By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Maybe the Kansas City Chiefs took a victory lap around Allegiant Stadium.
The Chiefs, with Patrick Mahomes at the controls, rallied in the final seconds to stun the Raiders, 35-31, on Sunday Night Football. But it was the Raiders who covered with the line closing at -8 in most books. The total went over 56.5 or 57 when the Raiders scored to briefly lead, 31-28, with 1:43 left in the fourth quarter.
A final touchdown pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce with 28 seconds sealed the victory.
Head coaches Andy Reid and Jon Gruden briefly touched fists after the game. After the Raiders upset the Chiefs on Oct. 11 in Week 5, the ebullient Raiders celebrated by taking the team buses on a victory lap around Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
“This is hard to swallow right now,” Gruden told reporters after the game.
The Chiefs did cover a special point spread of -2.5, but bettors paid -300 for that line. Bettors who played the Raiders as the team to score first cashed at +125. It was Josh Jacobs of the Raiders who scored the touchdown; he was 13/2 to make the first score. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr passed for 275 yards rewarding bettors who played over 266.5 passing yards for the game.
While the Raiders lost, the hours-long NBC telecast was effectively a prime time commercial for Las Vegas, the Strip and the $2 billion stadium.
The Raiders (6-4) are -3 vs. Atlanta next Sunday. The total is 55.
Elsewhere:
— Alabama, the consensus No. 1 in The AP poll, routed Kentucky, 63-3 on Saturday, easily covering -32. The perennial casual bettors’ play of Alabama on the first half line at -21 also paid. The final score easily went over the total of 58. The Crimson Tide are -24.5 vs. Auburn next Saturday.
— The Pittsburgh Steelers moved to 10-0 after a 27-3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. They also covered -10.5 handily. The Steelers are -3 vs. the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving Day.
— Curtis Blaydes meets Derrick Lewis in a heavyweight match in UFC 15 next Saturday at the APEX facility in southwest Las Vegas. Blaydes is anywhere from -325 to -345. Lewis is roughly +250 to +260.
— Four of the five MAC games played last Tuesday and Wednesday went over the total. In the Akron-Kent State game, 104 points were scored. The total was 60, and the score went over by halftime. MAC teams return to action next Friday and Saturday.
— Betting over the total also proved profitable in Big 10 games on Saturday. Five of the six games went over the total, including the Michigan at Rutgers game that went to overtime and saw 90 points scored. The total in that game was 52. Six more Big 10 games on are on the schedule for next weekend.
— Betting odds are posted for the WBA and Ring Super-Middleweight Championship fight pitting Canelo Alvarez and Callum Smith. Alvarez is about -400, and Smith is +300 for the Dec. 19 fight at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
— Talk about close: BYU defeated South Alabama, 66-14. They covered by the “hook,” the narrowest of margins. The line was -51.5.