When the St Louis Rams travel to Foxboro for a preseason NFL betting lines preview they won’t be playing your father’s Patriots. After a near complete defensive makeover, New England is very young, yet very talented group on that side of the ball and almost all the names are relatively unknown. Gone are the aging grey beards that anchored the Super Bowl winning teams over the past decades, replaced by recently drafted youngsters eager to prove their NFL-caliber players.
As the third betting NFL preseason matchup you can expect this game to be as close to a real game as you’ll see during the preseason. The third game is typically when the starters get the most work, likely 1-2 quarters of action, and the coaches make final decisions about starting lineups.
For a club like New England with its veteran starters firmly entrenched on the offense this unit might not see more than a few series, as head coach Bill Bilichek knows what Pro Bowlers Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker & Co. are all about and won’t likely risk injuries to any of his stars. There are still a few questions on the O-line that need answered but for the most part don’t expect to see too much action out of the offensive starters. Defense, though, is another story and we should see some furious play out of all the young players trying to break into the starting lineup.
St Louis has plenty of questions to answer as they enter the third sports betting matchup of the NFL preseason. Chief among these concerns is who will be the starting QB, journeyman AJ Feeley or number one pick Sam Bradford. At present Bradford is injured and if he doesn’t play on Thursday Feeley will almost certainly be the opening day starter. But it matters little as this team is coming off a 1-15 record last season and will be awful again this year.
Kickoff for this August 26 2010, Thursday matchup at New England is set for 7:35 Eastern D. Time.
