We're onto our first multi-game slate of Week 2 in the NFL preseason, and there's action from coast to coast on Friday night.
We start in New England, where the Panthers will test Bill Belichick's strong preseason record with some — reported — clarity at quarterback. Next up is the Saints' trip to Lambeau Field for a matchup with the Packers, before the Texans and Rams finish the night up on the West Coast in Los Angeles.
Our team of betting analysts has scoured the odds board and made its picks for the evening. Two of our writers are on plus-money moneylines.
Check out our picks and breakdowns below.
NFL Odds & Picks
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Sam Farley: We know all about Bill Belichick in preseason. He's no Jim Harbaugh, but he has an impressive 49-37 record but despite that we’ll be betting against him here.
This is far from a vintage Patriots team, which lost its first preseason game, against the Giants despite being at Gillette Stadium. Now, New England faces a Panthers team that's coming into this having beaten the Commanders.
It’s always very hard to pick a winner for games at this time of the year, but we know that quarterback is the most important position in football and it’s Carolina where you’ll see the most competition.
Baker Mayfield hasn’t yet been named the Week 1 starter, but it’s surely a matter of time. Matt Rhule is still trying to give the impression it’s a competition, so we should see some of Mayfield in this game, whereas we won’t see much from Mac Jones.
Once Mayfield has been pulled we’ll see Sam Darnold, PJ Walker and Matt Corral, which is a lot of talent for the Patriots' second and third string to face.
When you take a look at the QB matchups for this game, it makes the most sense to back the Panthers here at a tasty +180.
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Brandon Anderson: Packers coach Matt LaFleur sure does get the job done.
LaFleur got the Green Bay gig at the tender age of 40 and quickly took the team to the top of the NFC. The Packers went 13-3 that year, then repeated the feat the following season. Last year, they won 13 games for a third straight season.
LaFleur is now 39-10 in three years. Even if he loses the season opener, he'll have the best winning percentage of any NFL coach in history with at least 50 games on the books. Pretty, pretty good …
… at least in the regular season.
But all that Packers winning has not translated to preseason. LaFleur is an ugly 2-6 in the preseason, losing games by an average of 7.4 points. Blindly betting the moneyline against LaFleur's Packers every preseason game would have netted a 56.6% ROI so far in his head-coaching career thanks to inflated odds. LaFleur saves his best stuff — and usually his best players — for the games that matter.
Remember, Green Bay is missing stud tackles David Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins, so you know LaFleur won't risk Aaron Rodgers for long, if at all. That leaves Jordan Love against this nasty Saints defense, and Love has left plenty to be desired.
I'll ride with the New Orleans defense and hope LaFleur stays losing until the games actually matter.
