The waiting is finally over for discouraged NFL bettors as Sunday’s Hall of Fame Game begins a 65 game pre-season schedule for the prelude of the football season. All eyes will be glued to NBC because in Canton, Ohio, the birthplace of the National Football League gets underway on Sunday.
The Eagles look to preserve a perfect record in Hall of Fame Games, in the 44th renewal of the time-honored pre-season kickoff classic in Canton, Ohio, when they face Oakland on Sunday. The Raiders hopes to complement the Saturday Hall of Fame induction of legendary Raiders coach John Madden with a third win in Canton. An Eagles victory, however, would honor the late defensive end Reggie White, who’ll join the Hall with Madden on Saturday. Maddux Sports won’t be releasing any nfl picks on this game, but we have provided a preview for the readers.
Oakland finished 2005 in the basement of the AFC West posting a miserable 4-12 record that included a losing their last 6 games, so naturally Pinnacle has installed the Raiders as three point underdogs and posted a total of 36.5 on the game. The Raiders expect improvement with the return of head coach Art Shell replacing Norv Turner. Since guiding the Raiders to three playoff appearances in five seasons and posting a 54-38 record with Shell at the helm, Oakland has made it to the playoffs only three times in the following 11 years.
Sunday marks the debut of veteran quarterback Aaron Brooks in the Silver and Black as he takes the reigns of an ineffective offense from Kerry Collins. Brooks heads into Oakland tied for fourth-most TD passes (111) in the past five years hoping to re-establish the vertical passing game by taking full benefit of Randy Moss’ big-play capability. The Raiders as usual aren’t without controversy entering the 2006 season as wide receiver Jerry Porter has requested a trade and will miss the Hall of Fame game with a calf strain.
The Eagles are also coming off a substandard 2005 football season, finishing 6-10 at the bottom of the NFC East after reaching the Super Bowl the prior season. Head coach Andy Reid chose the line of scrimmage as the key Achilles’ heel for the Eagles last season and expects Philly’s off-season signings to solve the problem. Adding six players via free agency, eight draft picks and returning several key players from injury, should give the Eagles a fresh look and feel when they take the field.
Philadelphia also enters 2006 without the off-field distractions and antics of Terrell Owens, who was released and later joined the Dallas Cowboys. The T.O.-less Eagles will turn to second-year receiver Reggie Brown in the passing game, but Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook are expected to carry the team on offense.
We have this game as a toss up at the current numbers but you can get 2.5 or 3 on this game whichever side you want to take so be sure to check out the live NFL lines comparison page at Maddux Sports for the up to date point spreads of this and all scheduled NFL games.
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Maddux you don’t have a lean on this game at all?
Hudson, very small lean towards Oakland +3 -110, if you can find it. Really hard to handicap this game since half of the game will be played by 3rd and 4th stringers.
Oakland could come out fired up due to the new head coach theory, but Eagles may want to make an impression as well after last year. Eagles have more talent in the backups which is why they are a small favorite but I wouldn’t advise risking much on this game.
First post here guys, how do you know the Eagles are only going to play the starters for the 1st quarter?
Mario got the info from Don Best, you can find good information at each teams website on player minutes. Here is the report.
The Eagles’ website reports HC Reid met with the media after practice Saturday to provide a run down of how the Eagles will split up playing time in Sunday’s game.
Reid made it simple: The first team will play the first quarter, the second team will play the second quarter, the third team will play the third quarter and the fourth team will play the fourth quarter. Reid said the first team won’t play much in this game nor in the final preseason game on September 1 against the New York Jets. They’ll get the majority of their work in between.
Thanks Maddux! Bad start but Oakland reservers came through when we needed them.