NFL Betting: Watching the preseason is a good idea

Watching the NFL preseason helps gather future betting  information

Here’s a piece of advice for football bettors – do yourself a favor and watch the NFL preseason games. We’re not saying that because there’s really nothing better to do. But when you think about it, since you’re betting NFL football, there really IS nothing better you could possibly do. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?

You’re always going on about how meaningless the NFL preseason games are for everyone involved. Obviously this is going to be a casualty to some extent as the league looks to expand the schedule. Indeed, there are only three games on the slate at present. There was a point when the teams playing in the Hall of Fame Game playing seven preseason games, to go with 14 regular season games. That was exhibition overkill.

I’ve got friends who have been associated with the NFL, who could care less about betting on pro football, who positively scoff at the idea of watching any preseason games at all. This is understandable from their perspective, I guess, nothing counts in the league standings until the regular season starts.

Call me crazy, but I find myself glued to the television when some of these preseason games are on, and that’s why I think it is such a great service that the NFL Network televises replays of all the exhibition contests without fail.

Not only do these games get me in more of a mood for football, but I think they also serve a purpose as far as NFL betting is concerned. Let me explain.

I used to think the preseason games were rather benign exercises where the players simply went through the motions and loosened themselves up while waiting for the regular season to begin. While I admit there may be some truth to this when it comes to many of the front-line starters on a team, by the same token those starters also have their playing time limited for the most part.

The announcers are right when they say that the preseason games are like the Super Bowl for many of the players. After all, this is their opportunity to demonstrate that they can play in the NFL, working against the odds in many cases. It is simple enough for any NFL bettor to grasp that there are a lot of starting positions that are up for grabs on a ballclub, and the decisions as to who is going to start the games in the regular season are made based on performance in these preseason games.

So what you’re going to see is a level of intensity from some of the young players, who in this age of salary cap-consciousness may wind up playing key roles during the regular season. If you follow golf, you might draw a comparison between preseason football and what is known as the “Q School,” where players were battling to earn their PGA Tour card.

What you also get a chance to do in the preseason is see all the quarterbacks. In fact, the quarterbacks who do NOT start are the ones who will invariably get most of the playing time. This, of course, is for a reason; more often than not because a team has to make a decision as to who to keep and who to let go. At some point during the 16-game season, many teams are going to have to turn to a second-stringer at quarterback, or at some other skill position, due to an injury, and it would sure help you in your NFL betting to know a little bit about the substitute.

This goes for all the skill position guys in particular, because they’re the ones who you can at least get a decent look at. If you listen to a lot of people who really know the NFL, going through an entire scouting process, plus mini-camp, plus an entire summer training camp, still may not be enough to choose between one player and another at a certain position, so you know there are some legitimate diamonds in the rough. You may hear that so-and-so is going to be starting in place of a regular one week, and when you’re sizing up a game for NFL betting purposes you don’t want to get caught asking yourself, “Who the hell is THAT guy?”

Another thing I like about watching the preseason games, and why, as an NFL bettor, you should too, is that because the actual result of the game is not that critical, you’ll hear the announcers spending a lot of time talking about other things. You’ll hear them discussing the general state of the team, the status of certain star players, the depth at specific positions, along with attitudes, philosophies, sleepers, etc., all of which will give you a few tidbits here or there that you can take into the regular season.

The way NFL Network does it, you’ve got announcers who are “local” to a particular team, and they often use the announcers for on team in the first half, then switch to the announcers from the other team in the second half, so you get a perspective that’s more well-rounded than otherwise. When you’re betting NFL games, you need all the information and perspective you can get, so start with the NFL Preseason.