Patriots Odds: Two Bets To Make In Preseason Opener Vs. Giants

The New England Patriots finally will strap up and play hat-on-hat football Thursday night against the New York Giants.

While the excitement of simply being able to watch football is heightened early on, it’s never too soon to have some skin in the game, even in the preseason.

Here are two bets worth making in the Patriots-Giants preseason tilt:

All odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.

Giants -2.5, -115
There is one huge difference in reported approaches entering the first game of the preseason. The Patriots reportedly will not play Mac Jones and several starters in the exhibition game, while Giants rookie head coach Brian Daboll told reporters, “I anticipate all of our guys playing,” at a press conference on Sunday, as transcribed by Patriots Country’s Richie Whitt.

While preseason games are far from predictable, having second-string quarterback Bailey Zappe (who hasn’t gotten off to the best start) lead a New England offense that has struggled all training camp and reportedly will feature a heavy dosage of backups against NFL starters is not a favorable venture. On the other hand, the second-string Patriots defense will oppose the Giants’ starting offense early on. All bets will be off in the second half, but New York has a sizeable advantage early Thursday night.

Under 34.5, -110
For the same reasons stated above, one shouldn’t expect the Patriots’ offense to come out swinging. The offense has yet to click, and having Zappe and Hoyer lead the charge makes things even more complicated. Zappe has been inconsistent as a passer and Hoyer missed a large portion of training camp.

There’s no reason to be super confident about the Patriots’ starting offense given the reports, never mind the backups playing the Giants’ starting unit. And that obviously will impact the game’s point total, which figures to remain low.

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