NFL Preseason Week 1 Free Pick- Houston at Carolina

NFL Preseason Brings QB Questions for Texans

The Houston Texans kickoff the first full week of action in the NFL preseason with a road game against the Carolina Panthers. The Wednesday night game is the featured matchup on the NFL Network. BetAnySports opened the Panthers as three-point favorites. The total was opened at 36. After a couple of weeks of betting, the line now has the Panthers as 1-point favorites. The total is now up to 38.

The big question for Houston heading into this preseason opener is which quarterback on its current roster will line up under center. Early September is when the games start counting for real, and it is not far away. The Texans drafted former Clemson standout Deshaun Watson with the 12^th overall pick in the 2017 draft. He may have to wait a bit to take his place as the team’s quarterback of the future. Tom Savage is still holding the top spot on the depth chart. Houston also has quarterback Brandon Weeden on its roster.

The Texans have been able to win the AFC South Division the last two years. They won it with a record of 9-7 both seasons. Their projected win total this season has been set at 8.5. Moneyline odds set at -110 for both the UNDER and the OVER. Houston is a slight +200 favorite to win this division again in 2017. They are followed by Indianapolis with +220 betting odds. Last year the Texans went 2-8 against the spread when closing as an underdog.

Panthers Look to Improve During NFL Preseason

Carolina slipped all the way to 6-10 last season after making a run all the way to the Super Bowl back in 2015 after going 15-1 straight-up in the regular season. The Panthers were 6-8-2 ATS overall in 2016 and they went 3-4-1 ATS on their home field. Their projected win total for this season stands at nine games with the betting odds slightly favoring the OVER at -115. Carolina’s betting odds to win the NFC South are set at +225 as the second favorite behind Atlanta (+155).

There is no quarterback controversy in Carolina with a healthy Cam Newton back under center, but it remains to be seen how much action he will see on Wednesday night. Panthers’ fans will be more interested in watching first round pick Christian McCaffrey run the ball in an effort to take some of the pressure off Newton as the center piece of this offense.

I would lay the one-point with BetAnySports in this game and take Carolina. While the actual results do not count in the standings, I get the feeling that the Panthers would like get things started on a winning note after a very disappointing 2016 campaign.

Recent Form

Name	Record	ATS	Offense	Defense	Diff	ATS Home	ATS Away	OU Record	OU Home	OU Away
Houston	10-8	7-10-1	17.89	20.89	-3	5-3-1	2-7	8-10	4-5	4-5
Carolina	6-10	6-8-2	23.06	25.12	-2.06	3-4-1	3-4-1	8-8	3-5	5-3

Power Stats

Yards Per Point

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
HOU	17.43	14.37	3.06
CAR	14.9	14.32	0.59

 

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
HOU	9.18	10.26	-1.08
CAR	12.04	10.49	1.55

Yards Per Rush

Name	Offense	Defense	Differential
HOU	3.99	3.95	0.04
CAR	4.00	3.90	0.1

Team Records

Houston Texans

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	10-8	8-1	2-7	7-10-1	5-3-1	2-7	17.89	20.89	-3.00
vs Conf	8-6	6-1	2-5	5-8-1	3-3-1	2-5	18.07	21.21	-3.14
vs Div	5-1	3-0	2-1	3-2-1	1-1-1	2-1	22.83	20.83	2.00
Last 3	1-2	1-0	0-2	1-2	1-0	0-2	20.00	24.00	-4.00

Carolina Panthers

Name	Record	Home	Away	ATS	ATS Home	ATS Away	Offense	Defense	Diff
Overall	6-10	4-4	2-6	6-8-2	3-4-1	3-4-1	23.06	25.13	-2.07
vs Conf	5-7	3-3	2-4	4-6-2	2-3-1	2-3-1	22.67	25.83	-3.16
vs Div	1-5	1-2	0-3	1-4-1	0-2-1	1-2	23.33	29.33	-6.00
Last 3	1-2	0-1	1-1	2-1	0-1	2-0	19.33	21.67	-2.34

Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	17.89	28	25.13	26
Away Team Road Passing vs Home Team Home Passing Defense	169.11	32	226.63	11
Away Team Road Rushing vs Home Team Home Rushing Defense	119.00	7	83.50	7
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	23.06	15	20.89	12
Home Team Home Passing vs Away Team Road Passing Defense	223.00	24	214.22	4
Home Team Home Rushing vs Away Team Road Rushing Defense	119.00	9	108.44	12

Head To Head Summary

Name	Record	ATS	OU	Score	Rush	YPR	PA	CP	PY	TY	TO +/-
Houston	2-2	2-2	1-3	19.50	112.00	3.93	33.75	58.52	205.75	317.75	1.25
Carolina	2-2	2-2	1-3	20.75	144.50	4.82	31.25	57.60	202.00	346.50	1.25

Head To Head Detail

Date	Away	Home	Score	Line	Total	OU Result	ARY	APY	ATY	ATT	HRY	HPY	HTY	HTT	Away Team Attempts	Home Team Attempts	Away Team Completions	Home Team Completions
Sep 20, 2015	HOU	CAR	17-24	61	239	300	1	172	178	350	1
Dec 18, 2011	CAR	HOU	28-13	166	150	316	0	150	208	358	3
Sep 16, 2007	HOU	CAR	34-21	119	227	346	1	66	287	353	3
Nov 2, 2003	CAR	HOU	10-14	174	193	367	1	118	149	267	0

Betting Odds Trends

No Trends to Report

Team Last 5 Games

Houston Texans

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Jan 14, 2017	NE	16-34	L	16.5/44	L/O	104	181	285	98	279	377	0	A
Jan 7, 2017	OAK	27-14	W	-4/37.5	W/O	123	168	291	64	139	203	-3	H
Jan 1, 2017	TEN	17-24	L	3/41.5	L/U	46	243	289	105	133	238	0	A
Dec 24, 2016	CIN	12-10	W	-3/41	L/U	95	155	250	50	244	294	-1	H
Dec 18, 2016	JAC	21-20	W	-3.5/39	L/O	79	308	387	67	83	150	1	H

Carolina Panthers

Date	Opponent	score	Result	line	ATS Result	offensive rush yards	offensive passing yards	offensive total yards	defensive rush yards	defensive passing yards	defensive total yards	turnovers	Location
Jan 1, 2017	TB	16-17	L	3/44.5	W/U	128	207	335	112	188	300	1	A
Dec 24, 2016	ATL	16-33	L	3/48.5	L/O	119	183	302	152	256	408	2	H
Dec 19, 2016	WAS	26-15	W	7/50.5	W/U	148	290	438	29	306	335	-3	A
Dec 11, 2016	LAC	28-16	W	-1/48.5	W/U	126	146	272	58	220	278	-4	H
Dec 4, 2016	SEA	7-40	L	9/44	L/O	89	182	271	240	294	534	1	A

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