Every year the NFL preseason football games are a learning experience for all of us including the teams, the players… and the bettors. There is usually not a lot of action put out on pro football ‘exhibition games’ simply because neither the handicappers nor the folks making the wagers are particularly well informed about the teams so early on in the season.
While it is true that we now have more information than ever about the teams in their preseason form, bettors still tend to shy away from placing large amounts of money on what is still an unknown quantity. The Internet now makes it possible to gather more facts and figures from the training camps and public interviews but the unknown factors are still out there scaring bettors away.
That being said, once the action begins, preseason or not, we quickly begin to see how the teams are looking at this early stage of the season and get some idea as to their potential for winning in the upcoming year.
Here is what we learned from the opening rounds of the third week of preseason NFL play.
The Seattle Seahawks went into their third game of the exhibition season taking on their old rivals from last season the Green Bay Packers. But, this time around, the Seahawks were actually favored by 2 points to beat the Packers. In what turned out to be a pretty close game, Seattle did finally beat Green Bay by a final score of 17-10… they covered. Under bettors won big as only 27 points were scored of the projected 43.
The matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Oakland Raiders kicked off with the Bears as 3.5 point favorites to win the contest. Jay Cutler put in a very respectable first quarter scoring 17 points while the Bears defense held the Raiders scoreless and Chicago never once trailed in the game. Over bettors did very well as the projected 38 points went all the way up to 60!
The World Champion Baltimore Ravens entered their game with the Carolina Panthers as 3 point favorites naturally. The over and under was set at 42 and action was heavy on the Ravens and the over. Well, the over bettors won again. A total of 61 points were scored but, thanks to a strong 17 point second quarter by Can Newton and Co., the Panthers held on to beat the Ravens by a final score of 34-27.
