Football betting for Week 1 of the 2008 regular season wraps up with the second half of an ESPN Monday Night Football doubleheader as the Oakland Raiders host the Denver Broncos.
Denver is a one point NFL betting favorite in NFL Odds Week 1 numbers. Football stats show that the Raiders were terrible last season as they went 4-12 straight up and 6-9-1 versus the NFL betting pointspread. The Raiders were 2-5-1 versus the football number at home. The Raiders are expecting much better results this season as they added Darren McFadden at running back with their first pick in the NFL Draft. They are also expecting quarterback JaMarcus Russell to be much better this year. The Raiders were only 23rd in the NFL according to football stats in points scored last season. They were only slightly better on defense, ranking 22nd according to football betting stats.
The Broncos were a disappointment a year ago, going 7-9 straight up and 5-11 versus the NFL betting number. Football experts see that Denver is counting heavily on quarterback Jay Cutler bouncing back from a subpar season. What will hurt the Broncos early in the season is the suspension of star wide receiver Brandon Marshall. Last year the Broncos were only 20th overall in points scored according to football betting stats. They weren’t much better on defense as they ranked 19th in the league according to football stats.
The Raiders are 3-6 against the football pointspread in their last nine games. The Broncos have been terrible against the spread of late, going 6-18 against the football betting pointspread. Six of their last seven home games have gone over the football betting total. Denver is 15-6 to the over in their last 21 games including five of their last seven road games. Denver has won eight of the last 10 meetings between the two teams but the Raiders have covered the NFL betting pointspread the last four times. Two of the last three meetings at Oakland between the two teams went under the football betting total.