How silly are NFL preseason odds? Consider that in Week 2, not a single home team isn’t favored by the oddsmakers. Home teams tend to do a little better even during the regular season, but rarely if ever would one see across-the-board home favoritism heading into a weekend slate.
NFL preseason 2014 odds, Week 2: Word of advice? Take the home team
Taking the home team appears to be the only sound strategy when betting on preseason games.
Dilip Vishwanat
A few games on the preseason Week 2 schedule might have featured different moneylines had they occurred during the 2013 regular season. For example, the St. Louis Rams, who went 7-9 last year, are 3-point favorites over the 8-7-1 Green Bay Packers who made the playoffs. The Oakland Raiders (4-12 in 2013) are 3-point favorites over the Detroit Lions (7-9), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-12) are 2-point favorites over the Miami Dolphins (8-8), the Minnesota Vikings (5-10-1) are 3-point favorites over the Arizona Cardinals (10-6), etc.
In Week 2 of the preseason, teams may be slightly more inclined to give projected starters extended minutes than in Week 1, but not to the extent of the Week 3 dress rehearsal, much less a regular season game. Once again, you’ll be relying on third string quarterbacks and fifth string receivers to determine what happens to you money, and good on you if you’re cool with that.
Here are the odds for Week 2 of the NFL preseason, courtesy of Bovada via OddsShark. For more, including over/unders and other sportsbooks, check out SB Nation’s NFL odds page.
Thursday, Aug. 14
Jacksonville at Chicago (-4) -- 8:00 p.m. ET
Friday, Aug. 15
Philadelphia at New England (-3) -- 7:30 p.m. ET
Tennessee at New Orleans (-3.5) -- 8:00 p.m. ET
San Diego at Seattle (-6) -- 10:00 p.m. ET
Detroit at Oakland (-3) -- 10:00 p.m. ET
Saturday, Aug. 16
Green Bay at St. Louis (-3) -- 4:00 p.m. ET
New York Giants at Indianapolis (-2) -- 7:00 p.m. ET
New York Jets at Cincinnati (-3.5) -- 7:00 p.m. ET
Baltimore at Dallas (-1) -- 7:00 p.m. ET
Buffalo at Pittsburgh (-1.5) -- 7:30 p.m. ET
Miami at Tampa Bay (-2) -- 7:30 p.m. ET
Atlanta at Houston (-3) -- 8:00 p.m. ET
Arizona at Minnesota (-3) -- 8:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, Aug. 17
Denver at San Francisco (-3.5) -- 4:00 p.m. ET
Kansas City at Carolina (-3) -- 8:00 p.m. ET
Monday, Aug. 18
Cleveland at Washington (-2) -- 8:00 p.m. ET
