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Case of the Mondays: Giants, Raiders Among Those Blown Out on Wild-Card Weekend

by - 1/9/2017

Matthew Stafford Detroit Lions

Wild-card weekend in the NFL turned out to be a somewhat predictable snooze-fest. All four home teams-and all four favorites-made a mockery of their games. The division winners made quick work of the wild-card entrants, with Oakland and Detroit bowing out listlessly on Saturday before the Dolphins and Giants saw their seasons end in a whimper on Sunday. Thus the stage is set for what should be a much more intriguing final eight.

All odds provided by BetOnline Sportsbook .

New York Giants . Only one team defeated Dallas in a meaningful game during the regular season (a Week 17 contests between the Cowboys and Eagles certainly did not qualify as such). That team won't get a third shot at the No. 1 seed in the NFC. New York, which took down Dallas in Week 1 and again in Week 14, got blown out at Green Bay this past weekend. The visitors led 6-0 for much of the first half, but it was all but over for them when Aaron Rodgers produced another one of his patented Hail Marys on the final play before halftime. That opened the floodgates at the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, where the Packers rolled to a 38-13 triumph. Green Bay is a +4 underdog at Dallas on Sunday.

Oakland Raiders .Through the first 15 games of the season, the Raiders had an MVP candidate at quarterback, were leading the AFC West, and appeared to be on the way to a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs. But then David Carr broke his leg and Oakland went from hero to zero in a hurry at the most important position on the field. Backup Matt McGloin also went down and the Raiders, relegated to a wild-card spot as Kansas City stole the division, had to go all the way to third-stringer Connor Cook for Saturday's postseason trip to Houston. Oakland could not overcome its quarterback quandary in the first game of the 2016-17 NFL playoffs, losing 27-14. The Texans are +16 underdogs at New England on Saturday.

Denver Nuggets .Only the Nets have a longer current losing streak than Denver. And the Nets are so bad (by far the worst team in the NBA at 8-28) they should not even really count. The Nuggets (14-23) have suffered consecutive setbacks at the hands of Philadelphia, Golden State, Sacramento, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City. Needless to say, two of the aforementioned teams are very beatable. But beat them the Nuggets did not. Denver, which has lost each of its last four contests by at least seven points, watched Russell Westbrook pick up another triple-double in the Thunder's 121-106 victory this past weekend. Oklahoma City is a +1.5 underdog at Chicago on Monday night.

Andrei Vasilevskiy . Ben Bishop (lower-body injury) ain't walkin' through that door. He will walk through it soon, but for now the Tampa Bay Lightning are seemingly stuck with Vasilevskiy in net. The backup-turned-starter as a result of Bishop's absence has given up a hard-to-believe 20 goals in the last four games. Not surprisingly, the Lightning are 0-4 in those contests. They have been outscored 22-9 during this stretch following a recent 6-2 setback at the hands of Pittsburgh. "You've just got to get back to work," head coach Jon Cooper said following Sunday's loss. "It's 82 games, not four."

Villanova .The Wildcats are still the defending champions; they will enjoy that distinction at least through March. But they are not still undefeated this season. Villanova took its first loss last Wednesday at Butler, 66-58. In the midst of a 20-game winning streak dating back to the 2015-16 campaign, the Wildcats started well enough and led 31-27 at halftime. Butler, however, dominated the second half and made every free throw imaginable down the stretch to pull off the upset. The 'Cats, who bounced back by beating Marquette on Saturday, are +1000 to successfully defend their national title.

Andy Murray . Getting to No. 1 in the world was tough. After all, Murray only got there for the first time in his career this past fall at 29 years old. Staying there may be even tougher. In the first tournament of 2017, the Scot lost to Novak Djokovic in the final of last week's Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Murray had taken the top spot from Djokovic at the Paris Masters in November and he held onto it by beating the Serb at the year-end championship in London. On Saturday, though, Djokovic exacted revenge with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory. Murray and Djokovic are +160 co-favorites to win this month's Australian Open.

Everton . Everton is out of the FA Cup after losing at home to Leicester City 2-1 during third-round action on Saturday. After a scoreless first half, the Blues found the back of the net first thanks to a strike by Romelu Lukaku, the team's leading scorer, in the 63rd minute. But it went downhill from there for Everton, as Leicester City scored in the 66th minute and again with the eventual winner in the 71 st minute. Everton has also won just four of its last 12 English Premier League matches and sits seventh on the table. Lukaku has found the back of the net 11 times for Everton this season. He is +2000 to lead the Premier League in goals.

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