Monday Night football brought NFL fans two games in the opening week of the season. The Giants took on the Lions in Detroit for the early game. Following that one, the Arizona Cardinals welcomed the San Diego Chargers to the U of Phoenix Stadium. Let’s take a look at both matchups’ sportsbook odds, and which team won straight up and against the spread.
Detroit Lions Win SU/ATS Over New York Giants
Monday Night Football brought NFL fans two games in Week 1, with the first being the New York Giants playing the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan with the Lions being the early opening odds favorites at – 5 ½ with the O/U 45 ½ and -240 ML.
The Detroit Lions opened this 2014 season with a new coach in Jim Caldwell who has an interesting resume in the NFL and in his debut Monday Night Football game the Lions to an early lead and beat the New York Giants 35-14 as QB Matt Stafford had a great game as he threw two TDs passes to WR Johnson in the first quarter of the game and both were rated as top performers along with RB Bell who gained 51 yards on 15 carries and scored a TD. Stafford a former No.1 overall pick in the first half went 14 of 17 for some 212 yards for the game was 22 of 32 for a game total of 346 yards.
The Giants coach Coughlin called the game a nightmare performance as his team could not seem to do anything right. The offense could not gain yardage, the defense was unable to stop the Lions and the team had several turnovers. Giants QB E. Manning was 18 of 33 for 163 yards with 1 TD, 2 interceptions and 2 sacks.
Once again the game stats tell the tale as the Lions gained 417 yards, with 341 passing and 76 rushing yards with no turnovers, while the Giants gained 144 yards, with 144 passing and rushing 53 yards and had two turnovers.
The victorious Detroit Lions 1-0 are now first in NFC North and travel to play the Carolina Panthers 1-0 and first in NFC South in Week 2 and the opening odds favor the Panthers at – 2 ½ with O/U at 43 ½. The losing New York Giants 0-1 and second in NFC East play at home against the Arizona Cardinals 1-0 and first in the NFC West and are favoured in that game with opening NFL odds of PK (-120) with the O/U at 44.
Arizona Cardinals Win SU, but San Diego Chargers Win ATS
The second MNF game on Sept. 7th was a very close game between the San Diego Chargers and the Arizona Cardinals at the Glendale, Arizona at University of Phoenix Stadium with the Cardinals -2 ½ favorites and the O/U 46 and ML -145. The Cardinals with QB Carson Palmer rallied in the fourth quarter with just over two minutes in the game and completed a 13 yard TD pass to Brown, then missed the 2 point conversion attempt bringing the final score of the game 18-17 Arizona.
The San Diego Chargers, who last season were fifth in the league averaging 393.3 yards per game, had 15 first downs and were only able to gain 290 total yards against the Cardinals, while their defense gave up 403 total yards to the Cardinals. Chargers QB Rivers was 21 of 36 for some 238 yards with 1 TD and was intercepted once. Their rushing game accounted for 24 attempts for some 52 yards in total, while their receivers had 21 receptions for some 238 yards.
The Arizona Cardinals fared somewhat better, as they had 22 first downs as QB Palmer was 24 of 37 for 304 yards with 2 TDs and he was sacked twice in the game. However, he was great in the fourth quarter as he completed 8 of his 12 passes for 85 yards that accounted for TDs and erased the lead of 11 points. Also, the Cardinals defense stepped in and held San Diego on a fourth down with only 1:53 remaining in the game.
The Chargers scoring in the game amount to a 3 point field goal in the second quarter, 14 points in the third quarter with 7 points from a an 6 yard TD pass from QB Rivers to TE Floyd and 7 points from a 20 yard TD run by RB Mathews.
For the Cardinals, they scored two field goals in the second quarter by Catanzaro for 6 points and scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, with 6 points on 5 yard TD pass from QB Palmer to receiver Taylor and 6 points on TD pass to Brown and on both TDs the two point after conversion failed.