The Chiefs may be boring to some, but they’re exciting their fans by winning five straight games. They will be looking for No. 6 Sunday at Arrowhead against Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay began the season 1-3 before winning two straight. Since then the Bucs have lost two of three but did rebound last Sunday against Chicago with a 36-10 victory. Quarterback Jameis Winston threw for 312 yards and two scores while the defense forced four turnovers.
The Chiefs, down 17-0, came back last Sunday at Carolina to win 20-17. The focus? Squarely on cornerback Marcus Peters.
He has picked off five passes this season — tying him for the league lead. However, he’s allowed 35 receptions on 58 targets for 508 yards and two touchdowns through nine games, according to NFL stats. Peters’ best outings are often marred by big mistakes; for example, in Week 2, he gave up a long completion to Will Fuller down the sideline, setting up Houston for a first-and-goal from the 3-yard line. And the Chiefs lost 19-12.
Against the Panthers, Peters gave up a season-high seven completions, 121 yards and a touchdown in coverage, but made the biggest play of the game with 29 seconds left in the fourth quarter. After Kelvin Benjamin made a catch at the Panthers’ 29-yard line, Peters ran up to the receiver, and, as he told reporters after the game, “I took it from him. You know how you go to the store, and you want something, and your mama tells you you can’t have it?”
After ripping the ball out of Benjamin’s hands and getting tackled, he jumped up and punted the ball into the stands (for the second game in a row), incurring a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty. It didn’t end up making a difference — Spencer Ware gained 11 yards on the next play to set up Cairo Santos’ game-winning field goal . But you gotta wonder …
How about a couple of Chiefs tidbits, provided by PointAfter, a sports website using semantic technology.
The site picked Ryan Sims as the Chiefs worst draft pick. He was taken No. 6 in 2002 — the second defensive lineman, four picks after college teammate Julius Peppers. Perhaps Peppers made Sims look good at North Carolina because Sims certainly didn’t live up to his promise in the NFL.
Sims totaled five sacks in five years and 59 games with the Chiefs.
The site also picked the most overpaid player on each team. For the Chiefs? Offensive lineman Eric Fisher with a $6.85 million tab.
Fisher has improved, but his production is still nowhere near what you’d want from a first overall pick, PointAfter said. He’s the team’s fifth-highest paid player in 2016, making more than Dontari Poe, Jamaal Charles, Tamba Hali and Derrick Johnson.
Game stuff, okay, right. The Chiefs are tied atop the AFC West with Oakland. The Buccaneers lead the all-time series 6-5 and have won four straight against Kansas City.
Does that scare you? Despite the ominous hook — the Chiefs are giving 7½ — I think the Chiefs have the magic. So, $11 on KC.
PR HF HD RF RD Cover Streak APF APA Record
Tampa 8.5 1-2-0 0-2-0 1-0-0 2-1-0 4-5-0 c1 24.0 26.9 4-5
Kansas City 20.0 1-3-0 0-0-0 1-0-0 2-2-0 5-3-1 c1 22.8 18.7 7-2
You feel the glory, Jerry Jones. Yep, the Dallas Cowboys have vaulted to the top in the NFL power ratings.
The Cowboys continue to get the job done on the field and at the betting window. In the wake of last weekend’s 35-30 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cowboys are 8-1 SU and 8-0-1 ATS. They will be at home Sunday against Baltimore.
The Cowboys are getting it done with a couple of rookies, quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekial Elliott.
I think they will keep it alive against the Ravens and will lay the 7 for $11.
PR HF HD RF RD Cover Streak APF APA Record
Baltimore 12.0 3-2-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 1-2-0 4-5-0 c2 20.2 17.8 5-4
Dallas 20.5 2-0-0 1-0-1 2-0-0 3-0-0 8-0-1 c8 28.7 18.9 8-1
Other NFL bets:
$33 — Washington -3 vs. Green Bay
$22 — Pittsburgh -8½ at Cleveland, Seattle -6 vs. Philadelphia, Oakland -5½ vs. Houston
$11 — New Orleans +4½ at Carolina, Tennessee +3 at Indy, NY Giants -7 vs. Chicago, Arizona +1 at Minnesota, Los Angeles -1 vs. Miami
Kansas State is on the road at Baylor while Kansas is at home vs. Texas.
The Wildcats, 5-4, are 2½-point favorites. You gotta wonder why. Yes, Baylor is not the Big Bear of recent seasons but the Cats are making many mistakes and they’re taking their act on the road.
They can’t cover in the secondary — opposing receivers run free and long — and they can’t avoid crucial errors overall. They have had a bye week to work on their game. Will it matter?
Consider this: Before taking the break, they lost 43-37 after leading Oklahoma State at home by 9 with 8 minutes left in the game and couldn’t hold on.
