Pros on Broncos, Joes on Chiefs for ‘Monday Night Football’
It’s the Broncos vs. the Chiefs on “Monday Night Football” and it’s the Pros vs. the Joes at Las Vegas sports books.
Most of the money (Pros) is on Denver, which is a consensus 3½-point home underdog after the line opened at 5. But the vast majority of tickets (Joes) are on Kansas City, which is 3-0 straight up and against the spread and has gone over in its first three games behind quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has 13 touchdown passes and no interceptions.
The line crept back up to 4 at Station Casinos sports book Monday afternoon.
“I do think you’ll see a late push on the Chiefs and see the number go back up to at least 4 by kickoff,” Sunset Station sports book director Chuck Esposito said about 30 minutes before the line went to 4. “This might be one of the tougher tests for Patrick Mahomes, just because of Denver’s defense and how good the Broncos are in that stadium. But you can’t argue with a guy who has 13 touchdowns through three games.
“The Chiefs’ offense is as dangerous as anybody’s in the league but their defense has question marks.”
Kansas City has won its first three games by an average of 39-30. It beat the Chargers 38-28, the Steelers 42-37 and the 49ers 38-27.
The total also has dropped to as low as 53 (at the Golden Nugget and MGM Resorts sports books) after opening at 54½.
“That’s a product of Denver’s defense a little bit and they’ll probably look to take the air out of the ball and take it out of Mahomes’ hands as long as they can,” Esposito said. “It’s a longstanding correlation. Anybody that likes the favorite, especially an offensive-minded favorite like Kansas City, thinks there’s a higher probability of the game going over.
“If you think the underdog is going to win or cover the spread, in many cases you think it may go under.”
The Chiefs have won and covered the last five meetings, though the Broncos are on a 5-2 cover streak as home underdogs. The over is 5-0-1 in the last six meetings.
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Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
