New York Post, Tuesday, December 1, 2020
nypost.com
ning uphill in the MVP race. At
BetMGM, Mahomes is the -400 favorite.
Rodgers is the second choice at 5/1 odds,
followed by Wilson (15/2), Steelers
quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (20/1),
Kyler Murray (25/1) and Henry (33/1).
“The MVP is a quarterback’s award to
lose, like the Heisman Trophy,” Magliulo
said. “It’s tough to go against Mahomes.
For a young player, he’s got a phenome-
nal football IQ. He’s mentally ahead of
his years.”
The Chiefs are 13.5-point home favor-
ites against the Broncos in Week 13. Den-
ver hopes to have Drew Lock back as its
starting quarterback after its top four
quarterbacks were ruled out of Sunday’s
game against the Saints because of coro-
navirus concerns. In a bizarre scenario,
the Broncos were forced to play practice-
squad receiver Kendall Hinton at quar-
terback in their 31-3 loss.
Denver was a 6-point underdog to
New Orleans before the emergency
quarterback situation was announced
Saturday. The line closed as high as 17 at
several books, and the total was adjusted
from 45.5 to 36.5.
“If that was a college game, it would
have been canceled, but the NFL is try-
ing to play every game,” Avello said. “We
lost a little on that game, but it wasn’t
crazy or a big loser. You would havethought we lost our brains, but that
wasn’t the case.
“If the Chiefs had played the Broncos
[in Week 12], with the quarterback cir-
cumstances for the Broncos, they would
have been about 30-point favorites.”
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson,
last season’s long-shot MVP winner, had
been ruled out of their game at Pitts-
burgh after testing positive for COV-
ID-19. Baltimore was posted as a
4.5-point underdog prior to the Thanks-
giving game being postponed, and the
line had been reposted at Steelers -10.5.
But now the game is off again, tentatively
rescheduled for Wednesday.
“I thought the Ravens were going to
beat the Steelers on Thanksgiving, but
now that game is up to -10,” Avello said.
“The Steelers are undefeated, so let’s see
if that continues.”
Pittsburgh has three other challenging
games remaining — at Buffalo in Week 14,
home versus Indianapolis in Week 16 and
at Cleveland in Week 17. If the Steelers
run the table, Roethlisberger could make
a run at MVP.
Stranger things have happened, and
this is 2020, after all. But, in this race, Ma-
homes is set to run away from Rodgers
and the rest of the pack.
Matt Youmans is senior editor of
VSiN.com, The Sports Betting Network.GOT IT DOWN PAT: Patrick Mahomes was the -150 favorite to win MVP last
week at DraftKings, which bumped the price to -400 this week. Getty ImagesACTIONACTION
In association
withMAHOMES-V-P IS
ALL BUT DECIDED
By Matt YouMansL
AS VEGAS — Winning is rarely
easy when it comes to NFL betting.
There are always exceptions, of
course, and Patrick Mahomes is an ex-
ceptional quarterback who appears to be
the subject of an easy play.
A bet on the Chiefs to win the Super
Bowl is not as simple as it might seem,
and there’s not much value in the 5/2
odds offered at most sportsbooks.
A bet on Mahomes to win the MVP
award at the price of -400 appears to be
that easy.
“It’s Mahomes and there’s nobody
else,” said Vinny Magliulo, a veteran Las
Vegas bookmaker and VSiN oddsmaker.
“Aaron Rodgers is second, but he’s not a
close second.”
Mahomes passed for 462 yards and
three touchdowns Sunday in Kansas
City’s 27-24 win at Tampa Bay. The
Chiefs took a 27-10 lead into the fourth
quarter, so bettors who laid 3 ½ points
took a tough beat in a game that was on
the brink of a blowout. Mahomes is the
league leader with 3,497 passing yards
and has 30 touchdowns with two inter-
ceptions.
Barring injury or something else un-
foreseen, Mahomes should be voted
MVP, as he was in 2018.
Rodgers remains in the race, however,
after passing for four touchdowns Sun-
day night in the Packers’ runaway victory
over the Bears. Rodgers leads the league
with 33 touchdown passes and has four
interceptions, numbers that would suit
the leading candidate in most seasons.
“You have to keep Rodgers in the mix,
but he might be the only one,” Draft-
Kings sportsbook director John Avello
said. “Rodgers is having a great year, and
the MVP is about who’s the most valua-
ble guy to their team. The Packers might
have three wins without Rodgers.”
Green Bay (8-3) owns the second-
best record in the NFC behind New Or-
leans (9-2). The Packers project as fa-
vorites in each of their final five games
against Philadelphia, Detroit, Carolina,
Tennessee and Chicago.
Kansas City (10-1) has the AFC’s sec-
ond-best record behind Pittsburgh
(10-0). The Chiefs face a tougher sched-
ule going out, including back-to-back
road games at Miami and New Orleans
in Weeks 14 and 15.
A week ago, Mahomes was the -150 fa-
vorite to win MVP at DraftKings, which
bumped up the price to -400 this week.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson,
the MVP favorite nearing the season’s
midpoint, has faded in the past month.
The Titans’ Derrick Henry, the league’s
leading rusher with 1,257 yards, is run-