With the official start of the NFL regular season just a week away, the amount of different bets that you can wager on are countless at this point. One bet in particular that we’re about to go over is each team’s OVER/UNDER win total for the 2019 campaign.
BetOnline is one of the NFL online betting sites that are putting out the bets in full force, and when you look at their list, it should come as no surprise that the New England Patriots are on the top of the board by having the highest O/U win tally at 11.5. And why not after winning a sixth Super Bowl in franchise history and still having a massively elite Tom Brady?
After the Patriots, we have both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles in a tie at 10.5, and then a three-way tie for 10 between the Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers.
With as dysfunctional as the Miami Dolphins are, they get the luxury of having the lowest OVER/UNDER win total at 4.5.
The way I’m seeing it, these are the three best plays to make:
Now granted, the Chicago Bears have to play a tough first-place schedule in an NFC conference that is stacked, but you can’t help but to have a lot of faith in Chicago’s defense with how elite it is. With that being said, why would you take the under? It’s too great to do so. And speaking of great, it’s more than that. They were the best defense in the NFL last season portraying dominance from every direction. In the statistics, they were ranked first in points allowed-per-game, first in interceptions, third in sacks and third in turnover differential leading the NFL in takeaways.
Last season for the Bears, it would be Khalil Mack and their elite defense that would steal the headlines, but Chicago would also have the emergence of a productive offense led by Mitch Trubisky. And it was more than just productive, there was a level of potency with it with the Bears averaging 26 points-per-game in the campaign. Coming into the 2019 season, Chicago has talent all over the place and are set to improve under head coach Matt Nagy, who will be entering his second year in the position. This bet may not deliver until near the end of the season with their tough schedule, but I’m pretty solid that the Chicago Bears will end up with double-digit wins when the smoke clears.
Leading the NFL in rushing last season, the campaign may have not came to the end that the Seattle Seahawks envisioned. However, Seattle would still put up a 10-win mark and would go a dominant 6-2 at home, and the conversation of a “decline” is a bit over-exaggerated. The key for this team is Russell Wilson. As long as they have him leading things at the quarterback position, the Seahawks will always be a competitive team and achieve at the minimum a winning 9-7 season. Expect more potency from their offense this season, especially with the improvement of their offensive line with the signing of Mike Iupati.
Many people expected Seattle to suffer a decline in 2018, but they would easily exceed their expectations beating some quality teams such as the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers in the final half of the season. When you look at their 2019 schedule, they can certainly grab four wins total playing both the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers playing both teams twice. On top of that, they also face off against the Cincinnati Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home, so you have to think that another season with double-digit wins is on the horizon.
Last season, the Detroit Lions would finish with six wins, and even that would be a struggle for them to get to. With that being said, it could potentially be another rough year for Mo-Town. With their eight games in Detroit this year, they’ll be playing six teams who had winning tallies in 2018, and they’ll have other tough matchups against the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who both will have much better seasons than last.
An injury-plagued season led to a dismal year for the Lions, with literally their only highlight being them taking out the New England Patriots in Detroit. Offensively, they were horrendously ranked near the end of the league in the No. 25 spot for points-per-game — after week 7, they would score more than 30 points just once in that span. Over the offseason, the Lions would go out and lock up signings such as Danny Amendola and Trey Flowers, both from the New England Patriots, but even then, how effective will they be in Detroit? Despite them having a last-place schedule, their division is just too superior for them to secure a six-win season. Take the under.
Before we get into the entire list of odds for this prop bet, let’s go over a few more solid wagers that you may consider placing.
The Atlanta Falcons may have finished with a losing 7-9 record last season, but that mark is a bit tainted considering how injury-plagued their 2018 was. With an already potent offense that is sure to be get even more potent this year with the return of offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter and a defense that is sure to be improved if they stay healthy, the Falcons are sitting pretty to place at the OVER and even accomplish a double-digit winning season. And honestly, the way I’m seeing it, the Atlanta Falcons could make a return to the Super Bowl in 2019.
After a 4-12 season in 2018, I’m a bit surprised that the odds-makers have the New York Jets so high at a 7.5 win total, and why is the OVER the favorite? I’m not sure, but consider it a gift, there’s certainly a lot of value with placing the UNDER here. I understand the Jets would go out and make some improvements to the team, and I get that they would hire Adam Gase as their head coach, but this is still the New York Jets we’re talking about — a dysfunctional New York Jets. I’m not seeing that dysfunction changing in a season, so go ahead and take the UNDER.
You could say that the Buffalo Bills will be an improved team, at least on paper. After a dismal campaign last year that saw them score single digits in five games, they would go out and completely revamp the roster, including eight new starters on the offensive side of the ball. I also have to give them credit on their passing attack, at least the one that’s developing under Josh Allen. Everything seems progressive in Buffalo right now, but the Bills are one of those organizations that just doesn’t seem to deliver. Take the UNDER until they prove otherwise.
I’ve already said it earlier, and I’ll say it again: The Miami Dolphins are the most dysfunctional organization in football. With that being said, however, I do think they’re a better team than just getting four wins, I think the odds-makers are being a bit unfair here. The Dolphins won’t be a winning team, they won’t come close to making the playoffs, they’ll finish last in the AFC East, but I think they can crack at least five wins in the campaign. I don’t have much faith in their quarterback play, but I think a good game here and there from Ryan Fitzpatrick will do the trick.
Go ahead and take advantage of this bet before the books start to reflect Andrew Luck’s retirement. If Luck was still in the picture, I’d certainly say go ahead and take the over, but with the circumstances, I don’t think the Colts will be able to break that 9.5 threshold. With that being said, quickly place a bet on the UNDER and take advantage of the profitable +105 odds. Indianapolis is still a very good team and may be able to hit a 7-9 or 8-8 record without a quarterback, but I don’t think they’ll have any more wins than that. Profit on the UNDER.
There’s a lot of hype surrounding the San Francisco 49ers this season because of the return of Jimmy Garoppolo and bringing in Dee Ford and Nick Bosa. With those three, the 49ers are expected to have their “franchise quarterback” and a lethal defense to go along with it, but the vast majority of the hype is coming from a 5-0 finish to a season that was led by Garoppolo. The problem with this is the season happened in 2017. All of a sudden, we now have Garoppolo in the Hall of Fame. It’s a very small sample size from ’17, so as a result, take the UNDER.
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