NFL Top Pointspread Plays

Top Three Pointspread Plays- NFL Week 1

The 2010 NFL regular season kicks off this Thursday night when Minnesota takes on New Orleans in a rematch of last season’s NFC Championship game. There is a full state of games on Sunday, Sept. 12 with the final two from Week 1 scheduled for Monday night.

After watching the preseason it is hard to get a solid handle on what to expect on opening day. Some teams appear ready to go, while some others could probably use another few weeks of training camp to try and work out the kinks.

Here is a look at my top three ‘pointspread’ plays for Week 1 in the NFL. All lines are courtesy of Sportsbook.com

vs.

Indianapolis Colts (-2) @ Houston Texans

Indianapolis begins the defense of its AFC South title on the road against division rival Houston in what promises to be an all-out aerial assault between two of the most prolific passing games in the league. Colts QB Peyton Manning clearly has the edge over Texans gunslinger Matt Schaub, leading his team to six consecutive victories straight up over Houston, but he is only 3-3 against the spread.

In the last 10 games these two teams have played against one another, the Colts are 9-1 SU and 5-5 ATS as the favorite in every game. In five road games Indianapolis is 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS.

It is obvious the Colts will win the game, but will they cover? Two points is the tightest spread in the last 11 games as the average spread has been 8.8 points. The Texans are better, but still not ready to take the next step. The Pick: Indianapolis -2

vs.

Green Bay Packers (-3) @ Philadelphia Eagles

Of all 32 teams in the NFL, Green Bay looked the best prepared to begin the season over the four preseason games it played. In limited action, Packer QB Aaron Rodgers completed 77.4 percent of his passes and threw for 470 yards and six TD’s. Philadelphia on the other hand has replaced its long time starting QB Donovan McNabb with Kevin Kolb. There were some obvious growing pains in the Eagles offense’s performance this preseason with Kolb at the helm.

Philadelphia has won seven of the last 10 games against the Packers SU and eight of them ATS, but they have not played each other since opening day of the 2007 season.

The Eagles secondary will struggle to contain Rodgers and their offensive line will struggle to protect Kolb. The Packers should roll to a double-digit victory in this one. The Pick: Green Bay -3

vs.

Dallas Cowboys (-3 ½) @ Washington Redskins

This NFC East rivalry is one of the best in the NFL as these two teams have developed a genuine dislike of one another over the years. No matter what the situation, most of these games end up being a knock-down slugfest until the final gun. Dallas has added rookie Dez Bryant to its arsenal of receivers and Washington’s new signal caller, Donovan McNabb is extremely familiar with the Cowboys from his long tenure in Philadelphia, making this opening day clash all that more interesting.

These two teams have evenly split the last 10 games they have played against one another SU and the Redskins have a 7-3 advantage ATS. Last season they split the two games, with each team covering on the road. Dallas did shutout Washington 17-0 on the road in Week 16 last season, but the prior three games they played were decided by a total of seven points.

McNabb has had success against the Cowboys throughout his career and gives his new team a chance to keep this game close until the end.The Pick: Washington +3 ½