Kansas City Chiefs 2009 Payout Odds Among The Best
Do the Kansas City Chiefs have a shot of winning the 2009 AFC West?
The payout would be $1000 for every $100 bet at SBG Global
The reality is that there could be two even weaker teams in this division (Denver and Oakland). San Diego is a huge -800 favorite to win the division, but even they remain questionable.
Consider this: Kansas City has a new starting quarterback in Matt Cassel. Remember him from the Patriots last season? The kid was pretty good as a replacement for Tom Brady. The Patriots missed the Playoffs by some fluke despite having a winning record.
Fantasy Football players take notice (from OaklandRaidersCentral.com):
"Cassel was one of the biggest surprises of the 2008 NFL season stepping in for the injured Tom Brady and throwing for 3693 yards with 21 TD's and just 11 INT's. The numbers are much more impressive when you consider that Cassel had not started a game since High School when he found himself thrust into the limelight. Cassel's performance down the stretch helped countless fantasy owners to titles as he passed for consecutive 400 yard games during the fantasy playoffs.
"Moreover, Cassel almost did me in as well as I barely escaped him in the Championship round when he had 4 TD passes against the Raiders. Thankfully, I had a well rounded enough team to overcome it but needless to say I was a bit concerned watching his game against my Raiders. Cassel played his heart out for Josh McDipshit last year but now comes to a team searching for an identity on offense.
"In terms of weapons Cassel has some but not an overabundance. WR Dwayne Bowe is entering his 3 year and should be a star. Bowe will unequivocally be Cassel's number one target especially after the departure of TE Tony Gonzalez to Atlanta. Gonzalez leaving is a huge loss for the Chiefs and especially Cassel as the young QB certainly would have looked the veterans way often. Cassel does have Haley grooming him but all in all I wouldn't stake your fantasy teams chances on him this year. He is a decent option for a number 2 QB but far too many questions surround him to be considered a solid number 1 fantasy QB on a week to week basis."
The defense is also likely to improve.
Assuming we see a nice improvement with the Chiefs this year, those of us at Gambling911.com feel it's important to hone in on the heavily favored San Diego Chargers.
Week 1 should be a given for the Chargers playing in Oakland.
I see San Diego splitting the next two weeks, winning against either Baltimore or Miami at home, but probably not both teams which played above .500 last season.
San Diego heads to Pittsburgh where - in theory - they should lose against the defending Super Bowl champions and leave there with a record of 2-2 before their Week 5 bye.
Week 6 the Chargers should be able to beat Denver at home. They play Kansas City on the road in Week 7. This one might be a toss up depending on how Kansas City develops over the first part of the season. But on paper at least, it looks like San Diego will be 4-2 coming out of Week 7.
They host Oakland during Week 8 and should be 5-2.
Week 9 will probably be a loss for the Chargers playing in New York against the Giants, unless they turn out to be an extraordinary team, which is doubtful at this juncture in time. I say they're 5-3 after Week 9.
Week 10 they host Philadelphia and that one should go San Diego's way unless the two teams are moving in two entirely different directions by this point in the season.
Week 11 has San Diego playing Denver and probably going up 7-3.
Week 12 they host Kansas City and should win at home going 8-3.
Week 13 in Cleveland I'll give to the Browns since it's so late in the season and weather could play a factor. Let's say 8-4 here.
Week 14 - San Diego at Dallas will probably be another loss where we see the Chargers going down 8-5.
Week 15 - They can get their act together here by hosting Cincinnati and going up 9-5.
Week 16 - On the road in Tennessee. At this point it looks like a loss for the Chargers (9-6).
Week 17 - They should be able to beat Washington at home and I see the Chargers winning a total of 10 games.
I don't see Kansas City winning 10 games, however.
But there is always the chance that the Chargers will fail to live up to expectations and this makes placing a $100 bet on Kansas City to win the 2009 AFC West for $1000 quite tempting.
Do I think it will happen?
Probably not.
But did anyone really think the Dolphins would turn things around last year and that Tennessee would win their division?
Winning the AFC Conference pays out $4000 for every $100 bet.
Mary Montgomery, Gambling911.com
