You want tight football games? Well, you got tight football games. Eight of the 16 NFL games over the weekend were decided by a touchdown or less and four of those were nationally televised contests. If you want to know why the NFL rules the sports landscape, that right there is a good place to start.
Sportsbooks may need expanded lines of credit
It was actually too exciting for the sportsbooks, who took a huge hit Sunday in what is being called the worst opening Sunday in 20 years. Favorites were 9-4 against the spread on Sunday, with the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins being the big money losses for the books. Monday night probably helped that a little bit, with both dogs pulling upsets.
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Making it worse was that the pro gamblers really showed their chops. As bets poured in on the Seattle at St. Louis (+4) game, a trend was quickly spotted; there were more total bets on the Seahawks, but the big bets came in on the Rams, showing the pros knew that four points was a way to make some easy money.
“At our joint, the Rams winning was good for the parlays, but we had some pretty high, smart bets on the Rams,” CG Technology’s Jason Simbal told ESPN. “We had 1.5 (times) more tickets on Seattle, but 2.5 times more money on the Rams. That was a game that was pretty much public vs. pro. And pro wins.”
The Seahawks really need Kam Chancellor
Though the news coming out of Seattle is that there isn’t much news in their renegotiations with safety Kam Chancellor, you’d think Sunday’s 34-31 loss to the Rams might have changed that a little.
While the Seahawks certainly aren’t out of it, they took a hit against the team that I picked to be their primary NFC West rival this season in the loss. How big a difference would Chancellor have made? It’s hard to tell, but seeing his replacement, Dione Bailey. floundering, face-down on the turf while Rams tight end Lance Kendricks scorched him for the tying touchdown in the final minute of regulation would certainly be used as evidence in his favor.
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“There’s not much going on right now,” Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll told ESPN Seattle Monday. “It’s pretty quiet.”
Chancellor is not only one of the best safeties in football, he’s one of the best players. That’s why other teams have been ringing Seattle’s phone off the hook this offseason trying to work trades for him while he’s holding out. The Seahawks travel to Green Bay this week with the real specter of 0-2 on the horizon and Chancellor isn’t budging.
The Vikings may have fooled us all
Hey, it happens. Every year a team that seems on the cusp makes a few good moves and we all buy into it. Now, I didn’t fall as hard as some people since I still picked the Minnesota Vikings to miss the playoffs, but not even I, in my turban, would have thought they would look so inept against a 49ers team that, on its best day, is barely an NFL team at all.
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Minnesota could do next to nothing Monday night in the late game, which as I said earlier, probably kept a few sportsbooks out of bankruptcy court. That was a Vikings team at full strength and health and they looked completely lost on offense all game.
They host a Detroit Lions team this week trying to avoid an 0-2 start. It may get ugly fast for the Vikings.
There is no more Tony “Oh No” Romo
There was once a time where, facing the prospect of a game-winning drive with very little time on the clock, you could be assured that Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo would blow it. Those days are gone.
There’s a saying that goes, “when something happens twice it’s a coincidence but when it happens three times it’s a trend.” Going back into last season, “Oh No” Romo is no longer reality. This Tony Romo is clutch and he proved it again Sunday night against the Giants.
Romo ended that game with 356 yards, three touchdowns and two picks that were neither his fault. What was all on him was the final drive that went 72 yards in just six plays all with his best offensive weapon in the locker room with a broken foot. And he did it in 1:27.
