No end in sight for LT's dream season

Football Betting Lines

12/20/2006 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LaDainian Tomlinson has been busy shattering records all season long, but this year it is clear that the superstar running back's ambitions go well beyond personal achievements.

Tomlinson's legend is growing with each passing week, and there is no better way to cement a legacy than by winning a Super Bowl. That team goal is what drives not only Tomlinson, but also the rest of his teammates.

The Chargers (12-2) have won eight straight contests, and each victory in that stretch has helped solidify San Diego's status as the team to beat in the NFL this season. San Diego also has the best record in the AFC, and is still fighting to seal up homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

The relentless running of Tomlinson is the most obvious reason San Diego may be headed to its first-ever Super Bowl championship season, and LT didn't disappoint in his most recent game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tomlinson rushed for 199 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead the Chargers to the 20-9 triumph over the visiting Chiefs this past Sunday.

It was another day of record-breaking for Tomlinson, who snapped an NFL record that stood for 46 years. His two TDs this week gives him 186 points on the season, breaking the mark of 176 set by Green Bay Packers halfback/placekicker Paul Hornung in 1960.

Also, he scored multiple touchdowns for the eighth straight week, breaking the tie he held with Washington's John Riggins, who originally set the standard in 1983.

And we can't forget Tomlinson now has 31 touchdowns (28 rushing, 3 receiving) on the season to further improve upon the mark of 28 set by Seattle's Shaun Alexander last year.

"It's happening so much now, I can't keep up anymore," Tomlinson said of the record-breaking season. "To be honest, I don't want to keep up. I'll let everyone else do that. I just want to keep rolling."

Tomlinson's 199-yard day also gave him a good shot at something LT surprisingly can't currently claim on his resume, a rushing title. At this point he leads the NFL with 1,626 rushing yards, and is 110 yards ahead of Kansas City's Larry Johnson.

WHAT ABOUT THE DEFENSE?

While Tomlinson garners the majority of the accolades and headlines, the Chargers defense has become one of the most-feared units in all of football and is another big reason San Diego has become this year's Super Bowl favorite.

San Diego displayed its stingy defense this past week, as it held the Chiefs to just 241 yards of total offense. The Chargers were also able to limit KC running back Larry Johnson to just 84 yards on the ground.

However, the Chargers were most impressive this week in their ability to get to the quarterback. San Diego, which leads the NFL with 54 sacks, dropped KC quarterback Trent Green six times in Sunday's contest.

"We added a few wrinkles that put pressure on the quarterback and created some errant throws and gave us a chance to make some plays in a timely fashion," said head coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Chargers outside linebacker Shawne Merriman was held without a sack, but that's just fine with the second-year star, because that meant more for his teammates.

"They had a pretty good scheme in keeping the outside pass rushers from getting to the quarterback," Merriman said. "Like I've said all along, double- team me and someone else is going to make a play. We saw some of that [Sunday] night. I was proud of the way our guys got after them."

RIVERS RUNS DRY

It was a good thing Tomlinson had another huge day on Sunday, because Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers had his worst game of the season.

Rivers, a first-year starter, completed just 8-of-23 passes for 97 yards and two interceptions. That gave the young QB a dismal 12.4 passer rating on the day.

"The passing game wasn't very good," Rivers said. "The first thing that has to be good to have a good passing game is I have to be throwing it well, and I wasn't. But I tell you what, we won and that's what's most important."

Overall, it's been a very good year for Rivers, who is seventh in the NFL with a 91.5 passer rating.

UP NEXT

The Chargers head north next Sunday, when they visit the Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field.

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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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