NFL preseason Week 1 odds released
By Jeff Glauser
The long, interminable wait is just about over as pro football action—and the subsequent mass gambling—is almost here.
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With the first game just days away from kicking off, sports pick outlet FiftyFourPercent.com has released the opening lines for Week 1 of the NFL preseason featuring seven of the top Vegas sportsbooks.
The exhibition schedule officially gets under way with the Hall of Fame Game, featuring the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, August 7 at 8:00 p.m. EST, in conjunction with that weekend’s annual inductee ceremonies in Canton.
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Fresh off a season that started out promising but ended with a 4-6 finish to the regular season followed by a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Arizona Cardinals in the divisional round of the playoffs, Aaron Rodgers and crew will face a Colts squad that had its own disappointing 2015 campaign, finishing at 8-8, but returning a healthy Andrew Luck.
The lines currently hover between a Pick ‘Em and the Packers giving a point, or Green Bay at -106 straight up.
The biggest disparities of the week include August 11’s matchup between the New England Patriots (-3.5) and the New Orleans Saints, as well as the return of NFL football to Los Angeles for the first time since 1994, when the Rams (also -3.5) host the Dallas Cowboys.
Preliminary odds were also announced for the opening week of the regular season. The games start counting with a Super Bowl 50 rematch on the evening of Thursday, September 8 between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, with the visiting Panthers actually favored to exact their revenge. Lines range from them giving between two and three points to the defending champs and are currently a 69.8 percent favorite to win outright.
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