Written By: Richard Salvatori
The National Football League isn’t necessarily “back,” just yet, but things are rounding into shape as we head towards the Draft on Thursday, April 8th. With the NFL schedule set in stone, offshore sports book BetOnline has opened its doors up for Week 1 betting action for the 2014 NFL season.
There are limitations regarding what can be bet at this very early stage in the game (some books allow up to $5K on sides and $1K on totals), but it’s never too early to consider opening perception surrounding NFL teams in the minds of bookmakers. Below is the full list of NFL Week 1 openers, both sides and totals, as well as, the current live odds at the time of this post.
NOTE: We highlighted (in bold red) the largest NFL Week 1 line moves so far.
The Kickoff Special on Thursday, September 4th will feature the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, as they host Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers. Betonline opened the Seahawks 3.5-point favorites over the Packers, while, one prominent sportsbook in Las Vegas aligned Seattle 5-point favorites. To take it one step further depicting dramatic difference in oddsmaker opinion, Sportsbook.com currently lists Seattle as 6.5-point favorites.
Outside of the Jaguars visit to Philadelphia, there is no other double-digit spreads to speak of. In fact, there is not another NFL Week 1 point spread greater than six points, and that speaks to the conservatism typically shown by bookmakers at this early stage in the NFL betting market.
Indianapolis will head to Denver for the Sunday Night opener as six-point underdogs, the second largest spread on the board. Other notable match-ups include two legendary franchises squaring off using the 4 o’clock hour on the first Sunday when San Francisco (-3) heads to Dallas. The Monday Night doubleheader will feature San Diego (+3) in the desert during the later bout while the Giants (+3.5) visit the Lions earlier in the night.