You could pick almost any two teams out in NFL preseason betting, and without even knowing who the teams are, predict the point spread most of the time. The oddsmakers don’t really know much about what is going to happen in the preseason and neither do the bettors. Many times in NFL preseason odds the home team will simply be a three-point favorite.
NFL preseason betting lists eight games with a point spread of three for the opening week with two other games very close with spreads of 2.5. Two games don’t have lines yet so there could easily be two more games that have a field goal pointspread.
The opening week of NFL preseason odds really begins on Thursday, August 12th when there are three games schedule. The Hall of Fame Game which took place on Sunday night is an extra game as both the Cowboys and the Bengals will still have four remaining preseason games just like every other team in the league. In fact, the Cowboys have short rest as they host the Raiders on Thursday night. One of the games on Thursday has a field goal point spread as the Baltimore Ravens are three-point home favorites against Carolina in a game that can be seen on ESPN.
Friday’s action has three games on the slate and the home team is a three-point favorite in each contest. Philadelphia is favored at home by a field goal over Jacksonville, Washington is laying three to Buffalo and Atlanta is a three-point choice vs. Kansas City. Saturday’s games begin with Miami a three-point home favorite vs. Tampa Bay. San Diego is a field goal favorite at home against Chicago, Seattle is laying three at home vs. Tennessee and San Francisco is laying three points at Indianapolis. The one road favorite in that group is San Francisco since the Colts are not expected to play Peyton Manning for more than a series or two and their backup quarterbacks are weak. It is also very likely that Cincinnati will be laying a field goal at home against Denver when that line comes out.
Just how many times do NFL games have a field goal pointspread? It does happen but not eight times in a single week. Looking at the regular season lines for Week 1 you will notice four games with a field goal pointspread. That is half as many as what we see in Week 1 of the preseason.