Week 9 Rewind
By Brian Edwards
For the first time in franchise history, the New Orleans Saints are 8-0. To get there, they had to rally from a 17-6 deficit at intermission to capture a 30-20 win over the Panthers. Nevertheless, Carolina cashed tickets as 11 ½-point road underdogs.
DeAngelo Williams, who would finish with 149 rushing yards on 21 carries, had a pair of touchdown runs in the first quarter to give John Fox’s team a 14-0 advantage. Sean Payton’s squad had to settle for a pair of short John Carney field goals on second-quarter drives that combined for 26 plays but only six points.
With the Saints trailing by 11 at halftime, most betting shops made Drew Brees and Co. 10-point favorites in the second half. This left gamblers with the opportunity to back New Orleans to simply win outright.
Brees found Devery Henderson for a huge gainer early in the third quarter that set up Pierre Thomas for a 10-yard touchdown run. After the Panthers answered with a field goal for a 23-17 cushion, Brees hit Robert Meachem for a 54-yard scoring strike. The Saints refused to relinquish the lead from there.
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Brees threw for 330 yards, completing 24-of-35 passes with one interception. His team will now play back-to-back road games against a pair of cupcake foes in St. Louis and Tampa. If form holds, the Saints will return to the Superdome on Nov. 30 to put their unbeaten record on the line against New England.
Speaking of the Patriots, they pulled away from division-rival Miami late to take a 27-17 decision. Bettors backing the Dolphins as 11-point road underdogs went to the counter with a smile.
Tom Brady threw for 332 yards and one TD, a 71-yard connection with Randy Moss. The veteran wideout from Marshall had six receptions for 147 yards. Laurence Maroney had 82 yards rushing and one touchdown on 20 carries.
Atlanta bounced back from consecutive defeats at Dallas and at New Orleans by spanking Washington 31-17 as an 8 ½-point favorite. The 48 combined points sailed ‘over’ the 41-point total. Michael Turner enjoyed a monster performance, rushing for 166 yards and two TDs on only 18 carries.
Like the Saints, the Falcons face two straight road trips over the next few weeks. They play at Carolina before venturing to the Meadowlands to square off against the Giants.
The G-Men went down for a fourth straight time when San Diego rallied for a thrilling 21-20 victory as a five-point road underdog. Tom Coughlin’s team settled for a short field goal just outside of the two-minute warning for a 20-14 lead in the final stanza.
However, that was plenty of time for the Chargers to rally. Philip Rivers found Vincent Jackson on a fade to the corner of the end zone with 21 ticks left. The 18-yard TD pass from Rivers to Jackson was the second scoring hook-up of the day for the duo.
The Bolts hooked up money-line backers with a plus-200 payout (risk $100 to win $200).
For our purposes, the Seattle-Detroit game had the wildest finish. The Lions raced out to a 17-0 lead in the opening quarter thanks to a pair of touchdown passes by rookie QB Matthew Stafford. The Seahawks would score 13 straight to pull to within 17-13 by intermission.
This situation was very similar to the Saints-Panthers game in that gamblers got a great chance to take the Seahawks at a better price than the original number before kickoff. In this instance, Seattle closed as an 11-point home favorite.
But with Jim Mora Jr.’s team trailing by four at halftime, most spots made the Seahawks either seven or 7 ½-point ‘chalk’ for second-half wagers. This equated to the ‘Hawks needing to cover a three or 3 ½-point number rather than double digits. But they would get both.
After Seattle went in front 25-17, Detroit’s Jason Hanson buried a 50-yard field goal to pull his team to within five. When the Lions got the ball back late in the fourth quarter, a spread cover was a certainty barring a pick-six from Stafford.
But that’s exactly what happened when Josh Wilson pulled down an interception and raced 61 yards to paydirt. Wilson’s heroics gave Seattle backers a miraculous cover laying 11 points. The interception was Stafford’s fifth of the day.
Following an 0-6 start, Tennessee has now won back-to-back contests with Vince Young back in the starting lineup. The Titans went to San Francisco and emerged with a 34-27 win as 4 ½-point underdogs. They won outright to hook up money-line backers with a plus-180 payout (risk $100 to win $180).
