Texans vs. Patriots Point Spread: NFL Pre-Season Week 1 Odds, Prediction
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Both clubs begin their brief preseason campaigns, hoping to see what sort of backups and draft picks they have, with the odd starter tossed in for some competitive reps. In the case of the Houston Texans, DeMeco Ryans debuts as an NFL head coach after spending time as a coordinator in San Francisco.
Of note, the NFL odds have the Texans as -3.5 favourites entering this contest.
NFL Point Spread and Betting Analysis
Providing betting analysis for preseason contests is a dicey prospect. Most of the players on the gridiron are second if not third-stringers and oftentimes results in August don’t translate to regular stats.
Case in point, Houston was a perfect 3-0 in August 2022, defeating the 49ers, Rams, and Saints. Come January, they were the AFC South’s basement dweller at 3-13-1. Reports indicate that C.J. Stroud will start at QB.
New England was 1-2 last summer, with losses at the hands of the Raiders and Giants and a win over the Panthers. The Pats went on to merit an 8-9 record regular season tally, narrowly missing the playoffs.
Houston Texans
Houston is building from the ground up. The last couple of campaigns have been unmitigated disasters from a football standpoint. The club sported a bottom-ten defence in 2022, so hiring former 49ers defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans feels like a logical step in the right direction.
After missing out on Bryce Young at the NFL Draft (one of those times when winning a game late in the season was arguably a bad idea), the franchise selected C.J. Stroud in the number two slot. Some wheeling and dealing allowed the Texans to also select pass rusher Will Anderson in the first round. In a nutshell, there is a lot of young, inexperienced talent with high ceilings in Houston playing for a first-year head coach. That’s part of the excitement of rebooting a squad. Even offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik is a rookie at his position.
Veteran receiver Robert Woods, who experienced a lost season in Tennessee, comes in to hopefully spruce up a previously moribund WR corps. Former Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz should be a good blanket target for young Stroud.
New England Patriots
A franchise that spent so long as an NFL powerhouse enters its fourth consecutive season with tempered expectations. It’s starting to feel as though this is the new normal, at least until things change.
The one constant is head coach Bill Belichick, the mastermind behind so much of the team’s past success and, many would argue, the reason why the club has completely flamed out since 2020. QB Mac Jones gets to work with Bill O’Brien, an offensive coordinator who is actually offensive-minded (the less said of 2022, the better). That said, we’ll probably see more of Bailey Zappe and Trace McSorley than Jones this month.
While no more passes will go Jakobi Meyers’ way, WR Juju Smith-Schuster signed with them in the offseason, as did formers Dolphin Mike Gesicki. As for new blood, the Patriots went with cornerback Christian Gonzalez and edge defender Keion White in the first two rounds.
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