NFL betting trends, odds and predictions for Wednesday, August 9th, 2017 from various handicappers and websites
NFL Preseason Betting Preview: Texans at Panthers
By Andrew Caley
Covers.com
Houston Texans at Carolina Panthers (-1.5, 36.5)
The Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers kick off Week 1 of the NFL preseason with an exhibition matchup Wednesday night at Bank of America Stadium. While many feel betting the NFL preseason is the ultimate "degenerate" bet, we here are Covers want to help you out if you're itching to test the waters in these games that don't really matter.
When it comes to quarterback play for the Texans, coach Bill O'Brien isn't saying much other than that all three of Tom Savage, rookie Deshaun Watson and veteran backup Brandon Weeden will play Wednesday, but it will be Savage making the start. O'Brien would not divulge on how much time each signal caller would spend under center.
It should be noted that Savage has taken all the first team snaps so far during training camp and starters typically play no more than a drive or two in a preseason opener. However, Savage could see a few more snaps since he has only made two starts in his three-year career.
On the other side of the ball for the Texans, J.J. Watt will play as well, but don't expect more than a series or two from the three-time Defensive Player of the Year award winner. Watt missed most of 2016 with a herniated disc.
Meanwhile, Panthers starting quarterback and former MVP Cam Newton is likely out for this game. Newton suffered a setback in his recovery from shoulder surgery. Reports out of camp are saying he suffered the setback throwing in line drills on July 30th.
Backup Derek Anderson will start in Newton's place, with Joe Webb and newcomer Garrett Gilbert expected to see plenty of action.
While Newton won't play, we'll still get treated to the debut of Panthers' rookie running back Christian McCaffrey. He has been the talk of Panthers' camp, so keep an eye on the play-making back out of Stanford as we get a glimpse of how Carolina will employ him this season.
LINE HISTORY: The Panthers opened this game favored by a field goal, but with the news coming out Newton won't play at all on Wednesday, Carolina has moved down to -1.5. The total, to no one's surprise, has dropped a point moving from 37 to 36.
Houston Texans at Carolina Panthers Betting Preview
By Adam Burke
Bangthebook.com
In the grand scheme of things, the Hall of Fame Game serves one purpose – to end the long national nightmare of football not being played. Technically, it opens up the NFL Preseason, but we could make a pretty strong case that Wednesday night’s game between the Houston Texans and the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte is actually the start of the exhibition season. DSI Sportsbook has the Panthers favored by a field goal, with the total at 36.5.
The participants picking up a fifth preseason game aren’t at all concerned with getting the starters some reps and virtually none of them played the game in Canton. We’re far more likely to see the notable names take the field on Wednesday night. Teams with quarterback situations are among the most interesting to watch during the preseason and the Houston Texans certainly qualify. The Carolina Panthers do not, although the former MVP that lines up behind center seems a bit discontent with his situation, so it should be interesting to see how things play out publicly and to see if we can get a glimpse behind the scenes of the ideological differences between Cam Newton, Ron Rivera, and the rest of the coaching staff.
The Texans have some things to figure out on offense before the season begins. Everybody is talking about the quarterback situation, where Deshaun Watson has a great chance to be the Week 1 starter over Tom Savage. Savage was 46-of-73 last season for 461 yards with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions. He was sacked five times. Watson was selected 12th overall out of Clemson in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Watson’s impressive collegiate career ended with a National Championship and he’ll look to take that success and that winning ability to the NFL. Bill O’Brien has been referred to as a quarterback guru in his coaching career and now he finally has somebody with some skills to work with after trying to get by with guys like Brian Hoyer and Brock Osweiler in the past. We probably won’t see much of Lamar Miller or DeAndre Hopkins in this game. Will Fuller IV is out with a broken collarbone. That means a lot of chances for Braxton Miller, Ryan Griffin, and Tyler Ervin, who was the second-leading rusher all-time at San Jose State, to shine with Watson and Savage.
Defensively, the Texans are simply hoping to get through the season healthy. There’s a ton of talent on this side of the ball, but don’t expect to see anything from JJ Watt, Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus, Benardrick McKinney, Kevin Johnson, or Johnathan Joseph in this game. After losing some key components over the last few years, O’Brien and his assistants are going to take things very easy with this group in the preseason. That opens up some chances for guys like Zach Cunningham, who was a tackles machine at Vanderbilt, and fringe depth like Marcus Roberson and Kurtis Drummond. First impressions matter a lot. With the starters entrenched on the Texans defense, there will be a lot of motivated guys vying for roster spots on the two-deep.
Every team is looking for different things in the preseason. For the Carolina Panthers, offensive line depth is the focal point over the next four weeks. The Panthers spent big money to bring in Matt Kalil, who won’t play a whole lot this week, but the team needs to see more guards Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell. It wouldn’t hurt to see rookie Taylor Moton have an impressive camp. The Panthers offensive line won’t face everything that the Texans have in the front seven, but this will be a good challenge when trying to protect Derek Anderson, Joe Webb, and Garrett Gilbert, or while trying to open holes for highly-touted rookie Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey should see a lot of reps over the next four weeks as the Panthers figure out the best way to use his versatility. With Kelvin Benjamin, Devin Funchess, and Greg Olsen entrenched as receivers, guys like Curtis Samuel, who will probably miss a key opportunity to play this weekend, need to showcase something.
Some jobs are available on defense, especially with former DC Sean McDermott now the head coach in Buffalo. Kony Ealy left the team, along with Tre Boston, AJ Klein, and Paul Soliai, so spots are there on the two-deep. Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly anchor this defense on Sundays and the rare Thursday, but they won’t be doing that this week. That means good opportunities for guys like Ben Boulware and Zeek Bigger. The Panthers are desperate for LB depth behind their aces, so expect some run blitzes and aggressiveness against the pass to see what Carolina actually has at the second level. The secondary has some reserve spots up for grabs and some inexperienced starters, so this is another key area for the Panthers.
One of the most important handicapping elements for the NFL Preseason is to see how seriously coaches take things. Ron Rivera’s teams are 9-7 over the last four preseasons with a 4-4 ATS record at home. Bill O’Brien posted a 4-0 record straight up and ATS in the preseason last year. He is 8-4 ATS in his three years and 4-2 ATS on the road.
Pick: Houston Texans +1.5
The Texans took the preseason very seriously last season. Houston is working on its offense and Carolina is working on its defense, so that creates an interesting quandary in handicapping this game. The Panthers will be working in a new defensive coordinator and that represents a pretty big change with Deshaun Watson likely playing a good chunk of the game. As far as a home field advantage goes, one doesn’t really exist in this spot. If it was Week 4, players might be annoyed to travel, but everybody just wants to get back on the field here, so there appears to be some value on Houston.