any given Sunday. And don’t forget the occasional Philly Special, either. QBs can sometimes catch passes for TDs, too.
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