This is a play on the NEW YORK JETS/CLEVELAND BROWNS UNDER for our NFL HOF Game Totals Dominator. We get started Thursday with the first preseason game of the season and there is simply no matchup breakdown as this is purely a situational play that has cashed for years. The Hall of Fame Game is typically a very low scoring game as in this stage of the preseason, the defenses are a step ahead of the offense. Nine of the last 14 Hall of Fame games have stayed under the total, including seven of the last 11 and while those past outcomes do not predict future results, it does show how defenses are more in sync early in the preseason. Going back to 1984, only seven of the 36 HOF games have eclipsed 40 points and a lot of that is due to fluke plays. This includes an interception return for a touchdown taking place in five of the last seven games that have gone over 40 points so simply avoiding that gives us a great opportunity to cash in a low scoring game. 16 of the 36 games have seen totals of 27 of less points scored. Seven years ago, the Hall of Fame game was canceled because of poor field conditions and of course 2020 was canceled because of COVID so those are not part of the averages. According to the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players association, teams cannot hold training-camp practices more than two weeks before their first preseason game, so preparation has been limited on both sides. That affects the offenses more than the defenses and we will once again see the defenses have the advantage. Additionally, with this being the first game, offensive starters will see limited if any action. 10* Under (101) New York Jets/(102) Cleveland Browns

This is a play on the LAS VEGAS RAIDERS/JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS UNDER for our NFL HOF Game Totals Dominator. We get started Thursday with the first preseason game of the season and there is simply no matchup breakdown as this is purely a situational play that has cashed for years. The Hall of Fame Game is typically a very low scoring game as in this stage of the preseason, the defenses are a step ahead of the offense. Nine of the last 13 Hall of Fame games have stayed under the total, including seven of the last 10 and while those past outcomes do not predict future results, it does show how defenses are more in sync early in the preseason. Going back to 1984, only seven of the 35 HOF games have eclipsed 40 points and a lot of that is due to fluke plays. This includes an interception return for a touchdown taking place in five of the last six games that have gone over 40 points so simply avoiding that gives us a great opportunity to cash in a low scoring game. 16 of the 35 games have seen totals of 27 of less points scored including seven years ago when Pittsburgh and Minnesota tallied just 17 points combined and the last two have seen 24 and 19 points. Six years ago, the Hall of Fame game was canceled because of poor field conditions and of course 2020 was canceled because of COVID so those are not part of the averages. According to the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players association, teams cannot hold training-camp practices more than two weeks before their first preseason game, so preparation has been limited on both sides. That affects the offenses more than the defenses and we will once again see the defenses have the advantage. Additionally, with this being the first game, offensive starters will see limited if any action. 10* Under (101) Las Vegas Raiders/(102) Jacksonville Jaguars

This is a play on the DENVER BRONCOS/ATLANTA FALCONS UNDER for our Thursday NFL Totals Dominator. The Hall of Fame Game is typically a very low scoring game as in this stage of the preseason, the defenses are a step ahead of the offense. Eight of the last 11 Hall of Fame games have stayed under the total, including five of the last seven and while those past outcomes do not predict future results, it does show how defenses are more in sync early in the preseason. Going back to 1984, only seven of the 33 HOF games have eclipsed 40 points and a lot of that is due to fluke plays. This includes an interception return for a touchdown taking place in each of the last five games that have gone over 40 points so simply avoiding that gives us a great opportunity to cash in a low scoring game. The 33 games have seen an average of just over 31 ppg and 14 of the 33 have seem totals of 27 of less points scored including four years ago when Pittsburgh and Minnesota tallied just 17 points combined. Three years ago, the Hall of Fame game was canceled because of poor field conditions and that problem was fixed going into last season. Dallas and Arizona did go over two years but it was just by 3.5 points. According to the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players association, teams can't hold training-camp practices more than two weeks before their first preseason game, so preparation has been limited on both sides. That affects the offenses more than the defenses and we will once again see the defenses have the advantage. Additionally, with this being the first game, offensive starters will see limited if any action. A strong situation is in play also as we play the under in NFL Preseason non-conference games. This situation is 239-154 (60.8 percent) to the under over the last five years. 10* Under (241) Denver Broncos/(242) Atlanta Falcons

