Bironas boots record eight FGs as Titans hold off furious Texans rally
Football Betting Lines
10/21/2007 - Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rod Bironas' NFL record eighth field goal of the game -- a 29-yarder as time expired -- gave the Tennessee Titans a wild 38-36 win over the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium.
Trailing 32-7 heading into the fourth quarter, the Texans offense, dormant for the entire game, exploded for a team-record 29 points in the fourth quarter and took a 36-35 lead on backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels' 53-yard touchdown to Andre Davis with 57 seconds remaining in the game.
However, Kerry Collins, playing in place of Vince Young, quickly went to work for the Titans, throwing to Roydell Williams for a 17-yard completion to the Tennessee 37-yard line.
Two incompletions later, Collins again hooked up with Williams, this time for a long 46-yard reception to the Houston 17-yard line. After a six-yard LenDale White run, Tennessee called a timeout and Bironas was good on his record-setting field goal.
Bironas hit on field goals of 52, 25, 21, 30, and 28 yards and two from 29 yards out to break the previous record shared by Jim Bakken, Rich Karlis, Billy Cundiff and Chris Boniol.
Collins completed 25-of-42 passes for 280 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions and White rushed for 104 yards and a score for the Titans (4-2).
Rookie tailback Chris Henry added 57 yards and his first career score for Tennessee, while Williams ended with five catches for 124 yards.
Houston quarterback Matt Schaub hurt his left ankle in the first quarter, returned after a brief absence and then left the game for a good after a vicious hit from Titans defensive end Albert Haynesworth in the second quarter.
Rosenfels threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns for the Texans (3-4), but finished with four turnovers - three interceptions and a fumble.
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eli Manning threw a pair of touchdown passes and Brandon Jacobs ran for 107 yards with a score, as the New York Giants rolled to a 33-15 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at the Meadowl
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Landover, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Neil Rackers' 55-yard field goal attempt at
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on after a wild finish for a 21-19 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Jason Campbell
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over th
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<< Titans kicker Bironas ties NFL record with seven FGs
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennessee Titans kicker Rod Bironas tied an
NFL record with seven field goals against Houston on Sunday.
Bironas, who kicked five in the first half, connected on a 29-yarder with 3:47
remaining in the fou
Bridgeview, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major League Soccer schedule maker couldn't have planned it any better. The last game of the regular season was between two teams that were still in the hunt for the last playoff spot, while al
Whittaker wins in Tennessee >>
Chattanooga, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ron Whittaker struggled a bit down the
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Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cloudy's Knight, making his third straight
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Roughriders clinch playoff spot with win over Ticats >>
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Joseph c
SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting
NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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