Chiefs rout Raiders as favorites roll; Broncos bail out Survivor entries
“This f——— never f——— works, man.”
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes could be heard yelling those words on the TV broadcast when he appeared to be trying to draw the Raiders offsides on fourth-and-1 from his own 40.
But it was a fake. He then handed the ball to Kareem Hunt, who picked up the first down on Kansas City’s second straight touchdown drive to open Sunday’s game en route to a 31-0 rout of the Raiders.
Mahomes might as well have been saying that to critics who were ready to declare the Chiefs’ dynasty over after they started 0-2. But Kansas City is suddenly the favorite to win its fourth Super Bowl in seven years after cruising to its fourth win and cover in its last five games.
“Everybody says the Chiefs are back. For me, they never left,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “They’re the best team in the AFC right now.
“It’s just not a good Raider team.”
You’re my favorite
Bettors were all over the Chiefs, who cashed tickets as the biggest favorites on the NFL Week 7 board at -13. The betting public swept the board on the morning games as favorites went 6-0 against the spread, with the Panthers-Jets closing at pick’em.
The other favorites that covered in the early games were the Patriots (-6½, beat Titans 31-13), Browns (-2½, beat Dolphins 31-6), Bears (-3½, beat Saints 26-14), Eagles (-2½, beat Vikings 28-22) and Rams (-3, beat Jaguars 35-7 in London).
Carolina beat New York 13-6 as the Jets remain winless at 0-7.
“With the worst five teams in the league (Raiders, Dolphins, Titans, Jets and Saints) losing a combined 132-39, the morning started perfectly for customers with every favorite winning and covering the spread,” Caesars Sportsbook head of football Joey Feazel said in an email. “Opposing the bad teams in recent years has proven to be a tried and trusted formula, and the perfect storm of all five playing the 10 a.m. slate was beneficial to the customers.”
The Raiders fell to 2-5 straight up and against the spread and the two-touchdown spread didn’t deter bettors in the slightest from fading the Silver and Black.
“The two games that really hurt us were New England and Kansas City,” Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said. “Those were our two worst results in the morning.”
Book club
The proliferation of favorites covering and all four overs cashing in the afternoon games dealt a small losing day to sportsbooks, which got some money back in the late games on the Colts (+2½, beat Chargers 38-24), Cardinals (+7, lost 27-23 to Packers) and Giants (+8½, lost 33-32 to Broncos).
“We went 0-7 in the morning on decisions we needed,” Esposito said. “Overall, it does not shape up to be a good pro football weekend on our side of the counter. My guess is it’s going to be a small loser for the day.”
Giant collapse
The books would’ve had a winning day if the Giants and Cardinals had won outright but they blew fourth-quarter leads — with New York doing so in historic fashion.
The Giants led 26-8 with 5:14 left when it appeared all Broncos teaser and money line bettors would lose their money — along with 440 Circa Survivor contestants who would see their quest for an $18.7 million prize end and one Circa Grandissimo $100,000 entry who would see their quest for a $6.9 million prize end.
After all, NFL teams had won 1,602 consecutive games when leading by 18 points in the final six minutes of a game. But Denver scored on its final five drives for 33 fourth-quarter points — the second-highest quarter in NFL history — to beat the odds. Barely.
After the Broncos went ahead 30-26 on Bo Nix’s 18-yard touchdown run with 1:51 left, Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart answered with a 1-yard go-ahead TD run of his own to put New York up 32-30 with 37 seconds remaining. But Jude McAtamney missed his second extra point to give Denver a chance to win with a field goal and there was plenty of time on the clock to do so.
“I knew they left too much time on the clock,” Murray said. “When they scored a touchdown with 37 seconds left, I said to my risk guys, ‘OK, there’s going to be OT.’ Then the guy missed the extra point and I said, ‘All right, we’re going to lose.’ ”
Nix found Marvin Mims for 29 yards and Courtland Sutton for 22 to set up Will Lutz’s game-winning 39-yard field goal.
Josh Jacobs scored on a 1-yard run with 1:50 left to give Green Bay its first lead over Arizona at 27-23, and it held on for the victory when the Cardinals turned it over on downs at the Packers’ 27 with 13 seconds left.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
