It’s not the holiday season yet, but ifs and buts are being hung all over the National Football League results.
Talk that the Kansas City Chiefs don’t have to be four and oh because all four of their games came down to a final play. If Isaiah Likely would have been in the Ravens could have beaten them in the opener; if a late pass interference call wouldn’t have been made the Bengals would have beaten them; if the Falcons could have finished a drive in the redzone they could have won in third week action over Patrick Mahomes and company; and if the Chargers … well, you get the idea.
But, and here are the facts, the defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs know how to win and their late heroics to pull contests out are not by chance, but design. Tomorrow night the Chiefs close out fifth week action with a Monday Night Football date with the New Orleans Saints.
After opening their season with lopsided wins over the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys, the Saints have lost a couple close ones. First to the Philadelphia Eagles when after shutting out their Superdome visitors for three quarters they got dented for 15 points in the fourth quarter enroute to a three-point loss. Last week, the Saints took a lead in the final minutes of a game in Atlanta, then Kirk Cousins engineered a late drive to get the Falcons into make-abel field goal range, which resulted in a two-point Atlanta victory.
An early Monday night preview shows that the public likes the “if’s” more than the “buts.” They are betting the Saints plus the five-and-a-half points to rebound from their two most recent losses with a point spread decision at Arrowhead Stadium against the undefeated Chiefs. “But” Kansas CIty is at home without a loss, and yet it seems the public is inclined to back the team that lost the last couple weeks “if” only …
While the Chiefs can celebrate winning all the close ones, and the Saints can bank on two impressive triumphs, the Jacksonville Jaguars have nothing to lean on. They have had a couple close ones, they lost in Miami during opening week action in a game they controlled for most of the afternoon. They lost last week after dominating the second half when a late Houston Texans touchdown edged them on the scoreboard.
Between those two losses, the Jaguars handed the Cleveland Browns their only win of the season and got blown out in a Monday night contest in Buffalo.
Nope, the “ifs” don’t help hide the Jaguars major disappointments this year. In fact, since they upset the Houston Texans on the road last November, a game in which gave them the edge in winning the AFC South Division, the Jaguars have lost nine of ten games. All four this year, and only a win over the Carolina Panthers last season over the final two months of the 2023 campaign.
Franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the first pick in the 2021 draft, had bluechip credentials coming out of college. He appeared to be living up to his press clippings when he led the Jaguars to the playoffs and a Wild Card win over the Los Angeles Chargers in his second pro season. Then, the late season collapse last year and continued problems though the first month of this year’s campaign, has more questions than answers around the Jaguars quarterback.
In other words, the luster is off and the Jaguars are looking into the abyss of being a bad team.
Perfect, on my charts, to have a breakout game when the Indianapolis Colts visit Florida today.
Qoxhi Picks: Jacksonville Jaguars (-3) over Indianapolis Colts