Monday Morning Gambler: Kickoff Of NFL Preseason Only Days Away
By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Rrrrai-ders!
That’s right, in a little more than a week, the Silver and Black will be back in action between the hash marks and the fans’ familiar chants will be heard.
Rrrrai-ders!
Ready to get up to speed on Raiders betting prospects for the season?
New coach Josh McDaniels’ charges are -2 vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Hall of Fame game on Aug. 4. The total, as noted by Covers.com, opened at 33.5 and has generally been bet down to 33 but there are still some 33.5 numbers around if you look. It could come down further since the Hall of Fame Game is usually focused on Hall of Fame inductees with less attention to actual football. Kickoff is at 5 p.m.
For the regular season, the Raiders will open on the road at the Los Angeles Chargers on Sept. 11. The Raiders are +3.5 in that late game that Sunday at SoFi Stadium with the total at 52.5.
Interested in a futures play on the Raiders? With new coach McDaniels and the addition of star wide receiver Davante Adams, some think the Raiders could surprise this year.
The Buffalo Bills are the betting favorites to win the AFC this year in the +300 to +350 range. The Raiders are much further down the list. After opening at +2800, you can now find them in the +2200 to +2500 range.
And Super Bowl 57 on Feb. 12 in Glendale, Arizona? A mere 280 miles from Las Vegas? If you have that date circled on your calendar, virtual or otherwise, the Raiders are generally around +4000 after opening at +5000.
In fact, the only teams ahead of them, respectively, in the betting odds are: the Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Green Bay Packers, Chargers (last appeared in Super Bowl in 1995), San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos (seriously?), Dallas Cowboys (last Super Bowl win came in 1996), Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans and the Cleveland Browns (never appeared in a Super Bowl). The Houston Texans are dead last in the +30000 range.
“Just trying to do the right thing in my role and be a good leader for my team,” said McDaniels, 46, looking and sounding every bit like the chipper Boy Scout at a press conference on Thursday after training camp got underway.
Hold on tight to those futures tickets.
Rrrrai-ders!
Elsewhere:
— Aces down: Tough week for betting on the Las Vegas Aces. After a win and a cover vs. a short-handed Connecticut Sun team last Tuesday, the Aces returned home to play the Atlanta Dream two days later. Laying 11.5 points vs. the Dream, the Aces woke up on the short end of a nightmarish 92-76 score.
Some 48 hours later, the Aces were 14.5-point favorites vs. the Indiana Fever. The Aces led most of the way, but the Fever outscored them 25-14 in the fourth quarter for a classic backdoor cover in a 90-77 Aces win.
That brought the Los Angeles Sparks to Michelob Ultra Arena for a Saturday night game. This time the Aces were laying 9.5 points. And this time they came away with a win and a cover, 84-66. Kelsey Plum led the Aces with 29 points, and the Aces outscored the Sparks, 27-13, in the fourth quarter.
Addressing team defense at the post-game news conference, the Aces’ A’ja Wilson said, “We got to get back to the lab and figure out how to slow it down even more.”
Notable: It was only their fourth cover in the last 10 games.
The Aces (20-8) next face the Chicago Sky (21-7) on Tuesday in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship in Chicago.
— UFC rematch: Amanda Nunes is seeking to reclaim the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship in the headline fight at UFC 277.
Nunes lost to Julianna Pena at UFC 269 in December and stopped Nunes’ 12-fight winning streak.
Experts don’t give Pena much of a chance of repeating. In a compilation of odds at Vegas Insider, Nunes is generally -300 and Pena around +240.
Did Pena catch Nunes on a bad night back in December? Or does she have Nunes’ number?
Some answers may come when the rematch plays out Saturday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
— Laugher of the week: You won’t be hearing any beat-beat stories on the Toronto Blue Jays-Boston Red Sox total for Friday. If you played over the total of 9, you had a push by the third inning, and the teams combined for seven runs in the fourth. If you played under, you were out of your misery early and have a story to tell. After you tear up your ticket, that is.
The final: Toronto 28, Boston 5. The Blue Jays scored their 28 runs on 29 hits and committed two errors. The Red Sox chipped in five runs on 10 hits and also committed two miscues.
