Monday Night Football Doubleheader Preview
What has become a great tradition for football betting fans is the Monday Night Football doubleheader. Sportsbook.com has the Jets as 1.5 point favorites as they host the Ravens. In the nightcap, the Chargers are 4.5 road favorites as they head to Kansas City to play the Chiefs.
Some familiar faces will be making their debuts with new teams. The Jets now have future Hall-of-Fame RB LaDainian Tomlinson, while the Ravens signed WR Anquan Boldin in the offseason and added WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh to their roster a few weeks ago.
Both teams appear to be near full strength with Jets CB Darrelle Revis expected to handle the much bigger Boldin in one-on-one coverage. The Ravens will be without OT Jared Gaither and massive rookie nose tackle Terrence Cody, but CB Lardarius Webb will be able to start in Baltimore’s suspect secondary.
Sportsbook.com expects a low-scoring affair, which favors Baltimore, according to this betting trend:
BALTIMORE is 15-5 ATS (+9.5 Units) in all games where the total is between 35.5 and 42 points over the last 3 seasons. The average score was BALTIMORE 26.3, OPPONENT 14.4 - (Rating = 1*).
Two division foes clash in the final game of Week 1. San Diego has won five straight meetings, including two blowouts last year (37-7 at KC and 43-14 in San Diego).
The Super Bowl-hopeful Chargers are a mess. Top WR Vincent Jackson is suspended, LT Marcus McNeill is still holding out, and LB Shawne Merriman, who also held out of training camp, is doubtful for Monday because of an Achilles injury. Rookie RB Ryan Mathews was drafted to replace LaDainian Tomlinson, and should have success against a Chiefs run defense which ranked 2nd-to-last in the NFL last year (157 YPG).
Kansas City is also banged up. LB Tamba Hali is questionable with a foot injury, rookie WR Dexter McCluster has the flu and RT Ryan O’Callaghan is doubtful with a groin injury.
An interesting betting trend found at Sportsbook.com sides with the Changers:
Play Against - Underdogs of 3.5 to 10 points (KANSAS CITY) - first month of the season, after closing out last season with 4 or more losses in last 5 games, team that had a terrible record last season (<=25%) playing a team had a winning record last year.
(35-12 since 1983.) (74.5%, +21.8 units. Rating = 2*).
Now that the NFL season is underway, head over to Sportsbook.com to get in on the action.
Braves look to keep pace with Philly
With the teams in the American League playing mostly for seeding at this juncture, the playoff picture shifts focus to the National League, where the division races remain tight. The Padres and Giants find themselves tied for first in the West, while Philadelphia holds a one-game lead over Atlanta in the East entering tonight’s action. The Braves will look to even things atop the standings when they open a three-game set with the Nationals at Turner Field tonight.
First pitch: 7:10 p.m. EDT
Sportsbook.com Odds: Atlanta -180, Washington +170 Total: 8.5
The Braves hope to close the gap in the East when they send Derek Lowe (12-12, 4.42 ERA) to the hill to face the Nationals. Atlanta has been stuck in neutral as of late, splitting a home series with St. Louis after dropping two of three to both the Pirates and Marlins. Lowe has also been spinning his wheels recently. He’s 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA over his last three starts, but is coming off a solid outing against Pittsburgh where he went six innings and gave up just one run. The Nationals have given him plenty of trouble, however. Dating back to last year, Lowe has lost his last four starts against Washington. In three of those starts, Lowe was a favorite of -190 or higher.
The Nationals hope to end a five-game losing streak with rookie Yunesky Maya. It’ll be just the second career start for Maya. The 29-year-old Cuban defector made his major- league debut last time out on September 7. He surrendered four runs on five hits over five innings in a 4-1 loss to the Mets.
Given Atlanta’s recent play and Lowe’s lack of success against Washington, there seems to be value in the Nationals tonight.
Play On - Road teams (WASHINGTON) - poor fielding team - averaging 0.75+ errors/game on the season, after 5 straight games where they had less than 10 hits.
(48-41 over the last 5 seasons.) (53.9%, +25.4 units. Rating = 2*).
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