It’s a commonly known fact amongst football bettors that you can’t put too much stock in the preseason.
But you can’t completely ignore it either, can you?
That seems to be the question NFL bettors are asking themselves as they continue to lay down heavy bucks on the New England Patriots. At first glance, this doesn’t seem to be much of an interesting trend – the Pats were one of the dominant teams of the last decade and still have one of the best QBs (Tom Brady) and coaches (Bill Belichick) in the league.
But the key phrase there is “of the last decade.” It’s 2010, and the AFC East division isn’t like it used to be. The Bodog Sportsbook is a great indicator of that – currently, our odds to win the AFC East division is a three-horse race with the New York Jets at +125, the Patriots at +125 and the Miami Dolphins at +400. The noteworthy team here is the Jets, as their furious offseason of activity (picking up LaDainian Tomlinson, Jason Taylor, Santonio Holmes and Antonio Cromartie, to name a few) combined with last year’s AFC title game appearance has made them a chic pick for the division crown and beyond.
To this, the Patriots and Patriots backers have one response: Not so fast, New York.
If anything, the Patriots have used the first few weeks of the preseason to re-assert themselves as the team to beat in the AFC East. Wins over New Orleans (27-24 as a -1.5 point favorite) and in Atlanta (28-10 as a +3 point dog) were nice, but it was the fashion in which the Patriots one that made bettors take notice. The Pats scored seven touchdowns and the defense – thought to be the team’s biggest weakness coming into this season – looked very stout.
The Pats are also healthy for the first time in a long time. Sure, veteran DT Ty Warren is out for the year, but the rest of the positions are clicking at full health. Key WR Wes Welker seems to have returned successfully from a torn ACL – in his first game back versus Atlanta, Welker caught two passes for 20 yards. Not a huge offensive burst or anything, but a definite sign in the right direction. If Welker and Randy Moss can get back to their form of seasons past, the Patriot offense will be clicking.
Unsurprisingly, futures betting on the Patriots is coming in on all fronts. Right now Bodog Sportsbook is offering New England to win the AFC at 13/2 and the Super Bowl at 12/1 and both numbers are seeing some good action.
How much longer will it last? Hard to say. As it stands, the Jets are still slightly favored ahead of New England in both categories (the Jets are at 6/1 to win the AFC and 10/1 to win the Super Bowl), but that could change now that preseason football is over.
So maybe you can’t tell too much from the NFL exhibition season. But according to our players, you can tell a few things. If you want to be on the winning side of things this NFL season, grab our winning NFL picks package from Maddux Sports.
