SATURDAY PRESEASON NFL: ALL 10 GAMES

BY ADAM GREENE

Forget that it’s the NFL preseason for a moment and I want you to focus on what would be the perfect day of professional football. Because, completely by accident and in the first full week of the preseason, the league has stumbled upon something magical.

Take a look at the schedule, specifically the kickoff times of the nationally televised games and realize, as I have, what we could have every single NFL Sunday. On the NFL Network, at 1 p.m. EST, you have the Miami Dolphins at the Chicago Bears. At 4 p.m. EST, you have the Denver Broncos at Minnesota Vikings followed by the Cleveland Browns at Jacksonville Jaguars at 7 pm. EST. Lastly, we end the night on the west coast with the Los Angeles Chargers at the Los Angeles Rams at 10 p.m. EST.

There is no reason at all, with all the teams in the league that play in Pacific Standard Time, that we couldn’t enjoy four live and complete NFL games every Sunday. This is the dream schedule played out in the exhibition season. They could sell the 10 p.m. game to Amazon or Apple or Youtube, since it would wrap after midnight on the east coast if a network wouldn’t bite (but they would). They do it on the Monday Night Football opener every year. Give us two Sunday Night Football games every week. Who doesn’t want this?

As it is, we’ll just have to hope some network or NFL executive sees the same magic that I did in this spacing. That their eyes glaze over thinking about all the extra TV money it would bring in. What’s the worst that could happen? Let’s just try it one season and see what we have. How about it?

Hey, since we’ve got some games and lines, we might as well pick them.

Here are your games and odds for a full Saturday of NFL action:

MIAMI DOLPHINS AT CHICAGO BEARS (-3.5, O/U: 35.5)

I suspect we’ll get to see at least a quarter of Tua Tagovailoa for the Dolphins in this one, but what’s really got me pumped is seeing Justin Fields trot out for he Bears. He’ll probably play two quarters and, regardless of what Matt Nagy says publicly, Fields can win this job in the preseason. An ugly showing from QB1 Andy Dalton could also make that happen sooner than later too. Bears 24, Dolphins 20

DENVER BRONCOS AT MINNESOTA VIKINGS (+2, O/U: 35)

Kirk Cousins says he’ll do anything to not catch COVID-19 except the one thing that works the best; getting vaccinated. As someone who has taken the shot and was happy to do it, I can say it was much easier than traveling around in a Plexiglas container, wrapped in saran wrap or covered in hand sanitizer as Cousins has suggested he’ll do. I like Denver here, as it tries to pick a quarterback between Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock. Minnesota should probably hold Cousins out and try to at least get a month out of him before he inevitably brings the Delta variant into their QB room again and costs them two weeks of forfeits. Broncos 16, Vikings 13

CLEVELAND BROWNS AT JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (-2.5, O/U: 37)

It’s Tebow time! We can all pretend we’re just as excited to see the Browns’ debut their new uniforms or begin their quest to return to the playoffs. That we’re pumped to see Baker Mayfield connect with Odell Beckham Jr., returning from injury. We can act like the Jags’ Trevor Lawrence is the marquee player suiting up here, making his first NFL start. But we all know the truth. We want to see Tim Tebow running tight end routes, playing wild cat in goal line formations and getting into the paint. Jaguars 20, Browns 16

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS AT BALTIMORE RAVENS (-2.5, O/U: 36)

Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill have to work this thing out and the battle begins in Baltimore against a team that lost most of its pass rush to free agency. The Ravens still have some elite corners, who probably won’t play much. I’d also suspect that Lamar Jackson will ride the pine in this one too. I certainly wouldn’t let him play in a meaningless exhibition game coming off his second bout with COVID-19. Saints 27, Ravens 13

NEW YORK JETS AT NEW YORK GIANTS (+1, O/U: 34.5)

It’s a new era for the Jets as head coach Robert Saleh breaks in rookie Zach Wilson and no one can wait to see the result. After watching this play from the Giants’ scrimmage Thursday, I’m not sure the other New York team is quite as pumped about their QB. I feel that Joe Judge is really going to try to win this one, in spite of himself, as the Jets are in real danger of just stealing the city entirely even if both teams finish under .500 this season. Giants 17, Jets 16

CINCINNATI BENGALS AT TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (-6, O/U: 33.5)

I hope, for their sake, we see very little of the Bucs starters in this game. It does you no good to bring back all 22 members of your Super Bowl winning team if you get some of them knocked out in August. As for Cincy, they have resisted the urge to toss out Joe Burrow and will at least wait another week before testing his knee. Bucs 17, Bengals 13

HOUSTON TEXANS AT GREEN BAY PACKERS (-3, O/U: 35)

Speaking of QBs you won’t see, I can’t imagine a scenario where Deshaun Watson plays a down for the Texans in the preseason, or regular season for that matter. They can’t trade him if he’s hurt. This game will all be about Jordan Love, who will likely get the whole first half. He needs the work as it will be his first live game action in nearly two years. Packers 31, Texans 9

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS AT SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (-1.5, 38)

We get a rematch of Super Bowl LIV, but probably won’t see many of the players that took the field in that one. Not longer than a series or so at least. What we’ll be watching for is Trey Lance coming in for the Niners in the second series and likely through the third quarter. He needs the reps and San Francisco, like Chicago, needs a good long look at a guy that could start regular season games this season. 49ers 27, Chiefs 20

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AT LAS VEGAS RAIDERS (-2.5, O/U: 37.5)

The Seahawks have a little camp drama as starting left tackle Duane Brown and safety Jamal Adams are both in camp, but refusing to practice until they get new contracts. You probably wouldn’t see much of them anyway in this game and if I’m Pete Carroll, I keep Russell Wilson out too. But Pete’s gonna Pete, so you might see a series risking one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The Raiders have shown next to nothing since Jon Gruden’s return to coaching, so there’s no clue how he’ll handle this preseason game. I’m guessing a couple of series from the starters, but who knows? They do their own thing. Raiders 24, Seahawks 19
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS AT LOS ANGELES RAMS (+3.5, O/U: 32.5)

Here’s a game where you will see no star player on the field. Sean McVay, head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, is notorious for not playing starters in the preseason and won’t change it up this year. Brandon Staley, new head coach of the Chargers, has learned from his old boss, and will not play any of this key players in the preseason too.

That means for the Chargers it’ll be Chase Daniel getting the call, then Easton Stick (who I still don’t believe is a real person), followed by K.J. Costello. They’ll be throwing the ball to Joshua Palmer, Joe Reed and Donald Parham Jr when Justin Jackson and Joshua Kelly aren’t running the ball.

For the Rams, it’ll be even uglier as primary back up John Wolford just had his appendix removed and won’t play. That means they’ll start either Bryce Perkins or Delvin Hodges. Their reserve receiver and running back group are a little more interesting as second round speedster Tutu Atwell will make his NFL debut. Since losing Cam Akers for the season, Darrell Henderson Jr. is in bubble wrap, but other runners like Xavier Jones, Jake Funk and Raymond Calais could shine. But I don’t expect them to. In fact, I expect this to be the ugliest game I’ll watch every single second of this season. Chargers 13, Rams 10

Last week

Straight up: 1-0

Against the spread: 1-0

Preseason

Straight up: 1-0

Against the spread: 1-0

The NFL season begins on Thursday, Sep. 9 and the Week 1 Schedule is already up and taking bets at BetOnline.AG.

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