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Posted 08/16/2007 at 04:24 PM
Week 2 NFL preseason / MLB notes / NCAA
Week 2 of the preseason is a good time for teams that had crappy week 1 performance to “bounce back” with a better showing. For the most part, I like to look at week 1 road teams that made mental mistakes and didn’t execute the coaches game plan well. If these teams are at home week 2, normally they bounce back and give the home crowd something to cheer about.
Teams realize they must answer the bell; some players are out there trying to save their jobs, while others just want to knock the rust off before the critical week 3 preseason game.
Two teams that jump out me immediately are New England and Philadelphia. Two teams that have plenty of post season experience that were on the road that probably sleep walked thru their first exhibition game. These teams have little to play for week 1 on the road.
The eagles are 3 points favorites this week but face a preseason powerhouse in Carolina. The Panthers under John Fox are 16-5 (76%) Straight up, Carolina getting points looks too good to be true. The Eagles should have some juice in the crowd with the return of McNabb, but this game looks tricky.
The Pat’s come home after a 3 point loss on a last second field goal. They host the Tennessee Titans and are the biggest favorite on the Week 2 preseason board (-5’). The pats are a public team but this game shapes up well for the home team. NE under Belichick is 29-21 Straight up (58%) and 28-18-4 ATS (56%).
While Jeff Fisher lead teams haven’t fared well in preseason 23-25 straight up and 24-22 ATS. I think this one may get ugly as the home team will give the fans something to get excited about, last season the Pat’s won their home preseason games by a combined score of 71-3, look for this trend to continue.
MLB
This is the best time of the year, the MLB pennant races are heating up, College football is two weeks away, while the official start to the NFL is 3 weeks away.
In MLB every division race is tight. The red sox jumped out to a monster lead with the yanks now catching fire. The Indians and Tigers are falling apart, neither team has stepped up as the dominate leader. The Angles are battling with the mariners for the AL west crown.
The Mets have lead from wire to wire so far, but have the Phillies and the Braves to contend with. The Central in the N.L. is a mirror image of the A.L. central race, who will step up? The Cubs or Brewers? Watch out here come the cardinals, the world champs are only 3.5 out!
NCAA
Be sure to check for early NCAA football lines. This is a great time of the year to grab a couple points here and there. No other time, than maybe bowl season do point spreads move like this. If your careful enough you might be able to catch a sweet middle on a game.
Be diligent and check injury reports, conference by conference might be the best way. Be weary of “public” teams or a can’t miss game that everyone has been talking about for weeks, generally these games are mirage from the summer heat.
The perfect example of this was week 1 last year when Tennessee was favored by 3 points against Cal when the line opened. Everyone was on Cal, that all I heard for 10 days leading up to the contest, the line dropped from cal being the dog to UT getting points by kick-off, I waiting till 30 minutes before kick and got UT @ +115 on the money line. I sat back with my beer and watched UT kick the crap out of the Golden Bears.
These teams hock-up again in week 1, this time in Berkley, should be interesting…
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