Case of the Mondays: Home Teams Winless in Wild-Card Round

by Ricky Dimon - 1/11/2016

That the home teams failed to win a single game during the NFL wild-card weekend should not have come as a huge shock. After all, all four of them were underdogs. But the way in which they went about doing so was downright hard to believe. Houston got blown out 30-0, Washington scored only seven of its game's last 42 points, and those two teams will not even be feeling close to as bad as Cincinnati and Minnesota.

All odds provided by BetOnline Sportsbook .

Cincinnati Bengals . The Bengals and Steelers already didn't like each other (how could they as AFC North rivals?). Then Saturday happened. A contentious and back-and-forth affair saw Pittsburgh come away from Cincinnati with an 18-16 win in the aftermath of a mind-boggling fourth-quarter. After storming back from a 15-0 deficit at the end of the three to take a 16-15 lead, the home team had the ball and basically just needed to run out the clock with three running plays or kneel-downs. But Jeremy Hill fumbled it right back to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for the Steelers, they were reduced to a quarterback-Ben Roethlisberger-who could not throw the ball more than a few yards because of a separated shoulder. Only the Bengals could save the visiting squad, and that's exactly what they did. Cincy single-handedly moved Big Ben and company into field-goal range with consecutive 15-yard penalties on Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones. A chip shot by Pittsburgh's Chris Boswell put the Bengals out of their misery…and/or added to it. Pitt is a +6.5 underdog at Denver this weekend.

Blair Walsh . Speaking of chip shots, Walsh now knows that they cannot be taken for granted. Another wild fourth quarter of a playoff game saw Minnesota blow a lead before putting itself in prime position to prevail in the final seconds. With the Vikings trailing Seattle 10-9, a last-minute drive gave Walsh a 27-yard field-goal attempt. But he pulled it left to let the Seahawks hang on. Although the laces were in, that's still one that every NFL kicker has to make under any circumstances. Seattle is now two wins away from a third consecutive Super Bowl appearance, while Minnesota still has not won a playoff game since 2009. The Seahawks are +3 underdogs at Carolina on Sunday.

Brian Hoyer . Why mess around for three hours only to lose in heartbreaking fashion when you can just seal your own fate right from the start without any fuss? Maybe that's what Hoyer was thinking, because he sure wasted no time taking the suspense out of Houston vs. Kansas City. Hoyer finished with four interceptions and a lost fumble. Four of his turnovers came prior to halftime, at which point the visiting Chiefs already led 13-0 en route to a 30-0 blowout. K.C. and Pittsburgh are both +400 to win the AFC.

Lionel Hollins . The Nets' head coach got the boot on Sunday with his team at 10-27 on the season. Brooklyn is in third to last place in the NBA, ahead of only laughingstocks Philadelphia and Los Angeles (the Lakers, of course). The Nets are in the midst of a four-game-losing skid, have dropped 12 of their last 15 contests, and have not won at home since Dec. 10-and that was at the expense of the 76ers. General manager Billy King basically got the pink slip, too. He was removed from his position but "reassigned" as opposed to being outright fired. Brooklyn is a +14 home underdog against San Antonio on Monday.

Montreal Canadiens . What the heck happened to the Canadiens? They started the season 9-0 to take the NHL by storm. Now they are 23-17-3 and in third place in their own division (trailing Florida and Detroit in the Atlantic). Montreal has dropped 13 of its last 17 games, a stretch that includes losing streaks of four and six. The slump can, however, be explained at least in part. Starting goalie Cary Price has not played since Nov. 25, when a victory over the Rangers pushed the Canadiens' record to 17-4-2. They are 6-13-1 since Price went down with a lower-body injury. Head coach Michel Therrien recently said that Price will not return before the all-star break, which is Jan. 28 through Feb. 1.

Leicester City . The Foxes were staring a berth in round four of the FA Cup right in the face on Sunday. They had a 2-1 lead at Tottenham Hotspur with little more than one minute remaining. But Leicester's Nathan Dyer got penalized for a hand-ball in the box before Harry Kane of the Spurs knocked in the free shot for an equalizing goal. As a result of the 2-2 draw, the two English Premier League foes have to go head-to-head once again in FA Cup action in order to see which club advances. They are also squaring off in the EPL this Wednesday. The Foxes are +2000 to win the Premier League title.

Rafael Nadal . Although Nadal endured a mostly disastrous 2015 campaign, he started to play better toward the end of the season. That may have given him an idea that he would at least be able to compete with Novak Djokovic this year. After one week, however, it does not look like Nadal-and maybe not anyone else-is even close to the world No. 1. Djokovic steamrolled his way to a title in Doha without losing a set in five matches. Nadal had no chance in the final, as the Spaniard went down 6-1, 6-2 in just one hour and 13 minutes. The Australian Open begins next week and it is one of Djokovic's favorite tournaments. He has captured the title Down Under five times, including on four of the last five occasions. Djokovic is -150 favorite to win it again.

Start:	November 23, 2024 @ 2:30 PM
Expert:	Tony George
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