Football Betting

Grossman, Dawkins, Turk earn Player of the Week honors

Football Betting Lines

12/20/2006 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chicago Bears quarterback Rex Grossman, Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins and St. Louis Rams punter Matt Turk have been named the NFC Players of the Week for Week 15.

Grossman was named Offensive Player of the Week after completing a career-best 29-of-44 passes for 339 yards in a 34-31 overtime victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the Bears clinched homefield advantage for the playoffs. Grossman also threw for two touchdowns and finished with a 104.3 passer rating. Chicago is 7-0 this season when Grossman's passer rating eclipses 100.0.

This is Grossman's first-career Player of the Week Award. He was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for September earlier this season.

Dawkins recorded a game-high 12 tackles, forced two fumbles and added an interception in Philadelphia's 36-22 victory over the New York Giants in a crucial NFC East battle to earn Defensive Player of the Week honors.

This is Dawkins' second-career Player of the Week Award. He also received the honor during Week 4 of the 2002 season.

Turk, the Special Teams Player of the Week, punted five times for a 49.8-yard average in the Rams' 20-0 win against the Oakland Raiders. Turk also placed two punts inside the 10-yard line and limited Oakland to just five yards on returns. He also booted a 74-yard punt, the longest punt by a Ram since Hall of Famer Bob Waterfield's franchise-best 88-yard punt in 1948.

In his 12th season, Turk has received Player of the Week honors five times.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.