When delivering a helmet-to-helmet hit on defenseless tight end Jack Doyle of the Colts, Burfict was yet again flawless in his disregard for any level of safety.
Football
Sports wagering is topping expectations since the Indiana General Assembly voted to legalize it in June in return for 15 percent of the profit.
Win and the Raiders are off to London to play Khalil Mack and the Bears with a 2-2 record. But lose and they are 1-3 and looking at a 1-6 start to the season.
If you sketched an outline of how not to begin what are five straight games away from Oakland, a 34-14 loss to Minnesota would have covered all points.
New England is the team that America loves to hate but it also loves to bet on the Patriots, who easily covered the 18½-point spread in a 43-0 road rout of the Dolphins.
The second quarter from hell for the home side eventually sent Kansas City to victory before 52,748 at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum.
Making things difficult on Joe Flacco and the Broncos helped produce a 24-16 victory, but having to manage Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on Sunday is another story.
Kansas City scored 40 points in a victory at Jacksonville in Week 1, and the Raiders have serious injury concerns in their defensive backfield.
Think of it as a silver and black exorcism, the faithful’s way of expunging from their minds any trace of Antonio Brown as the team beats Denver 24-16 to open its season.
It was March of 2017, inside a swanky Phoenix resort, where Mark Davis’ team received well above the 24 votes needed to approve the team’s relocation from Oakland to Southern Nevada.
For nothing else, beating Denver on Monday night would signal a positive first act to move past the drama that was Antonio Brown.
Winning in pro sports — or at least the opportunity to do so, however slight those chances might be for the Raiders this season — is more important than anything not named breathing.
Wherever the truth lies within the silver and black cauldron of nonsense created by the Raiders trading for Brown, the conclusion should be obvious.
If it isn’t encompassing every thought of those around Las Vegas, the idea that 2020 will officially make Southern Nevada one of 32 coveted NFL destinations is undoubtedly on the minds of most.