And then there were none. The Broncos rode into Philadelphia and overcame a 14-point halftime deficit to hand the Eagles their first loss. Then on Sunday night, the Patriots, behind second-year quarterback Drake Maye, shocked the previously-unbeaten Bills in Buffalo. The Saints got their first win thanks to five Giants turnovers, while the Titans used a bizarre scoring play to earn their first win. The Ravens fell to 1-4, while the Jets remain winless. Once again Tampa Bay won a game in the final seconds, and the Jags are now an AFC contender with a last-minute victory over KC.
This week, the Giants host the Eagles on Thursday night, the Cowboys go to Carolina, and Seattle visits Jacksonville. Two 4-1 teams meet when the Niners visit Tamp Bay. The Chiefs have another test Sunday night when Detroit visits Kansas City. And once again there are two Monday night games.
Here are this week’s lines. All spreads taken from ESPNBet on Tuesday the 7th at 9:15 am CT.
The Chiefs haven’t been the team they were 2 years ago for yeah 2 years now; they won all the close games last year (only a +59 point differential recall), but not this year, which, if such a thing is mostly luck-based you would expect to see come to an end, which it has.
Counterpoint: they were one pass that bounced off Kelce’s hands from beating the Eagles this year…
In general I agree - I think regression is kicking them hard in the teeth and they were unsustainably lucky last year. I’m not positive they have enough juice in this year’s roster with how tough their schedule is to make the playoffs this year. But Rice is back soon, and maybe Chris Jones will decide to play hard again, and maybe Butker will remember how to kick again.
I hope this is Detroit’s year. They’ve been such a moribund franchise for so long. I’m happy to see them kind of dominant. If Detroit became the next dynastic team, I’d be ok with that.
And even though I’ve rooted for the Dolphins since Marino teased me as a kid, I have respect for the potential of this year’s Bills team.
How sweet would that be? We have a realistic chance of getting a Lions v Bills Super Bowl, and it wouldn’t be some fluke underdog story.
I’m surprised by this line. I figured maybe the Chiefs’ loss last night hadn’t had time to sink in, but the line has actually gone up to -2.5 today.
I guess it’s a combination of the Lions’ dominant win over the Ravens no longer looking so impressive, and several years of priors baked into the Chiefs mythology.
I used to root for the Lions - and in a way still do - but after the sheer arrogance of Dan Campbell, I’d like to see him eat another serving of humble pie. Too bad there’s no way to have the Lions win a Super Bowl but have Campbell taken down a notch at the same time.
I think the line makes sense and I’m not sure I’d be too eager to hammer the Lions. Few reasons.
The Chiefs have one of the last remaining home field advantages. Historically that’s been worth 3 points, really strong advantages were more like 3.5 or 4. In recent years that’s dropped to 1.5. But Arrowhead at night is an exception. They are getting a full 3 or 3.5 points making the Lions a slight favorite on a neutral field.
In converse, the Lions are a dome team that excels on turf. They will be playing without their own advantage and dealing with a loud crowd on a less favorable surface. They lost in Lambeau and won a close game against the 1-4 Ravens in their 2 outdoor road games this season.
Jared Goff struggles in difficult environments, always has. Crowd noise has caused him to play poorly with both LA and Detroit. If they don’t get out to a lead quickly, this will be a problem.
The Chiefs have struggled most with mobile QBs. Jared Goff is the polar opposite of that.
Teams coming off a big loss tend to bounce back the next week, especially good teams.
Teams playing in back-to-back road games tend to struggle in the second road game.
Worthy will be one week healthier. Overall the Chiefs are reasonably healthy compared to the Lions who are really banged up, especially in the secondary. The DBs for the Lions are a massive liability against the Chiefs.
There are probably some other matchups that the sharps are keyed in on as well. I suspect the Lions injury report are what caused the line to move in the Chiefs direction today.
If the Chiefs play the run against the Lions as well as they did against the Jags last night, it is going to be a long night for Goff and the Lions. That’s a tall order, but the Jags have been killing teams with their run game this season.
I also don’t love the matchup of Dan Campbell versus Reid and Spags. This will not be the environment where you want to see Campbell rolling the dice on 4th down in his own end.
Dude has been a complete bust, but at least part of the problem has been injuries. Not to mention instability at QB and coaching. The Titans are totally bankrupt at the WR position, so it says something that he was dumped now. Presumably the Titans would have cut him in the preseason had he been healthy. It will be interesting to see if anyone gives him a serious second look.
