Posted on 8/14/2007 6:10:41 PM

NFL Preseason Betting Week 1 Recap

By BetUS Staff

The first week of the NFL preseason was more about who wasn’t playing than who did what on the field. The major absences for some teams probably had a number of people changing their picks when it came to their NFL Betting.

The backfields were devoid of the familiar names in a lot of stadiums across the country as the following players all sat out their teams’ preseason openers: Brady Quinn, LaDainian Tomlinson, Donovan McNabb, Willie Parker, Laurence Maroney and Vince Young. Personally I would rather watch those guys in a flag football game than some of the slow contests we ended up with in the opening week of the preseason.

A large chunk of the Week 1 preseason games were yawners with a lack of offensive punch. The over/under football odds for the Week 1 games (not including the two Monday nighters) of 5-7-1 tells the tale of the lackluster offenses. The NFL odds for most of the games were very small spreads and the oddsmakers were bang on there. There were 10 games last week in which the winner won by four points or less. There were even three games where the differential was one measly point. A safety in any of those games by the right side would have changed which team picked up the W.

On the field, the only players that are giving 100 percent during the preseason are guys fighting for a spot on the roster and rookies trying to get their NFL careers started off on the right foot. One player who stepped up big time and secured himself a role was Jets’ backup QB Kellen Clemens. Against the lame Falcons Clemens passed for 174 yards with three touchdowns to lock up the backup role behind oft-injured starter Chad Pennington. If Pennington goes down during the regular season and Clemens gets to start, he can point to that game as a big reason why he’s the man who got the call.

The rookies didn’t make very many big impressions during Week 1, mainly because most of them barely touched the ball. Buffalo running back Marshawn Lynch had only two carries for three yards. Detroit wideout Calvin Johnson hauled in only two passes for 40 yards. Miami’s Ted Ginn Jr. saw one ball come his way for nine yards, and Saints’ Robert Meachem caught two passes for 20 yards but one of them was for a touchdown.

Adrian Peterson got a fair load of carries in Minnesota with 11 touches and racked up 33 yards, while Tennessee’s Chris Henry also had a solid game with 12 carries for 42 yards. But the rookie who had the worst week was Bengals’ running back Kenny Irons. Irons’ first game of the season turned out to be his last after he tore the ACL in his left knee. Irons is done for the year so the Bengals will need to find someone else to back up Rudi Johnson.

The 2007 NFL betting season is here in full force! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The BetUS sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join BetUS today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLII and beyond!