Young Raiders to Invade Seattle

The Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks used to play against each other twice a season when the Seahawks entered the league as the fifth team in the AFC West. More expansion led to the Seahawks jumping to the NFC West where they have dominated since the St. Louis Rams ended their run a few years ago.

This is Seahawks Coach Mike Holmgren’s last season at the helm. That’s neither a good nor bad thing for the Seahawks. Holmgren no doubt has brought Seattle to prominence by getting them into the 2005 – 2006 Super Bowl, where they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he hasn’t crafted the type of team that could actually win the Super Bowl. At least not yet. Who knows? Stranger things have happened in football (Brett Favre in a Jets’ uniform, anyone?) then Holmgren deciding not to retire from coaching.

In any case, the Seattle Seahawks will be doing exactly what the Oakland Raiders should be doing in this game, resting their starters and getting ready for the NFL regular season. That means in order to find the best online wager in this game, NFL betting fans will need to really take a look at the online odds and get creative.

Here are the BetUS online sportsbook betting odds in this game:

Oakland Raiders + 3 - 105 + 145 O 36 - 110

Seattle Seahawks - 3 - 115 - 165 U 36 - 110

Okay, so the truth about this game is that the Seahawks starting line-ups are set on both offense and defense. Matt Hasslebeck is listed as questionable in this game. To me, that means he doesn’t play. The Seahawks are a very good team and getting Hasslebeck injured in a game against one of the best defenses in the NFL would not be a smart thing.

Not only that, but the Seahawks defense will be without their best player, Lofa Tatupu. Tatupu is definitely a go for the first game of the regular season but in this game he probably won’t even suit up.

So the online wager that probably makes the most sense for football betting fans in this game is on the Oakland Raiders at online betting odds of + 145. The Raiders will play some of their starters on defense. That could be enough for them to win this game. More importantly, look who their back-up running backs is - - Darren McFadden.

I mean, both McFadden and Fargas sort of need to get more work in before the regular season starts. With both of those guys carrying the load for at least a half, I expect the Raiders to win this game outright.

The BetUS online sportsbook betting odds on the Raiders to beat the Seahawks on Friday night is + 145. I like those online odds. That’s the online wager that I will be making.