Jeffersonsports
NFL
Colts+4
MLB
Houston+120
Carlo Campanella
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Miami Dolphins
Prediction: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Reason: Tampa Bay Head Coach Gruden is one of those guys that cares about winning, regardless if its preseason or the Super Bowl. These Bucs are a perfect 4-0 ATS in their first exhibition game of the season the past 4 years and you can count on the fact that hell want his team to open the exhibition season off with another victory, especially against a Dolphins squad that ended last year with the NFLs worst record at 1-15. While Tampa Bay doesnt have a great starting quarterback, theyll be rotating between 4 solid veterans, Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown, Brian Griese and Chris Simms. On the other hand, the Dolphins are coming off that 1-win season and need to rebuild at almost every position on both sides of the ball. Miami has too much to accomplish before the regular season, so must back Tampa Bay to win this battle of Florida.
7* Play On Tampa Bay
Mike Wynn
Heavy Hitter Lock Twins
Pointwise Phones
3* Washington
2* Dallas
Marc Lawrence Playbook Newsletter
3* Dallas
LT Profits
Dallas Cowboys @ San Diego Chargers Under 35.5
Norv Turner and the San Diego Chargers have been notorious for giving their best players very limited action in the preseason, while the Dallas Cowboys have also shown little in exhibition road games in recent years, so look for a rather dull, low scoring game here.
In fact, Turner held out LaDainian Tomlinson entirely last preseason, and that may have been a contributing factor to his slow stat when the real games began in September. As a result of their conservatism with their stars, the Chargers have traditionally struggled to score points in Week 1, averaging just 12.8 points in their last five openers with their largest point output being 17 points.
As low as this seems, it looks like a downright explosion when compared to how the Cowboys have done in their last five openers! Dallas is averaging an anemic 9.40 points in preseason Week 1 since 2003 with the Under going a perfect 5-0, and even that low figure is skewed by a 23-point performance the only time they opened at home during this span. On the four occasions that Dallas has opened on the road in the last five year, they scored 0, 0, 11 and 13 points respectively.
Finally, the Under is 79-52, 60.3 percent in all NFL Week 1 preseason games with a posted total higher than 35 since 2000, including 1-0 this season.
Pick: Cowboys, Chargers Under 35.5
John Ryan
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants
Play: San Francisco Giants
Ai Simulator 3* graded play on SF (9:05)– Supporting this graded play is a system that has gone 84-48 making 56 units since 2002. Play against road favorites with a money line of -110 or higher with an overused bullpen that pitches more than 3.2 innings per game and starting a pitcher who walked <=1 hitters each of his last 2 outings. This system has gone an amazing 20-4 making 19.2 units this season. The average play since 2002 has been a nice +123.8 which also matches the line for this game. Take the Giants.
Brian Hansen
Texas Rangers at Baltimore Orioles
Prediction: Over
Both of these pitchers have struggled in their careers against today's opponent and I look for more of the same in this game. Vicente Padilla gave up four earned runs with a 1.50 WHIP in his last outing and hasn't been as sharp as he was to open the year. Padilla struggled in his only start versus the Orioles this season as he took the loss and compiled an ERA of 27.00 in that game. Padilla hasn't fared well in his career versus Baltimore either going just 2-4 with a 7.86 ERA and a 2.01 WHIP in five career starts. Daniel Cabrera toes the rubber today for the Orioles. Cabrera hasn't started against the Rangers this year but has struggled mightily in his career versus them. Cabrera is 1-6 with a 6.33 ERA and a 1.88 WHIP in eight careers starts versus Texas. Look for both teams to put up runs early as this one sails over the total. Play on OVER!
