John Harbaugh is one of the best coaches for preseason bettors. He and his Baltimore Ravens will kick off their 2015 season against a New Orleans Saints team with a ton to prove coming into the campaign.
ODDS ANALYSIS
Home field advantage is the only thing separating these two teams. The Ravens are getting the nod by a field goal, while the total is set high at 37.
QUARTERBACK ROTATION
If history repeats itself, the Saints should be letting their quarterbacks grip it and rip it here in Week 1. Drew Brees wasn't healthy last year for the start of the preseason, but the last time he was, he threw 10 passes and actually ran two drives in New Orleans' first exhibition.
Luke McCown is a proven vet, but he'll likely get a couple drives as well before giving way to some combination of rookie Garrett Grayson and Ryan Griffin. Griffin, if you remember correctly, busted onto the scene last year in the Saints' first preseason game, going 16-of-23 for 179 yards and a TD.
Joe Flacco probably won't play more than a drive or two for the Ravens, but Harbaugh has a history of only really playing two quarterbacks in this first preseason game. Bryn Renner clearly isn't going to make the team as anything more than a practice squad guy anyway, and Harbaugh will probably give veteran Matt Schaub plenty of reps to get used to his new offense.
COACHES' MOTIVATION
Sean Payton loves these early preseason games. He's 7-4 in his career in Week 1 of the preseason, and knows that he has a lot of new working parts to his lineup as well with seven starters from last year moving on.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"What's difficult is the unexpected dead money. We have a little bit of that, and we have to overcome that. That's part of the consequence and part of the decision process of, 'Hey, how are we going to handle this?' I think we're pretty good at that without undermining the ability to improve our roster. We'll overcome it. We'll handle it and overcome it." – Saints GM Mickey Loomis when asked whether the release of Junior Galette and the trade of Jimmy Graham will hurt the team's depth when it comes to the salary cap
POSITION BATTLE TO WATCH
The Ravens are fine along the offensive line, but they literally have undrafted rookies at every position trying to make this roster. There's going to be a point late in this game when there could be five undrafted rookie offensive linemen on the field at the same time for Baltimore, and that could spell big trouble.
INJURIES
The Ravens are really the only ones hampered by major injuries heading into this game. Dennis Pitta, Brent Urban and Matt Elam are all likely to miss the whole preseason. Elam was ruled out for the year early in camp with a torn biceps.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The Ravens are the clear choice here, knowing that they’re going to be using two starting-caliber quarterbacks for most of this game if Harbaugh's history repeats itself. Though Griffin was able to bust onto the scene last year for the Saints, we have a tough time imagining him duplicating that success this year.
Baltimore 27, New Orleans 17
The NFL lines for every game this season surfaced at BookMaker before anywhere else on the internet. The Baltimore Ravens are favored at -3 alongside a total of 37. Gamble on the game between every commercial break with BookMaker's live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen on the next play or how many points will be scored in the next quarter. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
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