This is a play on the CHICAGO BEARS/BALTIMORE RAVENS UNDER for our Thursday NFL Totals Dominator. The Hall of Fame Game is typically a very low scoring game as in this stage of the preseason, the defenses are a step ahead of the offense. Seven of the last 10 Hall of Fame games have stayed under the total, including four of the last six and while those past outcomes do not predict future results, it does show how defenses are more in sync early in the preseason. Going back to 1984, only seven of the 32 HOF games have eclipsed 40 points and a lot of that is due to fluke plays. This includes an interception return for a touchdown taking place in each of the last five games that have gone over 40 points so simply avoiding that gives us a great opportunity to cash in a low scoring game. The 32 games have seen an average of just over 31 ppg and 14 of the 32 have seem totals of 27 of less points scored including three years ago when Pittsburgh and Minnesota tallied just 17 points combined. Two years ago, the Hall of Fame game was canceled because of poor field conditions and that problem was fixed going into last season. Dallas and Arizona did go over last year but it was just by 3.5 points. According to the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players association, teams can't hold training-camp practices more than two weeks before their first preseason game, so preparation has been limited on both sides. That affects the offenses more than the defenses and we will once again see the defenses have the advantage. Additionally, with this being the first game, offensive starters will see limited if any action. A strong situation is in play also as we play the under in NFL Preseason non-conference games. This situation is 238-154 (60.7 percent) to the under over the last five years. 10* Under (241) Chicago Bears/(242) Baltimore Ravens

The Hall of Fame Game is typically a very low scoring game as in this stage of the preseason, the defenses are a step ahead of the offense. Seven of the last nine Hall of Fame games have stayed under the total, including four of the last five and while those past outcomes do not predict future results, it does show how defenses are more in sync early in the preseason. Going back to 1984, only seven of the 31 HOF games have eclipsed 40 points and a lot of that is due to fluke plays. This includes an interception return for a touchdown taking place in each of the last five games that have gone over 40 points so simply avoiding that gives us a great opportunity to cash in a low scoring game. The 31 games have seen an average of just over 31 ppg and 14 of the 31 have seem totals of 27 of less points scored including two years ago when Pittsburgh and Minnesota tallied just 17 points combined. Last year, the Hall of Fame game was canceled because of poor field conditions and that problem has been fixed going into this season. According to the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players association, teams can't hold training-camp practices more than two weeks before their first preseason game so preparation has been limited on both sides. That affects the offenses more than the defenses and we will once again see the defenses have the advantage. 10* Under (241) Dallas Cowboys/(242) Arizona Cardinals

Low scoring games are frequent in the NFL preseason for obvious reasons as defenses tend to be playing far ahead of the offenses and we will take advantage of that here in what is the highest total of the Week One schedule. While teams typically have no clue what they will have coming at them in the first preseason game, the Saints and Patriots will be more familiar than most after practicing together this week, the fourth time in six years they have done so in the preseason. After back-to-back 7-9 seasons, Saints head coach Sean Payton promised players it would be a more demanding camp, and he has delivered with longer sessions and several full-contact drills. That helps the defense get more prepared and after a dreadful season last year from that unit, it has taken a lot of the early emphasis in training camp. The defense continues to show improvement and going against the Patriots only seemed to back what had been seen at the beginning of training camp. Offensively, Drew Brees will play just one series or so and one thing to expect is the Saints to try to establish the run in the game, running back Mark Ingram said. On the other side, we will not be seeing much of Jimmy Garoppolo or Tom Brady as a vanilla offense is expected from New England. These teams met in the preseason last year and it was a high scoring game but it was not on opening week which is a big difference. Garoppolo had a big game against the Saints but with him starting the first four games this season, his action will be very limited. 10* Under (259) New Orleans Saints/(260) New England Patriots

