Kansas City Chiefs punter Matt Araiza intentionally tiptoed out of the end zone Saturday to surrender a safety, which added meaningless points to the scoreboard but shook the gambling world.
Araiza’s end zone surrender — which put the finishing touches on Kansas City’s 23-14 playoff victory over the Houston Texans — settled wagers from Las Vegas to cyberspace in a play gamblers call a “backdoor cover.”
Gamblers who smelled a possible upset could’ve bet on underdog Houston and gained 9.5 points on Saturday, in the closing point spread that had started at Kansas City -8. But as early week Las Vegas money went on Kansas City, the line shifted and forced late Chiefs backers to have to surrender 9.5 points by Saturday.
So in other words, betting on Houston would be a winning investment as long as the Texans won the game outright or lost by no more than 9 points. And conversely, K.C. bettors needed the Chiefs to win by 10 or more.
The spread-deciding play was an unusual one to be sure, as Kansas City, leading 23-12, faced fourth-and-15 from their own 18 yard-line with 15 seconds left. Chiefs coach Andy Reid could have easily punted the ball with virtually no chance of Houston scoring twice in final seconds, possibly with help from a blocked kick.
But to absolutely lock the game away, Reid elected to have Araiza sprint toward his own goal, dance on the edge of the end zone to kill precious seconds and then step out of bounds with nine seconds to play.
Those two points meant everything to gamblers who received or gave 9.5 points as the final margin shrank from 11 to 9. The ESPN crew calling the game immediately took note of what those points meant.
“And there are a lot of people who are paying attention to that,” play-by-play man Joe Buck said. “That makes it a 9-point game.”
Buck and analyst Troy Aikman took note of how longtime NFL broadcaster Al Michaels would delicately interject gambling issues in calls, in a previous era when sports wagering wasn’t as open as it is now.
“Al Michaels is smiling right now, “Aikman chuckled.
“Al Michaels is giddy,” Buck added. “Wow.”
