3 Team Win Total Unders You Should Take Before Week 1
The NFL season finally begins this week, in what has felt like never-ending offseason.
Get ready to place some bets, yell at your tv, and likely get your heart broken by your favorite team on an almost weekly basis.
When it comes to betting on team win totals, you can cash in on other fan’s misery. Sure, you can bet on a few overs, and if you want to do that you should check out Peter Dewey’s article, but the pessimist in me enjoys betting on which teams will fail to meet expectations.
Here are three teams that I’m betting on to finish under their season win total. Apologies in advance to any fans of the teams that I’m about to pick on right now.
All odds listed are via WynnBET Sportsbook.
New York Giants UNDER 7.5 Wins -130
One of my biggest pet peeves that front offices continue to do in the NFL is not making the offensive and defensive line a priority. Instead, they draft and sign players at sexy positions and hope that if they just load up with flash, they can lead them into the playoffs.
The New York Giants allowed the second most sacks per game in 2020 at 3.1, and what did they do to fix that problem this offseason? Nothing. Instead, they drafted wide receiver Kadarius Toney with their first round pick and signed Kyle Rudolph and Kenny Golladay.
I sound like an old-time football guy when I say that football games are won in the trenches, but it’s true. The Giants will once again have one of the worst offensive lines in football, and the blame will fall solely on the shoulders of Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. Sad.
Carolina Panthers UNDER 7.5 Wins -125
I don’t know why the Carolina Panthers thought going with Sam Darnold over Teddy Bridgewater was a good call. Bridgewater completed 69.1% of his passes last season, Darnold completed 59.6%
Darnold has been seeing ghosts his whole career, and a new environment, especially a team like Carolina which isn’t much better than the Jets, isn’t going to fix him.
Choosing Darnold over my guy "Teddy Two-Gloves" is a mystery that I don’t think I’ll ever find the answer to.
The Panthers still have Christian McCaffery and a young and promising defense, but I just can’t imagine a Sam Darnold led team can win eight games in a season. Give me the under 7.5.
Pittsburgh Steelers UNDER 8.5 wins -125
It might be surprising to see the Pittsburgh Steelers win total set at 8.5 for this season, considering they finished 12-4 in 2020.
That tells me that the sportsbooks know the Steelers were frauds last year, and I agree with them.
As long as Ben Roethlisberger is under center, the team won’t succeed. He did the team a disservice by coming back for another year, and he should have retired this past offseason. He was hard to watch down the stretch last season. He’s lost the zip to his throws and any mobility he had has disappeared.
The Steelers were dead last in yards per carry last season at 3.6, and I think that falls on the offensive line much more than James Conner. I think Najee Harris will find more success than Conner, but it will be tough to put up stellar rushing numbers behind this line.
There’s no doubt that the defense will still be one of the best in the league, but they’re going to struggle to score points. It doesn’t help that they’re competing in the best division in the AFC.
I’ll take the under 8.5 wins for the Steelers this season.
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