The pro football preseason kicked off this past weekend in
the Hall of Fame game as the Vikings battled the Steelers. Remember that each
season is different, with players changing teams, new coaches and assistants
coming aboard, and star college players joining the pros as highly touted
rookies. August football offers fans their first peak at all the new
additions.
It's a short week for the Steelers, heading to
Jacksonville to play the Jaguars. The Steelers didn’t care much about preseason
last August, going 1-3 SU/ATS. Their two road games they lost 20-16 and
31-21.
The extra work will probably be good for Minnesota as
they excelled last preseason under a new coaching staff, going 4-0 SU/ATS.
Minnesota still had a losing record during the regular season, finishing third
in the NFC North. Last preseason they were trying to establish a quarterback,
but this year Matt Cassel is gone and they’ve hitched their wagon to Tedy
Bridgewater, so preseason will mean a backup battle Shaun Hill and Mike Kafka,
The defending champion Patriots open the preseason
against the Packers. It would have been a Super Bowl rematch if the Packers
hadn’t muffed an onside kick. And you won’t see much of Aaron Rodgers against
Tom Brady, as Bill Belichick rarely uses franchise Tom in Week 1.
The Dolphins are at Chicago as the Bears introduce a
new head coach. John Fox was quietly shown the door in Denver and made changes
to the Bears on both sides of the line. Offensive coordinator Adam Gase is
aboard who ran the offense with Fox at Denver. He gets to work rookie
WR Kevin White into the new offense -- and good luck to both
working with turnover-prone QB Jay Cutler. New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio
has a boatload of work to do overhauling a Chicago defense that was dismal in
2014, ranked 30th against the pass, 17th against the run, and the second most
points allowed (27.6 ppg).
Carolina heads to Buffalo this weekend.
Carolina is a veteran team off of two-straight playoff appearances, so they
have little to prove. The Bills, however, introduce bombastic coach Rex Ryan to
the home fans, which is always a treat. Ryan walks in to a great situation (9-7
SU/ATS) though his team is going to look similar to the Jets: Great defense,
weak O and no QB.
The WR corps is young and fast with Sammy
Watkins, Robert Woods and Percy Harvin. But who cares about offense when you
have a defense this talented? That’s probably what sexy Rexy is thinking as
Buffalo rolled up 54 sacks last year, 57 two years ago, leading the NFL. DT
Marcell Dareus (10 sacks) and DE Mario Williams (14.5) are a handful along with
LB Jerry Hughes (9.5 sacks). Wonder if Rex will unleash the blitzing
hounds in August? He probably can’t help himself.
The Rams have a long Week 1 preseason road trip
out to Oakland. St. Louis has little to prove but the Raiders have a new coach
in Jack Del Rio, his first gig since getting axed in Jacksonville. The Oakland
Raiders have gone through 12 consecutive losing seasons. Del Rio says he wants
to bring back the mentality and swagger from the early Raider dynasty. New WR
Amari Cooper is aboard and last preseason the Raiders played their best
football winning both home games over the Lions (27-26) and Seahawks
(41-31).
Speaking of Seattle they open the preseason at home
this week against the Broncos, the team they crushed in the Super Bowl two
years ago. Fans probably forget they opened the preseason last August and the
Broncos won at home, 21-16. However, Pete Carroll has his teams ready to play
at home, even in August, as last preseason they crushed the Chargers (41-14)
and Bears (34-6) at home.
The Washington Redskins open the preseason at
Cleveland this weekend. Oddly, the Redskins have been great in preseason the
last two years but terrible when the games count. Two years ago the Skins were
4-0 SU/ATS last preseason, then went 3-13 SU, 5-11 ATS during the 2013
campaign. Last August they went 3-1 SU/ATS, then went 4-12 during the regular
season!
Minnesota already has a game under its belt
Saturday when they host the Bucs, while Tampa Bay gets its first look at rookie
QB Jameis Winston. He ran a pro-style offense at Florida State, a similar
system under Tampa Bay OC Dirk Koetter. The coaching staff said this offseason
they want to play a faster tempo on offense, so let’s see if they start
preseason that way. Nothing can hurt after ranking 27th in yards in 2014. After
Winston the QB rotation has Mike Glennon and Seth Lobato – not exactly
Waterfield and Van Brocklin off the bench.
The Rams heading to Seattle is the only Week 1
contest with a long travel time. A year ago there was only one when the 49ers
flew to Baltimore – and got smoked, 23-3. Two years ago there was only one,
when the Cardinals flew to Green Bay, but it didn’t seem to matter as Arizona
rolled, 17-0. Three years ago the Packers were at San Diego in Week 1 of the
preseason, Tennessee headed to Seattle, while the Vikings headed to the Bay
Area to play San Francisco. Tennessee looked jet-lagged in a 27-17 defeat as
did the Vikings in a 17-6 loss to the 49ers and the Packers got beat up at San
Diego, 21-13.
Also keep an eye on home field. In one recent season home teams went
21-10-1 against the spread the first two weeks of preseason. Two years later
the home team went 10-5 SU/ATS the first week of exhibition play. There
are edges in preseason football, you just have to know where to look and what
to look for, even in August.
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