BAD BEATS: NFL WEEK FOUR

BY ADAM GREENE

Over the first few weeks of the season, the Bad Beat has come at the hands of a favorite. A team that has entered into the game with a solid point margin expected and one bettors looked at and made the call that, yes, the handicappers got that one correct. I will place my wager upon this favored squad.

But we know that’s not how betting works. Nope, while you might look at a game like the New York Giants at Los Angeles Rams and know, with little doubt, that the Rams are the superior team, that -13 point line could be frightening. Especially, say, if you placed a bet Saturday when there was a real question that every team would be ransacked by positive COVID-19 tests. It looked that way.

So you tossed your money down on the Giants, thinking the uncertainty of the weekend, and overlooking an inferior team, might slow Los Angeles down. If you did that, you collected a nice little payday. It’s the internal game we play when we look at each of these match ups every week.

Going into Sunday, there were two lines that I loved, so much so that I recommended them to be included in any and every parlay played that weekend; Seattle Seahawks -5.5 and Tampa Bay Buccaneers -7.

But if you didn’t listen to me and you looked at the Los Angeles Chargers at +7 on the road at Tampa Bay and rolled the dice, well, this one’s for you.

Because, man oh man, you almost had that new bass boat. And that’s got to hurt.

The game started out as great as it could for the Chargers as Tom Brady, apparently inheriting the same cursed idol that Jameis Winston wore the year before, tossed a perfect pick six to Michael Davis in the first quarter to give Los Angeles a 14-7 lead.

Two Chargers possessions later and they’d pushed that lead to 14, thanks to a 19-yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert to Donald Parham. Down by two touchdowns, the Bucs would now be chasing points and, if this game went the way they usually do, fight to win by a field goal.

But it didn’t go that way, did it?

Still, you were already picking out new lures for that first fishing trip on your that pristine Bass Cat Puma FTD you’ve been eying since the divorce. You were flipping through spinnerbaits, skirted jigs, square bill crankbaits, you had your pick. By the time the Chargers added a field goal to go up 24-7, you went ahead and clicked “submit your order” on your cart. Even a Tom Brady comeback, certainly not out of the question, would still amount to no more than a four-point win. You had seven points to play with. You could already feel the sunburn on your forehead, the pattern of your Oakley sunglasses emblazoned upon your skin.

An LA fumble set up the Bucs with a short field and Brady tossed a TD to Mike Evans right before halftime, but that was no sweat off your brow. They would have to score 17 more points in the next half with the Chargers doing nothing.

Herbet had been great the whole way. Another field goal and that’s probably all you’d need to ensure you were hauling in a trophy large mouth next summer. When the Chargers lined up for a 47-yarder with 1:44 to go in the third, you started thinking about that adorable Savage Gear 3D Suicide Duck Hard Bait Lure. I mean, it looks just like a little duck. How would a bass fall for that? When the Chargers’ kicker missed it, you were worried you’d never find out. You were right.

It’s weird how things can work out for us. If Herbert and LA had just stalled out there, it’s likely you would be picking out the best boat trailer to match your truck color today. The rookie just wouldn’t let it go. Down 28-24 in the third, because of course they were, the Herbert hit Jalen Guyton for a 72-yard touchdown.

Meaning Tampa Bay just couldn’t cruise now. They had to keep playing. And, more than that, they knew they had to.  Seven plays later the Bucs were in the end zone with the lead again, 35-31 and with eight minutes left in the game, drove down for the field goal that would put the game just out of LA’s reach and pull the bass boat off your trailer hitch and back into your imagination.

As for the bass catching capability of the little duck lure? The mystery remains.

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