The double-header edition of Monday Night Football proved to be as good a pair of football games as we could have asked for with the final game only being decided in the final seconds after an impressive come back by Houston. There were some surprises… and some disappointments.
As many folks suspected they might, Chip Kelly’s revamped Eagles team was way too quick for the staid Washington club. RGIII was clearly not up to speed as yet and Michael Vick, like him or not, was as good, or better, than he ever was…and that was pretty good.
When it was all over, the Philadelphia team had so impressed handicappers in Nevada that the Eagle’s odds to win Super Bowl XLVIII shrank down from 60-1 to 25-1. Far and away the biggest move of the week… among legitimate contenders.
The Redskins at times the looked to be playing in another time dimension upside the Eagles. Washington’s odds took a 10 point hit and moved up from 30-1 to 40-1. Redskin’s fans are in hopes that the 2013 edition of pro football in the nation’s capital will have a bit more to show them in coming weeks.
In the opening volley of the new NFL season, the defending World Champion Baltimore Ravens gave up no less than 7 touchdown passes and 462 yards through the air by Peyton Manning and his Denver Broncos. Shortly after the contest ended, handicappers went to work and moved the odds on Denver even lower by another ½ point to 9/2. The Broncos were already the favorites at 5-1.
Elsewhere, the Patriots were bumped from 10-1 to 8-1 even though a rookie quarterback in the form of EJ Manuel for the Bills had them on the ropes for most of the match. Only a last second field goal saved Brady’s bacon. The price on the Bills doubled overnight from 200-1 all the way to 100-1 as Buffalo turned out to be better than most fans expected. New England did not cover.
The Atlanta Falcons are a very good football team and Matt Ryan is an uncanny good passer, but… no one was going to beat the Saints at home after Sean Payton’s return. It was a great game that saw back and fourth action throughout in front of a boisterous capacity crowd in the Super Dome. Saints won 23-17 and moved from 18-1 down to 14-1 while the Falcons went the other way… from 16-1 to 18-1.
