Rivers pulls off rally – for sports books

This one was for the critics who claim Philip Rivers folds under pressure when everything is on the line. This was a clutch comeback, captained by Rivers and capped by one of the biggest touchdown drives he has led all season.

The San Diego Chargers failed to win the game, of course, but they did cover, and the result was a classic case of the fickle nature of NFL wagering.

It was a Sunday that offered a lesson on the importance of a half-point to bettors and bookmakers.

It was a Sunday that again displayed the popularity of Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

"I would venture to say Manning has made the Broncos the most popular team to bet," said Jimmy Vaccaro, public relations director for William Hill sports books. "Over the past six weeks, we've written more tickets per week on Denver than any other team. There's no doubt the bettors have fallen in love with the kid."

Manning is "the kid," and favorite bettors were loving him until he left the proverbial back door wide open for Rivers, who gave the betting public another reason to hate the Chargers.

Trailing by 14 and getting 7½ points, San Diego needed to cover 80 yards with four minutes remaining. The first 59 yards came easily. On fourth-and-1, things got really interesting. Rivers threw a 21-yard rope to Danario Alexander, who made the grab and lunged in for an apparent touchdown with 1:24 left.

Alexander clearly had possession as he crossed the goal line. But there's a goofy and vague rule about securing the catch after the receiver hits the ground. The ball appeared to be jarred loose a little from Alexander's hand as he went down, so the play went to the replay booth for a dramatic review.

The announcers speculated the call on the field (touchdown) would be overturned. That would mean a point-spread cover for Denver. Again, this was very dramatic if you were holding a ticket on either side. It turned out the announcers were wrong, the ruling on the field was upheld, the rule still was goofy and vague to most people, and the Chargers covered in a 30-23 loss. Rivers had pulled off an improbable comeback for underdog bettors.

With popular favorites New England and New Orleans winning in blowouts, Rivers' touchdown pass "saved the afternoon" for the books, according to Vaccaro. "We had no chance with the Saints and Patriots games," he said. "When you pay all three sides, you're looking at a bad day."

Several public parlays in the afternoon included the Broncos, Patriots and Saints, and Green Bay was a hot ticket in the morning. The Packers, 3-point favorites, scored 10 points in the final two minutes to down Detroit, 24-20.

The Lions burned two timeouts, preventing the Packers from running out the clock, and Mason Crosby made a 39-yard field goal with 19 seconds to go for the cover.

Detroit bettors suffered a bad beat, and so did Carolina bettors. The Panthers, 1-point underdogs, blew an 11-point lead with six minutes left and lost to Tampa Bay 27-21 in overtime.

It was a Sunday that served up the predictable (Dallas failed to cover at home), the unpredictable (the New York Jets crushed the Rams in St. Louis) and the truly bizarre (Houston needed overtime to beat Jacksonville.)

The Jaguars, with the league's worst offense, put on a scoring circus before falling 43-37 to the Texans, who supposedly have a great defense. Jacksonville, which led by 14 midway through the fourth quarter, was plus-900 on the money line.

For some odd reason, I took Philadelphia as a 3½-point 'dog at Washington, and the Eagles played dead again in a 31-6 defeat.

"We say it every year about the Eagles and Chargers, but neither one of them has delivered in quite a while," Vaccaro said.

We also say Baltimore-Pittsburgh games almost always land on 3, and that's why I took 3½ with the Steelers, despite Byron Leftwich subbing for injured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

"We're dead even for the day," Vaccaro said as kickoff approached in Pittsburgh. "We need the Steelers. Everything live is going to the favorite. It will make the day or break the day for us."

Joe Flacco was predictably uninspiring, and the Ravens won 13-10 while failing to cover most tickets - although the line dropped to 3 at closing time. Seven of the past nine regular-season meetings between Baltimore and Pittsburgh have been decided by exactly three points.

"That was definitely a big half-point there," Vaccaro said.

It was another entertaining and excruciating Sunday of close calls for bettors and bookmakers.

Contact sports betting columnist Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts "The Las Vegas Sportsline" weekdays at 2 p.m. on ESPN Radio (1100 AM, 98.9 FM). Follow him on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.