NFL Betting: Texans Hope Week 1 Trend Continues on Moneyline
by Bovada Sportsbook Staff | Sept. 9, 2013
While Week 1 is exactly that – the first leg in a marathon of 16 grueling and equally valuable matchups – there’s no doubting its importance in the locker room and particularly its impact on team momentum. It’s hard to take the NFL moneyline by storm, after all, when you drop the first game out of the gate.
During the 2013 opening weekend, many of the NFL’s elite showed exactly why they’re the ones favored on the Super Bowl futures – and have been all offseason long. The Denver Broncos, of course, filleted the Baltimore Ravens on primetime television Thursday night, while the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers all came away from the first contest of the season victorious.
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Given Denver’s league-leading 11/1 odds of winning the Super Bowl, or San Fran’s 6/1, it’s not hard to see how they would emerge as formidable forces on Day 1. After disappointing losses to the Ravens in the postseason last winter (yes, both of them), they’re as ready for revenge as they’ll ever be.
Week 1 isn’t significant to immediate Super Bowl contenders only; however, it can be a critical turning point for teams on the bubble as well. Teams like the Houston Texans who’ve had their fortitude tested over the years, most recently with an injury to star running back Arian Foster.
Foster and the Texans kick off their season Monday night with -4.5 NFL odds of taking down the San Diego Chargers on the road. Sure, a big green ‘W’ next to a mid-tier team like the Chargers may not make or break Houston’s season, but it’s a confidence-builder ripe for the picking and a symbolic achievement.
After winning 10 games in 2011, and then another 12 in 2012, the time is now for the Texans to prove that they can legitimately contend for a championship. Despite the health concerns, they have 14/1 odds on the NFL futures list.
Foster may see action in a platoon against San Diego, but so long as he can make it through all 60 minutes without re-aggravating the calf injury he sustained last May, head coach Gary Kubiak, Texans supporters and NFL oddsmakers alike will have to consider it at least a mild success.
Picture what an emphatic display of health from Foster, accompanied by a significant victory on the road would do for the team’s 2013 forecast. A debut gone wrong could cripple the campaign.
Also featured on the Monday night card is a Philadelphia Eagles undergoing no less than an identity crisis. Not only will Philly make their 2013 debut as the away club against league poster-child Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins, they’ll do so with a new head coach at the helm and uncertainty under center.
With just 50/1 odds of winning the Super Bowl, few expect Chip Kelly’s NFL inauguration to be a wild success, but a hot start could change that. They’re +3.5 underdogs against the Skins according to the individual game line.
Unfortunately for Philadelphia – although fortunately for Houston – the Week 1 games already in the books didn’t deviate much from what the NFL moneyline projected, hence Denver, San Francisco and Seattle all having field days over the course of the past week. In other words, the teams that were supposed to win, generally did and that’s a boring, but significant trend.
If you’re Arian Foster and looking for something to take comfort in prior to kickoff, that’s music to your ears.
If you’re Chip Kelly, it just means it’s time to break the pattern.
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