Young completed 12-of-19 passes for 172 yards without a turnover. He had a seven-yard scramble for a touchdown. Chris Johnson ran for 135 yards and two scores on 25 totes.
Arizona lost as a double-digit home favorite last week to Carolina, as Kurt Warner threw five interceptions. One week later, Warner had five TD passes and no picks to lead the Cardinals to a 41-21 win at Chicago. Larry Fitzgerald brought down nine catches for 123 yards and two TDs.
Indianapolis is still undefeated like the Saints, but it failed to cover as a rich home ‘chalk’ for the second straight week. The Colts needed Chris Brown to miss a 42-yard field goal as time expired to avoid overtime. The Texans still covered the number as nine-point underdogs in the 20-17 loss.
Cincinnati improved to 6-2 and swept the season series from Baltimore by collecting a 17-7 home win Sunday. The Bengals won outright as three-point home underdogs, cashing plus-130 tickets for money-line players.
Cedric Benson was a horse against the Ravens’ defense, rushing a workmanlike 34 times for 117 yards and one TD. Carson Palmer threw for 224 yards and one TD without a turnover.
In the prime-time matchup, Dallas took sole possession of first place in the NFC East by winning 20-16 at Philadelphia. With the game tied at 13-13 and the Cowboys facing a third-and-14 situation, Tony Romo found Miles Austin for the first time in the game for a 49-yard scoring strike with 8:04 left in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles countered with a 52-yard field goal by David Akers to trim the deficit to 20-16 with 4:27 remaining. However, because Andy Reid was unsuccessful on two replay reviews that docked Philadelphia a pair of timeouts, it had none left at that point.
Therefore, the two-minute warning was the only manner in which the clock could be stopped in the waning moments. I talked about this situation when Oklahoma lost a 21-20 decision at Miami in college football last month.
When a team is trailing at around the 4-5 minute mark and a field goal by the other team will still keep it a one-possession game, coaches should undoubtedly attempt an onside kick, especially since a surprise onside attempt has a better chance of working.
Let me explain further. When Reid elected to kick the ball long, the clock became the Eagles' enemy. Even if the onsides kick doesn't work, a Cowboys' field goal would've made the game 23-16. Furthermore, the short field is no big deal because multiple first downs prevent you from getting the ball back and beat you anyway.
As it turned out for Bob Stoops and again in this scenario for Reid and the Eagles, they never saw the ball again. With an onside kick, at least they give themselves a chance and there's no downside to a failed attempt of this manner.
Dallas backers cashed tickets as a three-point underdog. Bettors going the money-line route were rewarded with a plus-135 return.
**B.E.’s Bonus Nuggets**
It was about time the underdogs started to bark in the NFL. They posted a 10-2 spread record in Week 9. Totals were as wash with the 'over' and 'under' both hitting six times apiece.
Chicago fans can’t blame Jay Cutler for the blowout loss to Arizona. He had 369 passing yards for three touchdowns, although the Vandy product was intercepted once.
There won’t be a circa 2008 version of the Detroit Lions in 2009. The last winless team finally got a ‘W’ Sunday when Tampa Bay broke out its old-school uniforms and beat Green Bay 38-28 as a 10-point home underdog. Gamblers taking the Bucs on the money line were loving life after cashing a plus-400 ticket. Ronde Barber returned a blocked punt 31 yards for a touchdown, while rookie QB Josh Freeman had three TD passes in his debut as a starter. Barber now has 14 career TDs, the most in NFL history by a defensive player.
Aaron Rodgers had three interceptions, as the Packers fell to 4-4 on the year.
Jacksonville won a 24-21 decision against Kansas City to up its record to 4-4. The Chiefs, who dropped to 1-7, posted a backdoor cover as 6 ½-point road underdogs thanks to a five-yard TD pass from Matt Cassel to Chris Chambers with 1:01 remaining. Chambers was cut by San Diego this past week before signing with KC.
Cincinnati WR Chris Henry is likely out for the rest of the season after breaking his arm on a 20-yard catch against the Ravens.
Washington RB Clinton Portis left Sunday's loss at Atlanta with a concussion, leaving his status iffy for next week's game vs. Denver.
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