Bad news: the preseason isn’t over yet. Good news: it only lasts three games now (unless you played in the Hall of Fame Game, in which case you have four). The Las Vegas Raiders were one of those HOF participants and they are headed into game number four on Friday with a perfect 3-0 record. Friday’s schedule also features the Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots.
Here is a look at the three components of this Week 3 opening parlay.
For this play we are going with one favorite against the spread and two unders. Let’s break down each of the three legs one by one.
Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule named Baker Mayfield the starting quarterback earlier this week. Now that the competition with Sam Darnold is over, there is no need to see either one of them in another preseason game. At most Darnold may be on the field for a series or two. The Panthers are coming off a 10-point effort in a loss at New England last weekend and there isn’t any reason to expect much more than that in this contest. After all, Buffalo’s defense so stacked that even the backups can handle Carolina’s offense. Heck, the Bills might even be able to handle Carolina’s starters.
Head coach Sean McDermott has already said that his starters – or at least most of them – will be on the bench, so that means no Josh Allen in this game. All signs point toward an under play.
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Starters are not going to get a whole lot of playing time in Week 3 of the preseason. After all, this is Week 3 of 3, not Week 3 of 4 like in pre-Covid years. In the Cowboys’ case, their starters probably won’t get any.
Head coach Mike McCarthy said that he will treat this game just as he did the first two. In other words, his starters aren’t playing. Yes the Cowboys and Chargers combined for 50 points in Week 2, but keep in mind that Dallas’ opening contest resulted in a 17-7 loss to Denver. Cowboys QBs combined to complete just 21 of 36 passes in that setback. Meanwhile, Seattle hoisted up an absurd 55 pass attempts in its second game and still scored just 11 points during a loss to Chicago. No matter who is on the field for Dallas, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn should have no trouble containing the Seahawks’ offense.
We are 2-0-1 on Raiders so far in this preseason, so I am going right back to the well for the finale. In their opener (the Hall of Fame Game against the Jaguars) I cashed Over 30.5 (they won 27-11). In Week 1 we had them covering a -3.5 spread against Minnesota, and then in Week 2 I had them at -2 against the Dolphins and that pushed in a 15-13 Raiders victory.
I could be wrong, but head coach Josh McDaniels strikes me as the kind of guy who would want to really go for a perfect 4-0 preseason. He is also facing former boss Bill Belichick, which only adds to the incentive for victory. New England QB Mac Jones threw eight passes in Week 2 and that’s probably all he will throw in the preseason. According to beat writers, Las Vegas has clearly been the better team in joint practices this week and that should be the case on the game field, as well.
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