The 2015 NFL season is fast approaching and BookMaker Sportbook has the opening spreads for Week 1 games. Check out the lines and wager on your favorite NFL team. The 2015 season opens Thursday, September 10.
More people wager on football than any other sport. The NFL is a money-making machine and you can run your own mint if you make the right picks. Here is a look at some early lines that are likely to move as the season gets closer.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS at SAN FRANCISCO 49ers (-3)
The Vikings did enough during the offseason to close the gap with Green Bay in the NFC North and the likelihood of Adrian Peterson toting the rock takes a lot of pressure of Teddy Bridgewater and the offense. Minnesota upgraded its defense and has perhaps the finest collection of young talent in the NFC. The Vikings didn’t have a winning season last year but they are a team with plenty of upside heading into 2015.
Unlike the 49ers, who lost several key players to retirement and more to free agency. They also lost their head coach and both coordinators so it’s hard to take them seriously after all the upheaval. Above all the turnover, new head coach Mike Tomsula wants to change his offense and redefine his quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Not an easy task even for a group of players and coaches that have been together for some time. It’s even more difficult for a group that started working together just a few months ago.
Sure the Niners are the home team, but they certainly didn’t have a home-field advantage in their new Santa Clara digs last season, and that’s when they had a formidable defense and were actually good. With the amount of turnover on the roster and coaching staff, it’s difficult to imagine the Niners jumping out to a quick start and opening as a field goal favorite is wishful thinking. I see this game being a pick ‘em at best for San Francisco.
MIAMI DOLPHINS (-2.5) at WASHINGTON REDSKINS
The Dolphins were the big winners in free agency landing Ndamukong Suh, the best defensive lineman in the game. He immediately gives Miami the best defensive front in the game and even a healthy Robert Griffin III would have a tough time running away from him. And let’s face it the Redskins’ fortunes in 2015 are heavily on the shoulders of RG3. The Dolphins deserve to be favored by more than the 2.5 points they opened as.
There are still plenty of questions surrounding the Redskins and they have a lot of work to do. The relationship with head coach Jay Gruden and RG3 needs to be repaired. The organization and the people involved are saying the right things but those are the only folks that know the reality of the situation.
I like the Dolphins and what they did this offseason. They have better skill players on offense to surround Ryan Tannehill, who is quickly becoming a superstar. Suh gives them a presence to attack the quarterback and stop the run and they open with a game they can win by more than the 2.5-point opening spread. I can easily see this line moving another point or even higher.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS at HOUSTON TEXANS (-1.5)
Jump on the Chiefs and the points in this one. Kansas City was the best AFC team to not make the playoffs and they went through a turbulent season with injuries and suspensions. Sure they had their troubles, but a key player or two in the lineup makes 2014 a completely different season. They get several players back and could easily dethrone Denver in the AFC West.
Justin Houston is right up there with Houston’s J.J. Watt as far as terrors on the defensive side of the ball and those two cancel each other out. Quarterback Alex Smith, who has yet to prove he’s the difference maker needed to get Kansas City over the hump, is surrounded with more pieces and is better than what the Texans put under center. You can’t take Houston seriously without a quarterback and KC’s defense is too good to penetrate without one.
I really can’t see this line staying where it is, especially if the Texans don’t do anything at the quarterback spot. The Texans are a very average team, plain and simple, because of their situation at the most important position and they simply don’t have the weapons elsewhere to compensate. Unless Brian Hoyer or Ryan Mallett has a sudden transformation, the Texans aren’t going anywhere. I can see the Chiefs winning on the road by a touchdown.
BALTIMORE RAVENS at DENVER BRONCOS (-4)
A marquee matchup featuring two of the AFC’s best takes place opening week when the Ravens visit the Broncos. The Ravens are still the Ravens, a group as tough as they get in the AFC and the Broncos have plenty of questions after a busy offseason. And I don’t think the moves Denver GM John Elway made make his club better. Elway tore his roster and coaching staff apart after a first round playoff loss and brought in new head coach Gary Kubiak.
The Broncos still have Peyton Manning, but he wasn’t the same player down the stretch and Father Time has finally caught up with him. The Broncos are always tough to beat at home and that’s why the line opened at -4, but the Ravens are no strangers to competing in hostile environments and they have the most underrated quarterback in the league in Joe Flacco, who directs his club with precision.
I try to come up with reasons why the Ravens won’t be in the postseason but I simply can’t. They have quality players on both sides of the ball and plug the holes when they open up. I think Elway jumped the gun on his roster moves and they could backfire if Manning plays the way he did in the second half of last season. This game should be closer than the spread indicates and I can see the Ravens pulling out the win.
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