Sean Murphy - Betting Expert

My selection is on the 'under' between Washington and Pittsburgh at 7:05 pm et on Thursday.

There are reasons for caution in playing the 'under' at PNC Park on Thursday night. After all, Nats' starter Max Scherzer will be making his first start since July. On the flip side, the Nats' offense has been absolutely on fire and after scoring just a single run in a series-opening loss on Tuesday, bounced back to plate 11 runs last night. With that being said, I believe we're set up well for a relatively low-scoring affair on Thursday night. Scherzer kept his ERA below three since the first week of June and has worked at least seven innings in seven of his last eight starts. Meanwhile, Buccos starter Steven Brault has improved as the season has gone on, bringing his ERA down from north of seven on May 24th to just over four today. Last time out he held a good Cubs lineup to just two hits and one earned run over seven innings. Take the under (10*).

My selection is on Green Bay minus the points over Oakland at 8 pm et on Thursday.

Note that this game will be played north of the border in Winnipeg, Manitoba. If anything that should give the Packers a bit of a home field advantage in terms of fan support (even if this game isn’t well-attended as has been speculated). Green Bay’s gameplan got shifted somewhat last-minute with QB Aaron Rodgers sitting due to a minor injury against the Ravens last week. The Packers ultimately lost that game so come into this one sporting an even 1-1 mark. Rodgers isn’t likely to see a great deal of action in this game either but that’s ok for our purposes as QB Tim Boyle has plenty of preseason upside and has thrown for three touchdowns and 147 yards on just 15 completions through two games. The Raiders took advantage of a depleted Cardinals defense last week to improve to a perfect 2-0 in the preseason. I expect Oakland to face a tougher challenge here, noting that its other victory came over a Rams squad that has looked generally disinterested in winning in the month of August this year. The Raiders have got terrific quarterback play from veteran Mike Glennon in particular so far, but I see his run ending here (Derek Carr and the rest of the Raiders regular starters should see extended action). Take Green Bay (10*).

NFLX Game of the Year. My selection is on Carolina plus the points over New England at 7:30 pm et on Thursday.

We’ve won with the Patriots in each of the last two weeks, taking full advantage of the fact that they’ve placed a strong emphasis on preparing the right way and winning on the road in this year’s preseason after going a disappointing 3-5 on the road last regular season. Now New England returns home as a favorite against the Panthers, but I simply don’t believe that Bill Bellichick is going to put a lot of stock in whether it picks up a win or suffers its first loss of the exhibition campaign – even if it is the traditional ‘Week 3 dress rehearsal’ game. The Panthers are coming off an ugly 27-14 home loss to the Bills last week, which came on the heels of a 23-13 win in Chicago to open the preseason. We didn’t see many of the Panthers regular starters in last week’s contest but that should change this week. Note that even after last week’s loss, the Panthers have posted a respectable 18-15-1 ATS record in the preseason under head coach Ron Rivera. Take Carolina (10*).