The Green Bay Packers have been one of the more lucrative teams to back in the preseason the last three seasons. Mike McCarthy’s troops will look to keep their unblemished record intact Week 3 on Friday night when they head to the bay, but they’ll be forced to deal with a reinvigorated 49ers side that just went into the defending Super Bowl champ’s house and came out with a surprising outright victory.
Closing out the Week 3 preseason slate on Friday, August 26, 2016 will be the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers from beautiful Levi’s Stadium at 10 p.m. ET.
Odds Analysis
The 49ers went off the betting board as the largest underdog of the 2016 preseason last Saturday night in Denver where they closed as six point underdogs. Though Coach Chip Kelly’s troops scored the dub costing many that steamed the Broncos from the opener, they’ll likely once again find themselves dogged in this spot after failing to come through as home chalk Week 1 against Houston.
Look for a suppressed total as well with the Packers giving up an average of just 11.5 points per game through the first two weeks of the exhibition season.
Quarterback Rotation
If you’ve tuned into the Packers first two preseason games hoping to get a glimpse of Mr. Discount Double Check, you came away unsatisfied with Aaron Rodgers not taking a single snap. Instead, Joe Callahan, rookie Marquise Williams and second year quarterback Brett Hundley have taken all the snaps to very mixed results.
It is however likely that Rodgers gets his first live action in this one even though Coach McCarthy wants to continue force feeding the rock to Eddie Lacy who is looking to bounce back from a miserable 2015 campaign.
It’s been a quarterback carousel for Coach Kelly thus far with Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder and Jeff Driskel taking all of the snaps. Heck, even Thad Lewis logged some time under center before ripping his ACL in the first preseason game against the Texans.
Gabbert’s the frontrunner for now, but we’re yet to see Colin Kaepernick take a single snap in the Niners’ new fast paced attack. Gabbert has hogged all the first team snaps with Kaepernick nursing a sore right shoulder, but he’s expected to return to practice this week. If healthy and ready to go, look for the former Pro Bowler to assume duties under center and get some work in against the Packers.
Coaching History
Dating back to the 2006 season, Green Bay stands 22-19 SU in the preseason under Coach McCarthy. The team’s won seven of its last 10 after getting the best of the Raiders at home last week and has won six of its last 10 Week 3 exhibitions.
Chip Kelly currently sits two games over .500 in the exhibition season since bolting Eugene, OR for the pros back in 2013. He’s won all three of his Week 3 matchups, and San Francisco stands 3-2 SU and ATS its last five home preseason games.
Quick Pick
Though just the preseason, there was much to like coming out of 49ers camp last week in Denver. They fell behind 7-0 quickly and looked to be on the verge of getting blown out, but a pick-six at the start of the second quarter flipped the script and they seized control without ever relinquishing the rest of the way.
Green Bay has absolutely nothing to prove here. Should Rodgers get some work in it would give the visitors the advantage early. However, once he’s out I’d certainly look to get on the Niners bus on the readjusted live betting line if down double digits. Gabbert looked pretty comfortable running Kelly’s attack last week as did Christian Ponder who had the best showing of all the San Fran quarterbacks.
Take the points with the Niners. This should be a squeaker either way.
NFL Odds: Packers 21, 49ers 20
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