May 8, 2020
NFL Betting: Initial takeaways from some notable Week 1 lines
The Houston Texans are just the third team in the Super Bowl era to open as a double-digit underdog for Week 1 after qualifying for the postseason the previous year, TSN's Domenic Padula writes.

Remember what happened on Sunday, January 12, 2020?
The Houston Texans do.
That’s the last time they were on a football field.
It’s been four months since Houston’s epic collapse in a 51-31 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional round.
Considering everything that has happened since then, it’s understandable if it feels like that game was years ago at this point.
That Sunday afternoon, Kansas City became the first team in NFL history to win a playoff game by 20 points or more after trailing by at least 20 points.
Three weeks later, the Chiefs were crowned Super Bowl champions.
On the flip side, Texans fans spent the past couple of months trying to recover from that loss.
It certainly didn’t help when DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Arizona Cardinals.
And the NFL schedule makers weren’t about to do football fans in Houston any favours, either.
As it turns out, the Texans will begin their 2020 season in the same place their 2019 season ended: Arrowhead Stadium.
Houston opened as an 11-point underdog for Week 1 – a line that would make the Chiefs the biggest Week 1 favourite among defending Super Bowl champions since the Green Bay Packers were a 16-point favourite against the Chicago Bears in Week 1 of the 1997 season.
Deshaun Watson is 13-5 against the spread as an underdog in his career.
That ATS record includes the playoff loss to KC as well as a 31-24 win at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 6 of last season as a 3.5-point underdog.
The Texans are just the third team in the Super Bowl era to open as a double-digit underdog for Week 1 after qualifying for the postseason the previous year.
Neither of the first two such teams won their opener outright.
It won’t surprise anybody if Houston followed suit, starting a new season with the same result that ended its last season: a loss in Kansas City.
Here are some other interesting takeaways from the opening NFL Week 1 lines.
The Green Bay Packers aren’t getting any respect.
Coming off a 13-win season that included a pair of wins over the rival Minnesota Vikings and a trip to the NFC Championship game, the Packers opened as a 3.5-point underdog at Minnesota.
It will be the sixth straight season that the Vikings are a favourite in Week 1 – the longest active streak in the NFL.
The real story is how incredible it has been to watch the perception of Green Bay change throughout the off-season.
Prior to the NFL Draft, the Packers were +125 to win the NFC North and their season win total was set at 9.5.
Minnesota was +200 to win the division.
Since then, Green Bay has moved to +150 to win its division while its season win total has been bet down to 9.0 – at least one sports book removed that prop off its board entirely.
The Vikings are now +170 to win their division.
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur have faced their fair share of criticism after failing to add more weapons for Aaron Rodgers in both free agency and the draft.
Will it come back to haunt them this season?
Three different teams have been crowned NFC North champions over the last three years.
It will be interesting to see if that trend continues after Green Bay went from third to first in the division in 2019.
Speaking of respect, it wasn’t that long ago that the Dallas Cowboys were looking up at the Philadelphia Eagles as the betting favourites in the NFC East.
However, a strong off-season that featured the arrival of head coach Mike McCarthy, locking up wide receiver Amari Cooper long-term and a draft class that owner Jerry Jones called one of the team’s best ever has led to a shake up at the top.
Dallas is now the favourite to win the NFC East at -105.
The Cowboys’ season win total has been a popular bet at Bodog – it’s now at over 9.5 -150.
Dallas opened as a 2.5-point favourite at the Los Angeles Rams.
The NFL wasted no time at all giving us one of the most highly anticipated showdowns on the entire schedule in Week 1.
Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints will host Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their home opener.
The Buccaneers have had a bigger off-season adjustment to their Super Bowl odds than any other team in the league, but they still opened as a 6.5-point underdog at New Orleans.
That line is interesting for a couple of reasons.
First, it’s clear that the Saints are still the team to beat in the NFC South – they are the favourite to win the division at -105 compared to Tampa Bay at +130.
Second, there is no doubt that the Buccaneers can be a playoff team, but it might take some time for them to reach their peak potential.
Considering all of the obstacles this unprecedented approach to the off-season has created, continuity will be important and that’s something that New Orleans has on its side that Tampa Bay does not.
Finally, it will be worth watching how much this line moves going forward.
If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that a lot can change in just a couple of months - both in the sports world and in the real world.
The Saints opened as a 6.5-point favourite.
That number was adjusted to 5.5 before the night was over.
This morning, the line was down to New Orleans -4.5.
Brady’s record streak of 74 straight regular-season games as the betting favourite will more than likely come to an end in his first start for the Buccaneers.
However, Brady is still an impressive 33-13-1 against the spread as a betting underdog in his career – 29-18 outright in those games.
New Orleans is 0-6 against the spread in season openers dating back to 2014.
The Saints are just 1-5 straight up in those games.