Johnson, Chiefs run all over Raiders

Football Betting Lines

12/24/2006 - Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Larry Johnson ran for 135 yards and scored a touchdown to lead the Kansas City Chiefs over the Oakland Raiders, 20-9, at McAfee Coliseum.

Trent Green ended 12-of-24 for 148 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Chiefs (8-7), who ended a three-game slide and kept their slim playoff hopes alive.

Justin Fargas ran for 90 yards and Andrew Walter threw for 226 yards for Oakland (2-13), which has lost eight straight games in a single season for the first time in 34 years. Walter, however, also threw two picks and committed four turnovers, as the Raiders' horrid season continues.

The last time the Raiders dropped eight straight in a single season was in 1962 when the club lost 12 in a row to end that year 1-12. Oakland also went winless in the division for a second straight year with this setback. The Raiders' last win against an AFC West foe was on November 28, 2004 at San Diego.

The Raiders started out strong, scoring in the first quarter when Sebastian Janikowski capped a 57-yard, nine-play drive with a 25-yard field goal.

That, however, was the only time the Raiders would lead in the game as Kansas City took its ensuing possession in for a score. Green ended an 11-play, 60- yard march with a six-yard pass to Eddie Kennison for a 7-3 lead. The key play of the drive was a 4th-and-eight 24-yard completion from Green to Samie Parker. The Chiefs also converted a pair of third downs on the drive, including the touchdown play.

Lawrence Tynes later increased the Chiefs' lead to 10-3 when he converted a 29-yard field goal. The possession started after Walter lost a fumble at the Oakland 48-yard line.

The Raiders cut the deficit to 10-6 early in the second quarter when Janikowski nailed a 37-yard field goal, but that would be as close as Oakland would get the rest of the way.

Later in the quarter, after Walter lost his second fumble of the contest, Johnson ended a short five-play drive with a one-yard TD run for a 17-6 halftime advantage. The score came with just 40 seconds left in the stanza.

The second half went by with very little excitement. Janikowski kicked a 53- yard field goal at the 8:49 mark of the third quarter and Tynes answered with a 28-yarder with 1:20 gone in the fourth.

Ronald Curry had 106 yards on 11 catches for the Raiders.

Game Notes

Oakland's troubled wide receiver tandem of Randy Moss and Jerry Porter were both inactive...Raiders QB Aaron Brooks missed the game with a stinger...Johnson has scored the Chiefs' last 30 rushing TDs, an NFL record...Kennison ended with the one catch. He also had a rush for five yards...Tony Gonzalez remains one TD catch shy of tying Shannon Sharpe (62) for the all-time lead for a tight end. Gonzalez finished with a team leading 67 yards on five catches..The Chiefs ended with four sacks.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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