Week 1 of the Preseason is officially in the books. That means two things. First, and most importantly, it means that we are less than a month away from the beginning of the regular season. Second, it means that it's time for me to resume my weekly recaps of what transpired over the weekend's NFL action. I'm going to do things in a slightly different manner this season. Instead of writing two separate articles, I'm going to combine my weekly "Bad Beats" column with my weekly "NFL Recap" column.

NFLx: WEEK 1 RECAP

The NFL preseason got started with a Falcons victory over the Colts in the American Bowl. That was followed by a comeback victory by the Bears over the Dolphins in the Hall of Fame Bowl. Both of those games have been included in the following Week 1 stats.

Each of the games from "Hall of Fame Weekend" finished OVER the number. However, the UNDER would finish the week with a modest 10-8 advantage.

There also wasn't much of a gap separating Favorites from Underdogs. Despite a win by the favored Steelers on Monday Night, the DOGS still held a slight 9-8-1 edge, vs. the closing line, for the week.

I'll check back each Tuesday and we'll keep a running tally for both sides and totals throughout the entire season.

BAD BEATS

This week's edition was supposed to focus entirely on preseason football. However, there was a particularly painful baseball game which one of my readers felt deserved special recognition, so its been added to the list. As always, if you have any Bad Beat stories that you'd like to share, please feel free to shoot me an email.

August 9th

Game: Cleveland Indians at KC Royals

Supported by a bullpen with an ERA above 5, the 2005 Royals have endured numerous gut-wrenching losses. The August 9th setback to the Indians may have been the most sickening of the bunch though. The Royals had lost their last two games by a combined margin of 27-1 and entered the contest sporting a 9-game losing streak. It appeared that the streak was finally history as KC took a 7-2 lead into the 9th inning. Bettors who had the stones to play the Royals at +155 had to be feeling pretty comfortable. Run-line (+1.5) players even more so. As it turned out, those feelings of comfort would prove to be short-lived. After having played pretty much flawlessly for 8 innings, the Royals turned into the Bad News Bears in the 9th. Aided by some absolutely brutal fielding, the Indians would send 14 men to the plate and go on to score 11 runs in the inning, 8 of them unearned. Royals Mike Sweeney was quoted as saying: "Today was embarrassing. I've never seen one get away like that we were winning by that much and we got our stud (MacDougal) on the hill. I've never seen one like that in my 10 years. It was a heartbreaking loss."

August 11th

Game: San Diego Chargers at Green Bay Packers

The Chargers dominated this game statistically. They had an edge in time of possession, attained more first downs, had an edge in rushing yards and had an edge in receiving yards. In fact, the total net yards favored the Chargers by a 317-196 margin. The Chargers also won the turnover battle as the Packers fumbled six times, losing three of them. How did the -3 Chargers lose then? Easy! San Diego was only able to reach the end zone once and (Chargers) kicker Nate Kaeding took care of the rest. Kaeding missed 3 field goals in the fourth quarter. All three field goals ranged from 44-46 yards. For those who may have forgotten, Kaeding was the same kicker that missed a 40-yard FG attempt in Overtime in the Chargers playoff loss to the Jets last season. Granted, the weather at Lambeau was poor. However, the bad conditions didn't seem to bother Packers' kicker Ryan Longwell too much. After watching Kaeding miss all three of his attempts, with 33 seconds remaining in the game, Longwell calmly nailed a 53-yarder for the 10-7 GB win.

August 13th

Game: KC Chiefs at Minnesota Vikings

Under bettors (myself included) weren't thrilled with the final moments of this game. The total, which had been bet down from 42.5 to 41.5. With two minutes remaining the score was 27-9 Vikings. The Chiefs took over at their own 18-yard line. They proceeded to march the length of the field. During the drive they benefited from two Roughing the Passer penalties and also converted a 4th and 10 for a first down. The Chiefs would eventually score the meaningless touchdown with 30 seconds remaining for a 27-16 Vikings final. Under bettors lost by a painful half point.

Ben Burns is the #1 Documented NFL/NCAA Handicapper in the History of the Bigguy Sports Monitor. You can visit Ben online at www.BenBurns.com