NFL betting for Week 1 of the preseason gets underway on Thursday with five games including the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants at the Detroit Lions. Football betting odds have the Lions as a 3 point favorite with a total of 33.NFL betting may favor the Lions at home in this one. Most NFL betting gamblers will not want to take the Super Bowl champs since they have nothing to prove while the Lions will want to start out strong, even in the preseason.
The edge in quarterbacking for the game does look to be with the Giants though and that might influence the football betting outcome. After Eli Manning makes a token appearance, the Giants have David Carr, Anthony Wright and Andre Woodson. The Lions have Jon Kitna for a short time followed by Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton. None of those three inspire much confidence in NFL betting circles.
NFL betting experts tell us that the Giants lost some serious talent in the off-season including defensive end Michael Strahan who retired, tight end Jeremy Shockey who was traded to New Orleans, safety Gibril Wilson who went to the Raiders and linebackers Kawika Mitchell and Reggie Torbor. NFL betting information says that the Giants will also be without Super Bowl hero David Tyree and it is unlikely wide receiver Plaxico Burress will play. It is likely that receivers Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss, Domenik Hixon and Brandon London will see a lot of playing time according to NFL betting experts. With many starters seeing little, if any playing time, the Giants could be a good go-against in football betting in terms of NFL odds week 1 action.
On the other side of the field, the Lions will be looking to run the ball more this season with Tatum Bell and third-round draft choice Kevin Smith according to NFL betting experts. Football betting information says that offensive line coach Jim Colleto takes over as offensive coordinator now that Mike Martz is gone. The Lions should look to win the battles up front which might make this a low scoring game in NFL odds week 1 action.
NFL betting numbers show that Detroit is only 3-5 in the preseason under head coach Rod Marinelli. The Giants are 9-7 in NFL betting under head coach Tom Coughlin in the preseason. NFL betting stats show that this will be the first preseason meeting between the Lions and Giants since 1966. New York won that game 17-7 but Detroit is 9-4-1 all time against the Giants according to NFL betting numbers.