Football

Nov 13 2009

Rivers Shines As Chargers Beat Chiefs

Published by Ross Everett under Football

The San Diego Chargers bounced back nicely from their Monday Night Football loss to Denver last week, opening a 20-0 halftime lead before coasting to a 37-7 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Chargers’ quarterback Phillip Rivers passed for 268 yards and three touchdowns in the victory. Running back Ladanian Tomlinson ran for a season high 71 yards as San Diego evened their record at 3-3. The hapless Chiefs dropped to 1-6.

The Chargers easily covered the NFL pointspread as -6 road favorites. It was only the second pointspread cover of the year for San Diego, who moved their ATS record to 2-4. Kansas City dropped to 2-5 against the spread.

After the game, QB Rivers suggested that the loss to Denver was a turning point for his team:

“Last week, we felt like we made progress. We had the attitude we were looking for, focus, but we didn’t win. But we knew we got better.”

Tomlinson broke off one of his most impressive runs of the year on the Chargers first touchdown drive, a 31 yard pickup that he said lifted the team’s spirits and led to the easy victory:

“It kind of got us going. It was something we needed and it was a big play for us. It was a staple of our offense. It’s been around for years, old power. It was perfectly blocked and was just a great job of execution.”

The Chiefs continued to struggle on their home field, which at one point was considered one of the toughest venues in the league for visiting teams. Kansas City has now lost ten straight at Arrowhead Stadium, and 29 of their last 32 games. Chiefs’ nose tackle Ron Edwards lamented this home field struggle:

“We want to win for the home fans, for us, for everyone out there watching,” nose tackle Ron Edwards said. “It’s real painful.”

Rivers pointed to the Chiefs’ legacy of home field dominance in celebrating the win:

“Any time you come to Kansas City and win, it’s good. We talked about getting on a roll and you’ve got to win one first before you can. Hopefully, this is something we can build on.”

The Chargers return home to take on their hated rivals, the Oakland Raiders. They’ll travel to play the New York Giants the following week before returning home to face the Philadelphia Eagles on November 15. Kansas City will enjoy a bye week before returning to action on November 8 on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their next opportunity for a home victory will come on November 15 against the Oakland Raiders.

Ross Everett is a freelance writer and respected sports betting expert. He is also a staff handicapper for Sports-1 Sportsbook and is in charge of setting NFL lines. He has written extensively on sports handicapping theory along with a wide range of other topics including fencing, boxing and falconry.

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Nov 13 2009

Jets Back In Win Column With Win Over Oakland

Published by Ross Everett under Football

The New York Jets and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez found a sure fire cure to their recent struggles-a game against the lowly Oakland Raiders. Sanchez passed for–3 yards and a touchdown, plus added a rushing touchdown as New York thumped Oakland 38-0 in the largest regular season shutout win in franchise history. Oakland quarterback JaMarcus Russell continued to struggle, and he passed for just 61 yards with three interceptions before he was benched in favor of Bruce Gradowski. The Jets improved their record to 4-3 while the Raiders dropped to 2-5.

NFL football betting enthusiasts who took the Jets as -6 road favorites had smooth sailing throughout the game for an easy pointspread cover. The Jets improved to 4-3 against the spread while the Raiders fell to 3-5 against the number. The 38 points scored went OVER the posted total of 34. Oakland failed to score a touchdown for the 15th game in the past four seasons.

It was such an effortless game that the only thing that Sanchez had to apologize for was surreptitiously eating a hot dog near the end of the contest:

“I want to apologize for that. I wasn’t feeling very good and didn’t eat much before the game, so I was feeling a little queasy. Toward the end of the game, I probably should have eaten one of those bars or something, but someone offered a hot dog, so I grabbed it and tried to be discreet about it, but obviously not discreet enough. So I shouldn’t have done that, and it won’t happen again.”

The Jets capitalized on three early Raiders’ turnovers and started two of their first three drives inside the five yardline. Sanchez praised the defense for making his job easy:

“It makes it so easy on the offense when your defense is playing like that. Hats off to them, they had a heck of a game to shut that team out. I don’t care who we’re playing, that’s a big-time accomplishment for our team.”

Jets’ coach Rex Ryan was very pleased with Sanchez’s performance:

“Sanchez was great. He was just smart with the football. I think sometimes he could have put the ball on a receiver, but he was making sure the ball wasn’t intercepted. It was great to see him respond.”

Raiders’ defensive lineman Richard Seymour, who boldly predicted the team would make the playoffs despite their slow start, was singing a different tune after the rout:

“I don’t think we could have beaten an Oakland high school team today.”

Despite Russell’s struggles, Oakland coach Tom Cable remains committed to him as the team’s starter:

“I thought he was really out of sorts early in the game. I just did not feel like at that point he gave us the best chance to have the success we needed to have offensively and made the move. JaMarcus will continue to be our starter. There is no issue there.”

The Raiders will try to bounce back this weekend in a big rivalry game on the road against the San Diego Chargers. Oakland is +16′ road underdogs with the total set at 42′. They’ll then enjoy a bye week before back to back home games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals. The Jets host Miami this Sunday, with New York a -3′ home favorite and the total set at 40′.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and highly respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sportsbooks and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Northern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

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Sep 01 2010