Big Al Mcmordie
St Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs
Prediction: Chicago Cubs
At 3:55pm our member selection is on the Chicago Cubs over the St. Louis Cardinals. 27-year-old Carlos Zambrano gave the Cubs quite a scare in the month of June when he went 1-2 in four starts, giving up 16 earned runs in just over 25 innings before finally landing on the DL with a strained shoulder injury on June 21. Fortunately, the Cubs have been able to breathe a sigh of relief as Zambrano has looked like his old self since coming back from the DL on Independence day. The Chicago ace has gone 4-1 in his six starts since coming off the shelf and has lowered his ERA back down to 2.76 in the process. Meanwhile, the Cubs have been monitoring his innings and pitches, taking care not to overuse Zambrano and risk another trip to the DL during this critical time of the season. You'd have to search a long time to find a pitcher who has been more dominant against one team in the last five years than Zambrano has been against division rival St.Louis. With his shutout victory against the Cards in his only start against them this season, the 6'5" Venezuelan is now 8-0 in his last eleven starts against St. Louis dating back to the beginning of the 2005 season. But Zambrano isn't the only Cub who has made a successful return from the DL recently. Outfielder Alfonso Soriano has been absolutely en fuego since returning from injury on July 23. During an 11-game stretch beginning on July 27, Soriano had 20 hits, six homers, and fourteen RBI in only 48 at bats. It doesn't get much hotter than that. Take the Cubs.
Sean Higgs
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Philadelphia Phillies
Play: Over
Brett Meyers is good to give up 5 runs to a team in the Little League World Series. The potent Philly offense laid an egg last night. Snell has gone over 6 of 7 on the road, and 4 of his last 5 overall. These teams have gone over in 5 of their last 7.
JB's COMPUTER PICKS
Los Angeles Angels -165
Milwaukee Brewers -250 * * *
Colorado Rockies -180
BEST BET ***
LAS VEGAS TECH REPORT (LVTR) COMP
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS vs MIAMI DOLPHINS
PLAY: MIAMI DOLPHINS -2
ROSS BENJAMIN
Indianapolis @ Carolina
Play: Indianapolis +4.0
Any preseason game away underdog playing their 2nd game, is coming off a SU and ATS loss, and is playing an opponent playing in their 1st preseason game is 10-0-1 ATS since 1990. The underdog has won 10 of those 11 games outright. Play on Indianapolis plus the points
Bobby Maxwell
Denver at HOUSTON -2½
The Texans broke even last season and coach Gary Kubiak has stressed looking good in preseason can carry over to the regular season. Houston is 3-1 SU and 2-1-1 ATS at home in Kubiak's two preseasons and look for them to come out and deliver a 10-point win over the Broncos tonight.
Denver looked like a bad team last season, going 7-9. Normally Mike Shanahan's team is a good bet in the preseason, but it also comes down to talent and frankly the Broncos don't have a lot of it.
For the Broncos, Jay Cutler starts, followed by Patrick Ramsey and Darrell Hackney. The jury is still out on Cutler but nonetheless he won't see much playing time tonight, going just a couple series.
We like the Texans QB rotation tonight with Matt Schaub getting the start and playing the first quarter, followed by one of the best backups in the NFL in Sage Rosenfels. After that expect to see Shane Boyd and possibly rookie Alex Brink.
But two QBs playing like Schaub and Rosenfels makes us confident the Texans will put up some points in the first half. Then its just a battle of players who are non-factors in the second half for both teams. Let's go ahead and lay the chalk with the Texans tonight.
3♦ HOUSTON
Jeff Benton
Two nights ago, I gave out the Ravens plus the points at New England (Baltimore won outright), and one of the main reasons was because the Ravens were playing their first game under new coach John Harbaugh. I mentioned that, while these games are meaningless from a won-loss perspective, they're not entirely meaningless for teams coming off disappointing seasons and playing for a new coach. Players want to impress their new boss, and the new boss wants to instill a winning culture, so there's a built-in advantage to back teams in Week 1 of the preseason especially when facing an opponent that has nothing to prove.
Well, New England had nothing to prove, obviously. Nor did the Colts, who got rotted by Jim Zorn's Redskins in the Hall of Fame Game in Week 1. And nor do the Buccaneers, who are coming off a division title and now in their seventh preseason with coach John Gruden. So to me, this game means much more from a psychological perspective to the Dolphins and first-year coach Tony Sparano than it does to Tampa. And even though Miami's three quarterbacks vying for the No. 1 job Josh McCown, John Beck and Chad Henne have had shaky preseasons, I have to believe Sparano will simply the game plan to give each passer the best chance to succeed.
One final thing: With Baltimore's win in New England the other night, teams with brand-new coaches are now 7-2 in Week 1 of the preseason dating to the start of last year's exhibition campaign. Make it 8-2 after this one, as Miami wins and covers this short number.
3♦ MIAMI DOLPHINS