The NFL stages its Week 4 on Sunday, while baseball concludes its regular-season schedule. Here’s a glimpse at the action in today’s edition of the Daily Sports Roundup.
The Gridiron Spotlight
The Titans, Broncos, Bills, and Cowboys will all be looking to run their records to 4-0 on Sunday when they take to the field. Tennessee and Dallas are both favored at home in their games; the Titans are favored by 3 points against the Vikings, while the Cowboys will be looking to cover an 11-point spread against the Redskins. The Broncos and Bills are both road favorites; it’s Denver (-10) at Kansas City, and Buffalo (-8) at St. Louis.
At the other end of the standings, the 0-3 Bengals will play host to the 0-3 Browns on Sunday afternoon. The loser of that AFC North matchup will be in a huge hole in the playoff race, and the oddsmakers have given the Bengals the 3.5-point edge to win.
Other Sunday afternoon matchups include San Francisco at New Orleans (-5), Arizona at the Jets (-1), Green Bay at Tampa Bay (-1), Atlanta at Carolina (-6.5), and Houston at Jacksonville (-7). As well, the 1-2 Chargers will be looking to get their record back to the .500 mark when they take on the 1-2 Raiders in Oakland as big 7.5-point road favorites.
Rounding out the Sunday NFL schedule will be Philadelphia at Chicago at 8:15pm ET. The Eagles are 2-1 in the tight NFC East, while the Bears have struggled to a 1-2 record on the season. And even though this game is being played at Soldier Field the Eagles have been pegged as the 3-point favorites, with the total listed at 40 points.
Other Notable Events
The drivers of the Sprint Cup Series will hit the track at Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon for the Camping World RV 400 presented by Coleman. Greg Biffle has won each of the first two Chase events, and he’ll be trying to make it three in a row on Sunday. Biffle and Johnson are tied for second place in the current driver standings, 10 points back of Carl Edwards. Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick are sitting fourth and fifth.
Biffle won the series’ event at Kansas last season, and he’s tied with Johnson, Edwards, and Kyle Busch as the 6/1 Vegas favorite to take the checkered flag on Sunday. Tony Stewart, who won the Banquet 400 at Kansas back in 2006, is pegged at 11/1 odds to visit victory lane. Two-time Kansas champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 15/1.
The Rest of the Schedule
The NL Wild Card berth is still in play, with the Mets and Brewers now tied in that race. Milwaukee will send CC Sabathia (10-2, 1.78 ERA in the NL) to the mound at home against the Cubs on Sunday afternoon, while Oliver Perez (10-7, 4.25 ERA) will try to pitch the Mets past the Marlins at home at the same time. If those teams are still tied at the end of the day on Sunday they’ll play a one-game playoff Monday in New York.
Also still to be decided is the AL Central title, with the White Sox and Mark Buehrle (14-12, 3.87 ERA) hosting Cleveland on Sunday, and the Twins and Scott Baker (10-4, 3.59 ERA) getting a visit from Kansas City. Minnesota has a half-game lead on Chicago in the division, and they can clinch top spot with a win Sunday combined with a White Sox loss. However, if Chicago is still a half-game back after Sunday they’ll play a makeup game with the Tigers on Monday. Should the Twins and White Sox be tied in the standings after that Monday contest they’ll play a one-game playoff on Tuesday.
As well, the Yankees will have Mike Mussina (19-9, 3.47 ERA) trying for his 20th win of the season when they play at Fenway Park in Boston on Sunday afternoon, so they’ll be pulling out all the stops to try and get him to that mark for the first time in his career. New York and Boston will actually play twice on Sunday thanks to Saturday’s rainout.
The WNBA playoffs will continue on Sunday afternoon, with New York at Detroit in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and Los Angeles at San Antonio in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. New York holds a 1-0 lead in their three-game set, while San Antonio pulled out a victory on Saturday afternoon to tie up that series at 1-1.
Finally, the CFL concludes its week on Sunday with Saskatchewan at Montreal (-6.5), while the PGA Tour wraps up its playoffs on the final day of THE TOUR Championship.
News from the Wire
Notable players listed as OUT for Sunday’s NFL games heading into the weekend: Arizona DE Bert Berry (groin), Browns S Sean Jones (knee), Dallas S Roy Williams (forearm), Chiefs QB Brodie Croyle (right shoulder), Saints WR Marques Colston (thumb) and TE Jeremy Shockey (hernia), Jets K Mike Nugent (right thigh), Raiders RB Justin Fargas (groin), Rams WR Drew Bennett (foot), Buccaneers WR Joey Galloway (foot), Titans QB Vince Young (knee/hamstring), and Redskins DE Jason Taylor (calf).
A Peek at the Future
A slow Monday in sports will be highlighted by the matchup of the Ravens and Steelers in Pittsburgh. The Steelers opened as 7-point home favorites in that contest, but that line has since fallen to just 5 points (with the total pegged at 34 points) . . . as well, there will be a Game 3 in the WNBA’s Eastern Conference Finals in Detroit on Monday night if the Shock manage to knock off the Liberty in their Sunday afternoon matchup.
