AFC Championship – Buffalo Bills at Kansas City Chiefs – preview, predictions, bets. Friday, 22 January 2021 15:32 EST. Betting on the NFL playoffs can prove quite profitable – if one can recognize the truth. The Week 1 NFL schedule is stacked with great matchups. Our NFL Nation reporters bring us the keys to every game, a bold prediction for each matchup and final score picks.
The 2020 NFL schedule is out, laying out all 16 games for each of the 32 teams. The Week 1 slate is filled with intriguing matchups, ones that also offer some promising wagers on the Over/Under. Here are four of the best total bets to make for Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season.
- Sep 06, 2020 Dec 31 NBA Predictions and Best Bets – January 1, 2021 The 2020-21 NBA season has been one of the blowouts and underwhelming performances and has featured some. Dec 31 Best NFL Player Prop Bets – Week 17, 2020 The final week of the 2020 NFL regular season arrives on Sunday. It’s a massive main slate.
- Week 1 will run from Thursday, September 10, to Monday, September 14, and everyone is giddy to bet the NFL once again. The best prices are currently at BetMGM, and that is the place to wager on.
- Related NFL Odds: Early Week 1 betting lines and best bets for the 2020 season. Initially, the Dallas Cowboys opened as -2 favorites on the spread, -127 on the moneyline. Dallas is coming into the 2020 season with high expectations, with a new head coach and a plethora of offensive talent in place.
Also see –Week 1 NFL betting lines up at BetMGM: Chiefs, 49ers among biggest favorites
Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Rams: O/U 50.5
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Odds last updated Friday, May 8 at 5 p.m. ET.
Cowboys-Rams is one of the best games of the opening weekend, pitting two of the best offenses against each other in primetime on Sunday night. It’s also the first regular-season game ever at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, so anticipation will be even higher for this matchup.
At least one of these teams has scored 30 or more points in their last eight meetings, so offense is almost never hard to come by. Add in the fact the Rams will be trotting out a new defense under first-year coordinator Brandon Staley, and the fact Dallas’ secondary could start two rookies, and this has the makings of a shootout.
Take the OVER 50.5 (-110) in this game.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints: O/U 49.5
The Saints and Bucs played in Week 1 two years ago and lit up the scoreboard, scoring 88 total points. That probably won’t happen again, but never doubt the abilities of QBs Tom Brady and Drew Brees – especially in a dome.
The Over is a perfect 3-0 in the Saints’ last three Week 1 game, and New Orleans has scored the second-most points in season openers in that span. This should be a high-scoring affair between two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and two offensive-minded coaches.
Bet the OVER 49.5 (-110) and expect to see a lot of points on the board.
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Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs: O/U 55.5
The highest point total of Week 1 belongs to the Texans and Chiefs at 55.5, which shouldn’t be a surprise. The Chiefs can easily put up 35 points on a Houston defense not exactly flush with talent, and QB Deshaun Watson can score in a hurry for the Texans.
It’s a lot of points to cover, but the Chiefs have scored more Week 1 points than any team in the NFL since 2017 and the Over is 3-0 in such games. Houston is 10th on that list.
Bet the OVER 55.5 (-110).
Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions: O/U 44.5
It’s not yet clear who will be the Bears’ starting quarterback, but neither Mitchell Trubisky nor Nick Foles is a great option. Either way, their offense shouldn’t be all that explosive. Detroit still has QB Matthew Stafford and WR Kenny Golladay, but the Bears defense is fearsome.
See Full List On Cbssports.com
I’m taking the UNDER 44.5 (-110), even with a lower point projection. There’s just too much uncertainty with the Bears on offense and Detroit’s offense could have some trouble against Khalil Mack and Co.
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Welcome back to another season of NFL underdog picks, and it’s, of course, already a season unlike any other.
The 2019 campaign was a bit of an anomaly in its own right, at least when it came to underdogs with bite as they posted a 133-113-10 (.539) record against the spread for their best single-season showing since 2006 (140-109-5, .561), according to ProFootballReference.com.
We took advantage in this space, finishing with a 30-21 (.588) ATS record.
2020 NFL Expert Picks | ESPN
So, if we can count on anything in 2020, count on the oddsmakers making an adjustment. Following 2006’s big underdog season, 2007’s dogs managed only a 118-128-8 (.480) mark ATS.
Coupled with home-field advantage being negated somewhat by the diminished stadium crowds due to COVID-19 attendance restrictions, expect road underdogs to be getting slightly fewer points on average than they did a season ago.
So that sets the table as we select our first three underdogs of the 2020 season.
Here goes …
NFL underdog best bets: Week 1
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Carolina Panthers (+3) vs. Las Vegas Raiders
We’ve heard all offseason how the teams that underwent massive staff/personnel changes will open at a distinct disadvantage without the usual offseason/preseason, and few franchises have undergone more upheaval than Carolina with a new head coach, quarterback and coordinators following a 5-11 finish in 2019.
But does that mean we’re eager to lay 3 points with a Raiders team coming off a 7-9 season and traveling cross country to play in an early time slot?
Quite the opposite, actually.
In this case, look for the Panthers’ lack of continuity to be a benefit here as the Silver & Black enter the game blind, not knowing what to expect from former Baylor coach Matt Rhule and Co. New Carolina QB Teddy Bridgewater is hardly a slouch, either, owning a 22-12 career record as a starter. Pounce on the Panthers +3 (-110).
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Cleveland Browns (+7.5) at Baltimore Ravens
This is basically a regression-to-the-mean play on two franchises that figure to trend in opposite directions in 2020.
QB Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, of course, are coming off a historically successful 14-2 campaign, but the very definition of historic means things don’t simply roll over from year to year and the Baltimore Birds are due to regress.
The Browns, meanwhile, were one of 2020’s disappointments at 6-10, but with new head coach Kevin Stefanski at the helm, there’s a definite post-hype-sleeper vibe in the air in Cleveland.
In Week 4 last season, the Browns rolled into Baltimore and handed the Ravens a 40-25 defeat – one of two regular-season setbacks. And while we don’t quite see an outright Browns win Sunday, it’s not hard to envision Cleveland (+7.5, -110) taking the hosts to the wire in an empty M&T Bank Stadium and covering the touchdown-plus spread.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3.5) at New Orleans Saints
There will be another empty stadium Sunday in the Big Easy for Week 1’s top game, and that will be a huge disadvantage for the host Saints.
While New Orleans owns the continuity edge with QB Tom Brady taking his first snaps with the Bucs, the Saints have been notoriously slow starters in recent seasons with a 1-11 ATS record in Weeks 1 and 2, including a 0-6 mark at home, since 2014.
Grab the Bucs +3.5 (-110) and the points, and don’t hesitate to put a little something on the Tampa moneyline (+150) as well.
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