Ravens coach John Harbaugh clearly cared about winning exhibition games during Baltimore\u2019s NFL-record 24-game winning streak in the preseason that ended in 2023.<\/p>\n
Since then, it appears he couldn\u2019t care less. The Ravens have lost four of their last five preseason games and are on an 0-7 slide against the spread.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NFL preseason is the only time in U.S. professional sports when you can bet a team and a coach that is trying to win against a team and a coach that does not care to win,\u201d said WagerTalk handicapper Ralph Michaels (@CalSportsLV).<\/p>\n
A key to success in NFL preseason betting \u2014 which has long been scorned as the domain of degenerates when in reality it\u2019s dominated by sharps \u2014 is finding out which coaches want to win and which ones don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
Raiders first-year coach Pete Carroll has historically wanted to win exhibition games. He has the third-best record among active coaches against the spread, going 28-20-1 (58.3 percent) in 13 preseasons with the Seahawks, according to Bet Labs.<\/p>\n
Carroll compiled a 22-10 ATS record in his first eight preseasons in Seattle before finishing 6-10-1. He went 3-1 in his lone preseason with the Jets in 1994 and 3-1 in his first preseason with the Patriots in 1997.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Pete Carroll took over for Seattle, he made a point of winning preseason games. That\u2019s something I\u2019d be listening for in comments by the Raiders,\u201d Westgate SuperBook oddsmaker Ed Salmons said. \u201cBut once Seattle got good, he didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can make some educated guesses thinking certain new coaches are looking to win games. It\u2019s just nothing more than listening to interviews and reading between the lines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carroll is one of seven NFL coaches in their first year with a team that might try to start building a winning culture in the preseason. The other first-year coaches are Ben Johnson (Bears), Brian Schottenheimer (Cowboys), Liam Coen (Jaguars), Aaron Glenn (Jets), Mike Vrabel (Patriots) and Kellen Moore (Saints).<\/p>\n
Play, fade<\/p>\n
Harbaugh has a 38-22-1 ATS record in the preseason (63.3 percent), but Bills coach Sean McDermott has the highest winning percentage (68.2) with his 15-7-2 ATS mark.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, Giants coach Brian Daboll enters the preseason on a 1-8 spread slide, while Commanders coach Dan Quinn is 6-18 ATS. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni is 4-7-1 ATS.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the Eagles have ever used their starters in a preseason game under (Sirianni),\u201d Salmons said. \u201cI don\u2019t think the Rams have used a first-line player in the preseason in 10 years. But then again, it\u2019s how good are your backups? They\u2019ve got (quarterback Jimmy) Garoppolo. If he plays, he\u2019s competent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michaels recommends backing Buffalo under McDermott, who is on a 13-4 cover streak and 11-0 ATS as an underdog. He also suggests fading Bengals coach Zac Taylor and Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, who are a combined 1-10-1 ATS at home in the preseason and 4-16-2 straight up.<\/p>\n
Hall of Fame Game<\/p>\n
The Lions are consensus 1-point favorites over the Chargers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on Thursday in Canton, Ohio. The total is 33 for the NFL\u2019s annual preseason opener.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles coach Jim Harbaugh is 11-8 ATS in his career in the preseason but went 1-2 last year in his first season with the Chargers.<\/p>\n
Michaels leans toward taking Detroit and the over, which has cashed in the last three Hall of Fame games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really think Detroit\u2019s quarterback rotation is just too strong for me versus the Chargers,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have a Detroit coach in (Dan) Campbell who the last two years has gone 4-2 against the spread (in the preseason) and 6-3 over-under the last three (preseasons). The Chargers just don\u2019t care about the preseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michaels doesn\u2019t expect Lions starting quarterback Jared Goff or Chargers starter Justin Herbert to play. He believes in Detroit backup quarterbacks Hendon Hooker and Kyle Allen more than L.A.\u2019s backups, which include Trey Lance and DJ Uiagalelei.<\/p>\n
Hooker completed 29 of his 44 passes for 300 yards, a touchdown and an interception for the Lions last preseason and also rushed for 138 yards and a score.<\/p>\n
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com<\/a>. Follow @tdewey33<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Best, worst preseason records ATS<\/p>\n Courtesy of Bet Labs (active coaches only)<\/p>\n Coach record win percentage<\/p>\n Best<\/p>\n Sean McDermott 15-7-2 68.2<\/p>\n John Harbaugh 38-22-1 63.3<\/p>\n Pete Carroll 28-20-1 58.3<\/p>\n Jim Harbaugh 11-8 57.9<\/p>\n Worst<\/p>\n Brian Daboll 1-8 11.1<\/p>\n Dan Quinn 6-18 25.0<\/p>\n Nick Sirianni 4-7-1 36.4<\/p>\n Andy Reid 35-41-1 46.0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ravens coach John Harbaugh clearly cared about winning exhibition games during Baltimore\u2019s NFL-record 24-game winning streak in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-30477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}