Sports Betting Blog

This was a bad weekend for streaks in general. On the one side, the Green Bay Packers snapped their 19-game-winning-streak when they fell unexpectedly to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The same happened with the 13-game losing streak that the Indianapolis Colts had been recording ever since they franchise quarterback, Peyton Manning, underwent surgery in the preseason. The Indianapolis Colts have proved that, despite the popular belief, they can actually pull a win without Peyton Manning when they managed to defeat a lessened Tennessee Titans 13-27. So there you have it: it took the Indianapolis Colts only 14 games and three quarters to figure out a way to win with a quarterback other then Manning, who had been with the team for over 14 years.

Perhaps the most interesting side of the story lies behind the quarterback. Not Manning, that’s for sure. He’s been throwing passes to his teammates but we all know he isn’t coming back as a starter anytime soon. Not Matt Hasselbeck, who despite having a chance to secure the Titans a spot in the playoffs had an awful game against the up to then winless Colts. No, the good story lies behind one Dan Orlovski, a quarterback that was going to put the extra effort to secure that the Colts didn’t get their first ever 0-16 season. Orlovski was a starting quarterback for the infamous 0-16 Detroit Lions of 2008, so he certainly had much more at stake here then just soothing the Indianapolis Colts sore egos. He was pushing for a win for himself.

It’s been over 50 weeks, that is, 350 days since the last time the New England Patriots won a single game. But that wait is nothing compared to that of Orlovski. The seven-year NFL veteran was 0-9 in his previous NFL starts. So it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that when the celebration came in for the Colts, it was all about Orlovski and his quest to a win. On the press conference, Orlovski, who didn’t really had an amazing game, just good enough for a win, was quite humble in his opinions about the Colts first win of the season. “I think in my career, I’ve learned not to take them (wins) for granted.” Perhaps that’s exactly what the Indianapolis Colts management did: give all the Peyton Manning wins over his career for granted and not come up with a plan for when he was going to be out.

This is a very significant loss for the Tennessee Titans. At 7-7 for the season, the Titans could have managed to make it into the playoffs by their own merits if they had managed to win their three final games of the season. Even thought their playoffs chances are still alive, they are now going to depend on whether their rivals win or lose the next two games in order to clinch a playoffs berth. But there’s no one other than the Titans to blame for the loss. Consider for starters that Matt Hasselbeck completed only 27 of his 40 passes for the game for 223 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. That’s just not going to cut it. Not even against the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts.

All good things come to an end, they say. But sometimes those endings come under the most unexpected circumstances. Take Aaron Rodgers and the Green Baby Packers, for instance. This squad was on its way to make football history. The Packers were going for their 20^th straight win. Some sports writers will go on to say that they can still make it to the postseason, dominate their conference and take their second Super Bowl ring in a row. One thing is evident: the streak has ended and so has the Packers chances to certainly secure a spot among the finest football franchises ever. Then again, head coach Mike McCarthy doesn’t seems to be too worried about a thing.

It seems that for this one, Aaron Rodgers took a day off. The Packers franchise quarterback  completed only 17 of his 35 attempts for 235 yards and a touchdown, and he also scampered 8 yards for another touchdown with 2:12 left in the game. But it was not enough to keep the now, 13-1 Packers from recovering an onside kick that could had pushed things into overtime.

According to their coach, the Green Bay Packers were not looking for perfection. They were more focused on reaching the playoffs with the home team advantage and getting this straighten out so that he could get Aaron Rodgers and Co. right on track for another title. Then again, Kyle Orton got on his way. He finished the game with 229 yards in 23 of 31 passing for no touchdowns and no interception, and that was enough to overpower a squad that hadn’t dropt a single game since December of last year. The changes are coming and going over with the Chiefs. The Kansas City Chiefs rallied behind interim coach Romeo Crennel for a shocking 19-14 victory on Sunday. This is the end of a 19-game winning streak. It is the end of a streak that started ever since the Packers last defeat on Dec. 19, 2010 by the New England Patriots.

The Packers were suffering behind some injuries that could have kept them from making a better performance against the Chiefs. The Packers were playing without leading receiver Greg Jennings and top rusher James Starks because of injuries. Despite the fall, the Packers can still secure the No. 1 seed in their final two games against Chicago and Detroit, two teams that don’t really look too much like a thread. Then again, neither did Kyle Orton and the Chiefs.

The Kansas City Chiefs were managed to win this game because of a well planned out game strategy. Consider for starters what their defense was capable of. For starters the Green Bay Packers offense came into this game averaging nearly 36 points, but was held to its lowest total since beating the Chicago Bears 10-3 in Week 17 of last year. The scenario was very different from what it currently is right now. The Packers were on a win or go home situation, and they managed to pull if off. Winning that game gave Green Bay a ticket into the playoffs, and got them into the rhythm needed to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.

Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos managed to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs despite the unusual fact that the starting quarterback completed only two passes for merely 66 yards and yet beat the Chiefs by a humbling 17-10. John Fox had set up a very simple plan: run the option until the Kansas City defense figure out a way to slow down his runners. Luckily enough for Fox, when the Chief’s defense finally managed to control the Broncos running game, Tim Tebow proved that once in a while, he can actually complete a brilliant pass. In the fourth quarter Tebow completed a beautiful 56-yard touchdown pass to Eric Decker that seal the deal for the Broncos.

Playing pretty isn’t always the best option. Particularly when you find yourself 1-4 at the beginning of the season, with a rookie quarterback as your most solid option among the backups and a playbook that fits any pocket passer but not a Heisman Trophy winner who’s probably better at running than passing. So yes, at one point or another the Broncos decided to let Kyle Orton go and give Tim Tebow a try. It hasn’t been pretty, that’s for sure. For the many critics that said that Tebow just didn’t had what it takes to be a successful quarterback in the NFL, this past few games have certainly proved them right.

And yet, I might have to clear things up a bit before I continue down this road. For starters, let’s consider here that Tebow certainly is not going to be a phenomenal quarterback, but he might just find a way for this system of his to work. His passing hasn’t really improved much, that’s a given, but heck, the kid has also proved one thing to all his critics: he knows how to win. And for a team that began the season with a 1-4 record, reaching a 5-4 comeback and evening the San Diego Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs for second place in the AFC West behind the Oakland Raiders, its an unequivocal sign that things are going well.

The Chiefs weren’t at its finest, that certainly helped out the Denver Broncos’ cause. Matt Cassel finished the game with 13 of 28 passing for 93 yards and a touchdown. Not bad, but just not enough to make up for all of the Chiefs’ flaws in defense. Truth be said, things were working very well on either side of the ball for the Chiefs. As a matter of fact, they only managed 258 yards of total offense. Not exactly what any Kansas City fan would have expected from a team that had been utterly humiliated by a 31-3 loss to the Miami Dolphins only a week before.

The Kansas City Chiefs will now have to make it work against the motivated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on Monday Night football. The Denver Broncos, on the other hand, will face the New York Jets on Thursday night. As of press time the Jets are a -4½ point favorite on the NFL betting lines. No official line has yet been posted for the Monday Night football game between the Patriots and the Chiefs.

Sometimes, they say, that winning is all about having the right answers at the right time. And truth be said, there’s got to be some reality behind this because at the end, when it comes to the NFL playoffs, it really doesn’t matter what you did in the regular season to get there. What really matters is whether you can survive on the single elimination challenge that leads to the Super Bowl.

Joe Flacco guided the Ravens and completed 25 of 34 attempts for 265 yards and 2 touchdowns, outplaying Matt Cassel who went for 9 of 18 for only 70 yards and 3 interceptions for a very low 20.4 passers rating. It wasn’t all Cassel’s fault as it was evident that the Chiefs were just simply not having their best Sunday ever. But it really doesn’t matter as there was very little the Chiefs could do to avoid a 30-7 defeat by the Ravens on the opening round of the NFL Playoffs.

The Kansas City Chiefs arrived to the Wild Card Round after a 10-6 regular season. They managed to win the AFC West division with a significant 6-game improvement over the previous season. Still, Joe Flaco and the Baltimore Ravens kept the young Kansas City Chiefs at just 25 yards during the second half of the game. Where it all went down: defense.

The Baltimore Ravens defense was simply outstanding. Guided by the powerful Ray Lewis, the Ravens sacked Matt Cassel three times and forced the offense into five turnovers in their outstanding 30-7 victory at the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

It was a pretty close game between the two squads up to the start of the second half. From there on, the Ravens managed to simply hold the Chiefs offense on their feet. Two unanswered field goals by Billy Cundiff from 29-yards for the Ravens followed by 4 yard pass from Joe Flacco to Anquan Boldin gave the Ravens a 23-7 difference that opened up the gap clear open in the third quarter.

The Chiefs have now fallen to a 3-12 record. As of press time that is the second worst record in the postseason since the NFL Merger in 1970. Only the Detroit Lions hold a worst playoffs record, at 1-9. Kansas City finishes the season saddled with an NFL-record seventh straight playoff loss, dating back 17 years.

The Ravens were a -3 point favorite on the spread against the Kansas City Chiefs for this game. The Ravens managed to finish the regular season with a 12-4 record after winning 5 of its last 7 games to hold onto a Wild Card spot as the No. 2 team in the AFC North just behind the Pittsburgh Steelers who clinched division with a 12-4 record for the season. Now it is time to get back at the Steelers during the Divisional Round. The Ravens took a great win on the road on October 3rd against the Steelers in a 17-14 win. Now, you should consider that the Ravens were playing the Steelers sans starting quarterback Ben Roehtlisberger. Once Big Ben got back on the field he turned things around and guided the Steelers to a 13-10 win on December 5, 2010.

As of press time the Ravens are 9-7-1 Against the Spread for the season and a -3 point underdog in the betting odds for the Divisional Round game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.