NFL preseason betting action will afford the Houston Texans to determine who will be their starting quarterback for the 2017 season – following the failed, single-season, Brock Osweiler experiment – as they face the Carolina Panthers.
Date: Wednesday, August 9
Time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Bank of America Stadium
Online gambling NFL preseason odds:
Texans +3 (-115) 36½ (-110) –
Panthers -3 (-105) 36½ (-110) –
Texans went for Brock, now they go for broke
Once it became apparent that the Texans were going to be the Alamo to Brock Osweiler’s Davy Crockett, it seemed as if Tom Savage was being groomed to take the quarterbacking mantle. And indeed he led Houston to its second straight AFC South title with a 12-10 win over the Bengals on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, he suffered a concussion on the regular-season closer against the Titans and thus missed the Texans’ two playoffs games. Savage has held on to the memory of that fateful New Year’s Day – which is a good thing; if he can actually remember it that means the concussion wasn’t that bad. However, he has now to contend with the 12th overall pick in the first round of the 2017 draft, Deshaun Watson, for the coveted starting quarterback spot. “Deshaun is ahead of any rookie quarterback I’ve ever been around,” Texans head coach Bill O’Brien said. Watson threw for more than 4000 yards and 30 touchdowns in his last two seasons with Clemson, with which he won the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship. Obviously the transition from college to NFL is not always a smooth one, but even if he did half what he did in the NCAA it’d still be considered a success. And then there is also Brandon Weeden of course but he only has an outside chance of starting under center.
Cam one, Cam all
By way of contrast, there is not a shadow of a doubt that – barring any unforeseen event – Cam Newton will take his rightful place on September 10th against the 49ers. But NFL preseason betting fans shouldn’t expect to see much of him if any at all this Wednesday. Not only is it customary to use your starter sparingly until the regular season, but Newton has been restricted from throwing in the last three days of practice due to a sore shoulder. The 2015 NFL Most Valuable Player underwent surgery to repair a partially torn rotator cuff on his throwing shoulder in March. The NFL preseason odds point to backup Derek Anderson starting against the Texans as well as third-stringer Joe Webb seeing some action on the gridiron too. Similarly, head coach Ron Rivera will have a chance to look at rookies Christian McCaffrey on running back and Taylor Moton on offensive tackle. The Panthers had a bout of the dreaded Super Bowl hangover in 2016 but will enter Wednesday as the slight NFL preseason betting faves to beat Houston. It’s just a preseason game, but a win is still a win and the Panthers could use one after losing four of their last regular season games, including the last two straight.