Thursday, May 24th, 2012
Bret Favre and the Minnesota Vikings will open the 2009 NFL regular season with a road game at the Cleveland Browns on Sunday afternoon. Kickoff time in Cleveland is set for 1PM Eastern Time with regional television coverage provided by Fox Television. The LVSC NFL odds makers have set the opening line in this contest and the road team Minnesota Vikings opened as 2 point favorites with the over under coming in at 40. The early money from the NFL sports betting public has come in on the favorite, as the Minnesota Vikings are currently a 4-point favorite. The over under has been bet downward by the early NFL sports bettors as the current total is lined at 40. NFL money line bettors can make an NFL bet on the favored Minnesota Vikings at –210 with the underdog Cleveland Browns bringing back +180 to win without the aid of getting points.
The Bret Favre era begins for the Minnesota Vikings as he faces his former coach with the New York Jets Eric Mangini and the Cleveland Browns. Bret Farve is making news once again off the field with statements to the media about how the Eric Mangini coached New York Jets forced Bret Favre to play hurt down the stretch of the 2008 season. Bret Favre will find outstanding running backs for Minnesota with Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor who combined for over 2000 yards rushing a year ago. Farve’s targets are Bernard Berrian, Sidney Rice and Bobby Wade. First round draft pick Percy Harvin is a third string receiver on the Vikings depth chart. Defensively the Vikings are solid as they allowed just 76.2 yards per game on the ground last season. The Vikings had 45 sacks in 2008 ranking 4th in the league. On the Cleveland Browns side head coach Eric Mangini is trying to keep his decision as the starting quarterback a secret. The local media is hinting that Brady Quinn will get the start. The Browns struggled for points last year averaging just 14.5 points per game a year ago. Ten-year veteran Jamal Lewis will be the starting running back for the Browns and needs to improve on his 3.6 yards per carry average. Jerome Harrison is the number two back in Cleveland and has a career 5.8 yards per carry average in his three seasons in Cleveland. The Browns must stop the run as the team gave up an average of 151 yards per game last year. The Vikings strong running game is a bad match up for the Browns. The Browns were 30th in the league last year in sacks as the team recorded just 17 in 2008.
For the Latest NFL Odds Please Visit our NFL Odds Page
NFL Trend: Cleveland Browns are 4-1-1 ATS in their past 6 games as a home underdog.
The Wagerline consensus has 77.0% of the NFL bettors on Minnesota -4
The Wagerline consensus has 58.8% of the NFL bettors playing over 40
Tags: minnesota vikings versus cleveland browns nfl odds betting preview, nfl odds preview
