The Kansas City Chiefs begin the Matt Cassel era on Saturday as they host the Houston Texans in preseason action. Cassel came over from the New England Patriots in the off-season and is expected to lead the Chiefs for many years to come. Kansas City is a two-point NFL betting favorite in their preseason home opener against Houston with a total of 37.5.
Cassel should get some playing time in the preseason and the Chiefs have some experienced backups behind him since Tyler Thigpen and Brodie Croyle were starting for the team last year. Ingle Martin is the fourth-string quarterback. Kansas City should be an interesting team to follow in the preseason in NFL football betting with new head coach Todd Haley. Normally a new head coach would want to get a win in his first game at home, even if it is in the preseason. Haley doesn’t seem too concerned though. “I don’t know if our pre-season is any more important than anybody else’s pre-season. It’s important to everybody and it goes fast and doesn’t seem long enough.” Haley said. Haley was the offensive coordinator in Arizona last year, so look for the Chiefs to throw the ball a lot this season.
Kansas City made a number of other changes that will be noticed in the NFL betting preseason. They added linebackers Mike Vrabel and Zach Thomas on defense and picked up wide receivers Bobby Engram and Amani Toomer on offense. Larry Johnson looks inspired to have a bounce back year running the ball while Dwayne Bowe could have a huge year with Cassel throwing him the ball.
The Texans have a very solid quarterback rotation led by Matt Schaub. The backup job is up for grabs between Dan Orlovsky and Rex Grossman. Quarterback rotations are huge in preseason NFL betting and the Texans have a good one. Houston has one of the best wide receivers in the NFL in Andre Johnson and a very good running attack led by Steve Slaton. Houston is considered a contender to finally have a winning season in 2009 and make the playoffs.
Houston and Kansas City have met just twice in the preseason in NFL betting. The Chiefs won 19-9 at home back in 2002 while the Texans won at home in 2006 by a score of 24-14. The teams have split their four regular season meetings.