Weekend silence an odd sound at sports books

Four months ago, the buzz was not about the Green Bay Packers, despite the fact they had won the Super Bowl and Aaron Rodgers had escaped a retired quarterback's shadow.

The hype was focused instead on Philadelphia. But there will be no postseason for Michael Vick and his Eagles, who now are striving for the humble goal of reaching .500.

The "Dream Team" to come out of the NFC East will be a nine-win team, either the Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants. Part of the lure of the NFL is that it's bizarre.

On the day before Christmas, the sports books were the setting for another odd scene. Thirteen games were on the Saturday schedule, but all was mostly quiet.

"I think we underestimated the number of last-minute Christmas shoppers," Las Vegas Hilton sports book director Jay Kornegay said. "It's really kind of eerie seeing all the games go off and we don't have many people in the book. At the betting windows, we didn't have lines."

On the board, the lines were moving, but the handle was down on a slow Saturday. There was more action at the checkout lines at Walmart. With the bulk of the Week 16 rotation pushed up a day, most bettors took a vacation for the holiday, and that was probably a good thing.

"We won a majority of the decisions, and we won the major decisions," Kornegay said. "The only drawback is it was the slowest NFL day of the season by far. If it would have been a regular Sunday, we would have had a great day."

The bettors who did show up tended to back Denver, Kansas City, San Diego and Seattle, and those wagers would have been better spent on Christmas gifts.

Four months ago, Tim Tebow was a training-camp laughingstock. The awkward quarterback is now on the verge of a playoff berth, however, and nothing is quite as strange as the story of the Denver Broncos.

A week after getting shot down by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, Tebow led the charge into Buffalo. The Broncos were 3-point favorites, and the Bills had lost seven in a row. So Tebow threw four interceptions as the Broncos were pounded, 40-14.

"There was no shame in losing to the Patriots," Kornegay said. "But losing to the Bills in the way the Broncos did is disappointing and worrisome. In Tebow fashion, they just can't clinch anything early."

The AFC West has been a Chinese crossword puzzle all season, so it's fitting to see it come down to a mind-boggling conclusion.

Oakland (8-7) can win the division by beating San Diego on Sunday, if the Chiefs win in Denver. The Chiefs' quarterback is Kyle Orton, who started the season for the pre-Tebow Broncos.

Orton tried to rally Kansas City into the postseason picture, but his little run was spoiled Saturday by the Raiders and Carson Palmer, who was acquired in a trade after he refused to play for Cincinnati.

A majority of bettors backed the Chiefs as 3-point home favorites over the Raiders, who won 16-13 in overtime on Sebastian Janikowski's 36-yard field goal.

The Chargers eliminated themselves from playoff contention with a pitiful performance in a 38-10 loss at Detroit. San Diego opened as a 2½-point underdog and closed as a 1-point favorite at several books, yet fell behind 24-0 at halftime in what absolutely had to be Norv Turner's next-to-last game as coach.

Underdogs went 8-4-1 against the spread Saturday, counting the Chargers as favorites and the San Francisco-Seattle game as a push. The 49ers opened as 2½-point road favorites, and the line dropped as low as 1 before closing between 1½ and 2½. It's rare when a game lands on 2, but San Francisco won, 19-17.

The public supported the Giants as 3-point underdogs against the Jets, who attracted the sharp money. The public put one in the win column as Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz for a 99-yard touchdown pass and the Giants shut up Rex Ryan in a 29-14 victory.

Minnesota, a 6½-point underdog, upended Washington 33-26, but more importantly, the Vikings lost running back Adrian Peterson to a serious knee injury.

Tony Romo's right hand swelled up, and he was put on ice and pulled early in Dallas' 20-7 loss to the Eagles, who closed as 2½-point favorites. The Cowboys are 3-point underdogs at New York on Sunday in an odd division title showdown between dysfunctional teams.

Meanwhile, the public backed the Packers in a relationship that is functioning well. As 13½-point favorites, they held on to beat the Chicago Bears' junior varsity 35-21 on Christmas night, when all was quiet in the books.

Green Bay is 14-1 and has little reason to show up for a Week 17 game against the Lions. The bettors will be back, though, and the books again will be buzzing about some bizarre NFL games.

Contact sports betting columnist Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. He co-hosts the "Las Vegas Sportsline" weeknights at midnight on KDWN-AM (720) and thelasvegassportsline.com.