We won with the Vikings/Steelers under in the Hall of Fame Game but we will go the opposite way this week based on that low scoring game and the bounce angle. Offense was hard to come by last Sunday night with just 17 total points scored but I like the chances of the Minnesota offense to show more life this week with that one game under its belt. The starters are expected to play more and they will be able take advantage of a weak Tampa Bay secondary. The Buccaneers are playing their first preseason game and are in a similar situation as both Pittsburgh and Minnesota last week but that offense has steadily been improving since camp opened. Jameis Winston has already shown improvement in practice, throwing 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions over a two-day period. Facing a real defense for the first time may show signs of growing pains but he has lack of confidence. We saw a similar scenario last season where Minnesota went under in its first game of the preseason against Oakland and the following week flew over the total against Arizona with 58 total points being scored. This is a very common trend in the preseason for many teams. Many will point to the fact that Tampa Bay went 4-0 to the under during the preseason last year but that is meaningless here and if anything, helps with the contrarian value. Fluke plays such as interception or fumble returns for touchdowns are prevalent during the preseason and all it can take is one of those to push a game over although that may not be needed here. 10* Over (275) Tampa Bay Buccaneers/(276) Minnesota Vikings

The Hall of Fame Game is typically a very low scoring game as in this stage of the preseason, the defenses are a step ahead of the offense. Six of the last eight Hall of Fame games have stayed under the total, including three of the last four and while those past outcomes do not predict future results, it does show how defenses are more in sync early in the preseason. Going back to 1984, only seven of the 30 HOF games have eclipsed 40 points and a lot of that is due to fluke plays. This includes an inception return for a touchdown taking place in each of the last five games that have gone over 40 points so simply avoiding that gives us a great opportunity to cash in a low scoring game. The 30 games have seen an average of just over 32 ppg and 13 of the 30 have seem totals of 27 of less points scored. The big news out of Pittsburgh is how potent the offense is expected to be this season but don't expect to see that from the Steelers here as a vanilla offense will be on the field for the majority of this game. The same can be expected from Minnesota and there has not been a lot of prep time for either team as according to the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players association, teams can't hold training-camp practices more than two weeks before their first preseason game. It may be boring to watch but the NFL is here and we should see yet another very low scoring game right out of the gates. 10* Under (241) Pittsburgh Steelers/(242) Minnesota Vikings

We waited until late in the week to release the final week of the preseason to try and get as much information as possible as to what a lot of the decisions are going to be in these normally meaningless games to end the exhibition year. There are a lot of factors that go into these final games and motivation is at the top of the list. This comes down to the coaching philosophy and how they want to handle the playing time of the regulars as well as the importance of a win heading into the regular season. Arizona travels to San Diego for the final preseason game of the year for both sides and it is a very interesting dynamic in play because these two teams open the regular season playing each other on Monday night. Which team will be out to win more? It really doesn't even matter here as the big plan for both sides is to keep this game as vanilla as possible and not give up too much away on offense to give the other team an edge heading into Week One. That is the biggest factor in this play. The Cardinals' starters won't play Thursday at San Diego head coach Bruce Arians said. Also, he announced on Monday that fourth-round draft choice Logan Thomas would start and play the entire game against San Diego. "You stay generic," Arians said. "We'll keep it as simple as possible." On the other side, the same holds true as the Chargers starters are unlikely to see action either. All of this adds up to a low scoring game. 10* Under (131) Arizona Cardinals/(132) San Diego Chargers

Detroit and Oakland are both coming off closely contested, low scoring games in their preseason openers. Because of the low scoring games, we will be looking at the over in this one with a lot of that based on what we didn't see last week. The Lions and Browns scored a total of 25 points while the Raiders and Vikings managed a mere 16 points so while praise may be given to all of those defenses, the offenses were far from what we are to expect. And we will see a difference this week. Oakland starting quarterback Matt Schaub played three series last week and did not look very good as he was 3-7 for 21 yards and led the team to only one first down. Of Schaub's four incomplete passes, three were dropped by his receivers, two that were drive killers. Having practiced one more week should have him and his receivers in better shape this week and he should see more reps as well with the word being of the first unit playing past the first quarter and maybe even longer. The Lions meanwhile put up only 13 points with the first team offense seeing very limited action. With a new coaching staff in place, Detroit has new offensive packages and while it may not have showed last week, word is that Matt Stafford has been great during camp, not tossing a single pick during meaningful team drills. Like Schaub, we will see more of Stafford this week. We are catching a good number in my opinion as it has not moved from last week's numbers much and Detroit has a great system on its side. We play the over involving road teams after scoring 14 points or less last game going up against an opponent after scoring nine points or less last game. This situation is 32-12 (72.7 percent) to the over since 1993. 10* Over (407) Detroit Lions/(408) Oakland Raiders