Thursday Night Football betting: Giants at Patriots, preseason week 1

08 August 2022

Some would contend that betting on NFL preseason games represents some serious degeneracy. Well, NFLbets is a safe space for those interested in such wagering. No judgement will be passed on those NFL bettors considering the lines on the second preseason game of 2022, namely

New York Giants -1½ at New England Patriots, over/under 33½ points

(Ah, it feels good to be able to type in that format again…)

If NFLbets didn’t know better, we’d swear the sportsbooks setting the Giants as favorites is little more than a troll job on Bill Belichick and/or obnoxious Boston fans willing to put money where their motormouths are in any situation involving their beloved Patriots.

On the other hand, perhaps the bookmakers are just as confused as the general public at the contradictory reports on last year’s Offensive Rookie Of The Year runner-up, QB Mac Jones.

Toward the beginning of camp, the buzz on the beefed-up Mac was all good. Even those outside the six-state New England region had to take notice of an early assessment of year-two Jones by Belichick: “I think Mac’s done a great job. He’s worked extremely hard. He’s got a tremendous work ethic. In all areas, I think there’s a dramatic improvement – his physical work and conditioning, working on his mechanics, working on his footwork, working on his understanding of our offense, of opponent defenses, of situations, all those things…”

But since the opening of training camp, reportage has been mostly of the pig-pile variety regarding Jones. Most recently, on Friday, Jim Rome on his eponymous show proclaimed that “Mac Jones and the Patriots are struggling in the absence of Josh McDaniels.

On Saturday, the NFL Network’s Boston beat writer Mike Girardi chimed in with:

Girardi backpedaled from the clickbait-y take quickly, claiming New England and by extension, Jones, were having difficulties along the offensive line, thereby not giving Jones enough time to throw.

No matter: By today – Monday – the Belichick-is-ruining-Jones narrative was becoming standard. A Fox Sports headline of today read, “Is Patriots’ Offensive Plan Hurting Mac Jones’ Development?” (Spoiler: The writer opines yes.)

As for NFLbets, we’re not departing the Mac train just yet. However, for this game, we’ll go with the cliché “Where there’s smoke there’s fire.” New England’s OC by committee” probably isn’t well-established yet and perhaps the OL is still behind the curve for ’22. Take the New York Giants -1½ at New England.