NFL Football Betting Raiders Preview

NFL betting enthusiasts should ignore last season’s struggles when considering the Raiders of 2008. Such is the case because the roster has undergone a significant upgrade that has the potential to turn around the Raiders’ fortunes in just one offseason. The Raiders had the fourth pick in the most recent draft and they acquired Darren McFadden, the dynamic running back from Arkansas who has impressed NFL betting analysts with his speed and power. Additionally, the Raiders have potentially solved some of their past weaknesses in the receiving corps by signing Drew Carter and Javon Walker, two talented wide receivers who will make the Raiders offense far more potent. Furthermore, the Raiders have improved their defense by signing star cornerback DeAngelo Hall. Also, quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who NFL betting fans barely were able to see play in 2007, will likely be a major part of the offense in 2008 and he has the potential to rekindle the Oakland offense.

Despite these improvements to the Oakland roster, some NFL betting analysts clearly remain skeptical about how well the Raiders can do on the playing field. For example, the early NFL betting line for the Raiders’ season win total is only 6½, which demands the Raiders to win three more games than last season, but still allows them to cover the NFL betting line with a mediocre 7-9 record. One element that may be working to the Raiders’ advantage is that the AFC West is not a particularly strong conference, with the Chargers as the only very good team. Therefore, if Oakland can win three or four of its match ups against Denver and Kansas City then the Raiders may defy those NFL betting enthusiasts who continue to doubt the team. In fact, in Week 1 of the 2008 season the Raiders will be facing off at home against the Broncos. The current NFL football betting line lists the Raiders as +1 underdogs, but the underdog has covered the NFL football betting spread in the last five Denver-Oakland NFL betting match ups and the Raiders have covered the spread in the last four of these NFL football betting match ups.