2018 NFL Preseason Week 4 Betting Preview

2018 NFL Preseason Week 4 Betting Preview

Written by on August 27, 2018

We have one more week of preseason action in the National Football League before the start of the regular season, and this can be the trickiest as far as sports betting goes. Most teams use Week 3 as their dress rehearsal to get some of the kinks worked out on offense and defense, and then Week 4 is a time to rest starters and figure out who to keep at the bottom of the depth chart — and who to cut. So what you frequently get is a battle of reserves, which can lead to some unpredictable outcomes. Check out our preview for NFL preseason Week 4 action, with some insights on a few of the last week’s contests.

2018 NFL Preseason Week 4 Betting Preview

Thursday, August 30

  • Miami at Atlanta (7:00pm ET)
  • Indianapolis at Cincinnati (7:00pm ET)
  • Cleveland at Detroit (7:00pm ET, NFL Network)
  • New England at N.Y. Giants (7:00pm ET)
  • N.Y. Jets at Philadelphia (7:00pm ET)
  • Carolina at Pittsburgh (7:30pm ET)
  • Jacksonville at Tampa Bay (7:30pm ET)
  • Washington at Baltimore (7:30pm ET)
  • Buffalo at Chicago (8:00pm ET)
  • Minnesota at Tennessee (8:00pm ET)
  • L.A. Rams at New Orleans (8:00pm ET)
  • Dallas at Houston (8:00pm ET)
  • Green Bay at Kansas City (8:30pm ET)
  • Denver at Arizona (10:00pm ET, NFL Network)
  • L.A. Chargers at San Francisco (10:00pm ET)
  • Oakland at Seattle (10:00pm ET)

Let’s start by looking at the Jets and the Eagles

Philadelphia is all about getting to the first week of the regular season healthy — and quarterback Carson Wentz is still not cleared for live action, according to Eagles coach Doug Pederson. That means that Nick Foles has to be seen as the Week 1 starter — which means that Nate Sudfeld will likely lead the Eagles’ offense for the vast majority of their game. That’s the same Nate Sudfeld that “led” the Eagles in their meaningless 6-0 loss to Dallas in Week 17 a year ago. He’s the emergency quarterback for a reason. The Jets look like they will start Josh McCown at quarterback, and they’re still looking for places to ship Teddy Bridgewater, and Sam Darnold will be the franchise quarterback-in-waiting, at least at this point. That means that we can expect to see Bridgewater and Darnold against an Eagles defense composed largely of reserves. In that battle of quarterbacks, I like the Jets to win in a game that the Eagles will simply be rolling through.

With that in mind, let’s move next to the Redskins and Ravens

Washington will likely roll Colt McCoy out there for the majority of the game as the Redskins do not want to expose Alex Smith to any sort of risk of injury. The Ravens will likely do the same with Joe Flacco, but the emergence of Robert Griffin III and Lamar Jackson as dynamic offensive options will mean that the Ravens are flying up and down the field, while the Redskins will likely take a more plodding approach to their offensive attack. Jackson and Griffin have played well all preseason long, and Griffin could turn into trade bait for the Ravens. With that in mind, I like the Ravens to come out on top.

Finally, let’s consider Dallas and Houston

The Cowboys are 0-3 in the preseason so far as they have placed significant emphasis on resting stars Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott and have allowed Cooper Rush and Mike White to spend significant time leading the offense. Their starting defense has shown some promise, but Dallas is not a team that has skill at acquiring depth, so when their reserves run into the Texans, I see Houston’s system coming out ahead. These two teams play for the Governor’s Cup every year, but based on the Cowboys’ approach to the preseason, the Texans should close out their preseason with a win over Dallas.