Cowboy quarterback Mason Rudolph threw for 457 yards on a 29 of 38 effort. The Cowboys led 23-21 at halftime before an atrocious third quarter that included a muffed punt return, a blocked punt and two crucial penalties allowed the Wildcats to take a 30-21 advantage.
But the Wildcats again lost the magic. Here’s how the Cowboys managed to seize the victory. K-State Coach Bill Snyder elected to punt near midfield on fourth-and-inches in the fourth quarter, allowing the Cowboys to rally. Rudolph connected with James Washington on an 82-yard touchdown passes two plays later, and after a three-and-out, Chris Carson capped a go-ahead drive with a 17-yard TD run to give Oklahoma State the lead.
Not over yet. Kansas State got the ball back with 1:39 left. After quickly moving downfield, and converting fourth-and-5 to remain alive, an offensive pass interference penalty in the end zone with 10 seconds left pushed them back to the Oklahoma State 13 with 4 seconds to go. Quarterback Jesse Ertz’s wobbler to the end zone was intercepted by Jordan Sterns to end the game. Another blown opportunity.
Ertz ran for 153 yards and three scores for Kansas State, but he was just 12 of 18 for 87 yards passing. The Wildcats finished with 345 yards rushing.
And here’s a play that epitomizes the plight of the Cats. Charles Jones ran for what looked like a 67-yard TD. Nope. He stepped out of bounds at the Cowboy 32. And the replay showed that he really wasn’t forced out. He just did it. The Cats had to settle for a field goal on the drive.
Baylor quarterback Seth Russell suffered a season-ending ankle fracture last week in the loss to Oklahoma and freshman Zach Smith will get the starting job against K-State in the Bears’ final home game of the season.
Baylor Coach Jim Grobe believes Smith has tremendous maturity for a freshman and that he’ll handle the pressure of trying to turn around a team that’s lost its last three Big 12 games. After Russell went down in the third quarter, Smith stepped in and hit six of 15 passes for 144 yards. He hit a 62-yard touchdown pass to KD Cannon and also ran for a 1-yard score.
I don’t like taking the Cats as road favorites but will go with them this time for $11.
After Kansas beat No. 1 Duke 77-75 Tuesday night in basketball, do you think the football game against Texas Saturday in Lawrence will fire up the faithful? Eh!
KU is 1-9 overall and 0-7 in the Big 12 and, well, there just ain’t much enthusiasm. These two teams have met only 15 times, going back to 1901 when KU won 12-0. Ah, but since then — the Longhorns have won 13 of 14 games, including 13 straight since Big 12 play began in 1996.
The coaching situation with Charlie Strong at Texas is still up in the air and another loss for the 5-5 Longhorns may create a crash landing.
The Longhorns certainly have the talent, especially when looking at running back D’Onta Foreman’s stats: 241 carries, 1,613 yards, 6.7 average and 13 TDs.
So what would I bet on KU? The Jayhawks are getting 24 points. Enough? Good question. But I will take the points for $11.
A big game is on tap in the Big 12 — Oklahoma at West Virginia. Another goodie pits Oklahoma State at TCU.
The Sooners are looking for their eighth straight victory to keep their lead in the conference. Baker Mayfield is completing 72 percent of his passes for 3,212 yards, 33 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Mayfield has 10 touchdown passes in his last three games. Dede Westbrook and Joe Mixon have combined for 1,674 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns while Mark Andrews has 27 receptions. Mixon has logged 937 yards and six touchdowns. Defensively, they are allowing 30.8 points and 429.5 yards per game.
The 8-1 Mountaineers haven’t beaten a ranked team since their 2014 win over the Baylor Bears. Skyler Howard is completing 64.5 percent of his passes for 2,562 yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Their ground game is averaging 211.4 yards.
The Sooners are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games and 10-4 ATS in their last 14 conference games. The Mountaineers are 4-11 ATS vs. a team with a winning record and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games in November.
OU’s poor defense scares me but I will go with them, laying the 3 points for $22.
With two more victories, Oklahoma State will be the outright conference champion. The Cowboys played their final home game last Saturday, narrowly escaping Texas Tech for a sixth straight win. This Saturday, they will travel to 5-4 TCU.
The handicappers are impressed with Oklahoma State’s status. TCU is a 4½-point favorite. I think the Cowboys will be motivated, although they still must face rival Oklahoma. Ride ’em Cowboys for $22.
Other college bets:
$22 — Virginia Tech +1 at Notre Dame, Washington State +4 at Colorado
$11 — Louisville -14 at Houston, Memphis -7 at Cincy, Iowa State +3 vs. Texas Tech, Iowa -10 at Illinois, Pittsburgh -7½ vs. Duke, Nebraska -14½ vs. Maryland, Ohio State -22½ at Michigan State, Tennessee -11 vs. Missouri, Utah -13 vs. Oregon, Florida +14 at LSU