Kansas City Wins First Of Season By Beating Washington
February 13th, 2010
The offensively struggling Kansas City Chiefs have finally found a way to win-play a team with a more stagnant offense than their own. The Chiefs gave Todd Haley his first win as a NFL head coach on Sunday with a—6 win over the Washington Redskins. Kansas City won despite not scoring a touchdown, compiling their– points via 4 Ryan Succop field goals and a game ending safety.
To successfully bet on NFL football you occasionally have to put aside W/L records and look at the underlying statistics. Those who did that found reason to take Kansas City as +6′ road underdogs and were rewarded with the outright victory. Kansas City is now 2-4 against the NFL pointspread and has covered two straight while Washington is a dismal 1-5 versus the money.
After the contest, Haley sounded more relieved than excited about finally putting a “W” on the board:
“We made it pretty difficult, right down to the end. We’ve pushed through a very difficult period. We needed to get some positive reinforcement with a win.”
Kansas City QB Matt Cassel also won for the first time since coming over from New England in the off season. His postgame comments were more upbeat:
“There’s been a lot of change, but this has definitely been special. We rose to the occasion. We made some big plays. We put ourselves in a position to score points.”
Embattled Redskins’ coach Jim Zorn was stripped of his offensive play calling duties by team management after the contest. In one of his last decisions in that role, he pulled starter Jason Campbell at halftime and went with Todd Collins. He explained his move as follows:
“I felt the need to create a spark on our football team offensively and went with Todd. I think the guys responded well. We kept our spark, at times, and then we refizzled.”
The Redskins have managed to win only two of their first six games despite being the only team in NFL history to play their first six games of the season against winless opponents. They’ll get another chance to silence their doubters next Monday night as they host the Philadelphia Eagles. The Skins are +6′ home underdogs with the total set at 38′. They’ll have a bye the next week and return to action on November 8th against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome. Kansas City will try to string together back to back wins as they host the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. There’s currently no line on the game pending San Diego’s Monday Night Football contest against the Denver Broncos.
Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer who has written on sports betting and how to successfully bet on NFL football. He has appeared as a guest on TV and radio talking about boxing, hockey and NFL pointspreads. He lives in Southern Nevada with three Jack Russell Terriers and a lynx.