The Las Vegas Raiders went into Kansas City and punched the Chiefs in the mouth Monday to improve to 4-3 under interim head coach Antonio Pierce.
Team owner Mark Davis should have removed the interim tag immediately after that game and named Pierce the permanent coach, because he’s the man for the job. This is a different Raiders team than the one that started the year 3-5 under Josh McDaniels.
Up next, they stay on the road to play the struggling Indianapolis Colts, and the Raiders find themselves as underdogs yet again. Here’s a look at that game and a couple more lines I disagree with in Week 17.
Las Vegas Raiders at Indianapolis Colts (-3)
Bob Scheer-USA TODAY Sports
As last week’s disagreeable lines proved, I don’t have a great read on the Colts. They win games they aren’t supposed to, get you believing in them, just to fold against teams you think they should beat. I thought they would take care of business Sunday in Atlanta. They did not. So I’m flipping again.
It’s not just that the Colts have lost two of their last three games, though. It’s how they’re losing, failing to score more than 14 points in either contest. Their defense simply isn’t good enough to compensate for a faltering offense. That could be a problem against a Raiders team allowing just 15 points per game over its last seven games. Based on how these teams are trending, I feel like this should be closer to a pick’em if not in favor of Vegas altogether.
Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars (-7)
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but thepanthersaregettingtoomanypoints. There, I said it. The Panthers are getting too many points. Yes, they’re just 2-13 this season, but look at how they’ve played lately relative to Jacksonville. The Panthers are 1-1 in their last two games with a combined minus-one point margin. They scored a season-high 30 points last week!
The Jags, on the other hand, are riding a four-game losing streak with an average 17-point margin in the last two. Now, Trevor Lawrence is dealing with a shoulder injury that has his status for this game in question. Jacksonville does get the advantage of being at home, but a spread of three-to-four points would have been harder to pick against.
Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans (O/U 42.5)
AP Photo/John Amis
This is a good spread, but I think the total is a little too high. When these teams played two weeks ago, they combined for just 35 points. What’s pushing the score past 42 this time around?
The potential return of C.J. Stroud could help, but that’s not a guarantee as of now, and even then I’m not sure he makes a seven-point difference. He certainly doesn’t help Tennessee’s chances of cracking 20 points for the first time in three games. And if Stroud is forced to miss another game, forget about it.
