Seahawks vs. Chiefs: NFL Preseason 2012 Betting Preview

It seems like the entire football world is in a love affair with Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks, but when you take a closer look it might be too soon to jump on the bandwagon. On Friday, they travel to Kansas City to take on the most underrated team in the entire NFL.

Coaches

Last week I talked about how much the Chiefs' players were buying into Romeo Crennel and the fact that it was a good time to ride them in the preseason. Well, the Rams came out inspired and won the first half.  All I will say is I still like what I'm reading from the KC beat writers this week.

This is an entirely different team with Crennel at the helm, and I expect a good effort in their Week 3 dress rehearsal.

If you're a Seahawks fan, you could probably say the same thing.

Pete Carroll has Seattle buzzing with two good, young quarterbacks one-upping each other quarter after quarter. So far, Carroll has two nice wins under his belt this preseason, and he might walk away with another one in KC.

Markets

Books opened this at Pick'Em, but everybody is riding the Seahawks wave once again. Seattle is now a three-point favorite despite being the road team (odds courtesy of SBRforum). For our purposes, I'll gladly skip the Ricky Stanzi and Brady Quinn show and take the plus-one first-half line.

Quarterbacks

Despite the sharp money and what we've seen in the first two weeks, I'm sticking with KC for another week, in large part due to the decision to play Russell Wilson with the starters. I know he has been good, but don't lose sight that he has done it against second- and third-string players.

We all saw how the Titans' defensive backups looked against Ryan Lindley.

I want to see how Wilson does against what I think is one of the better defenses in the NFL this week. I'll be extremely surprised if he can match anywhere close to the numbers he's put up so far. You can be sure he's never faced a duo like Tamba Hali and Justin Houston before.

Also, this isn't an offense loaded with dynamic playmakers.

Through two games their leading receiver is a rookie running back. Sidney Rice is on pace to get some action, but I don't expect him to finish the half after coming out of offseason surgery.

Granted, Matt Cassel isn't the next coming of Joe Montana, but the weapons around him are loaded. The strength of the Seahawks defense is in the secondary, but Brian Daboll's offense can attack from anywhere on the field. 

The running game is capable of taking over a game, and they can also hurt coming out of the backfield.

Dexter McCluster is an X factor, Kevin Boss and Tony Moeaki are money over the middle, and Jonathan Baldwin is another option on the outside. Dwayne Bowe will make his debut after a holdout, but Crennel will probably only play him a series or two. 

Pick

I might be alone with this pick, but I'm a big believer in what KC has going on this year. It didn't work out last week, but this game isn't on the road. If it were in Seattle, I'd likely take a pass.

NFL Pick: KC plus-one 1st Half.

This article is from the Free NFL Predictions blog. For more picks and analysis, visit www.brooksbets.com, and follow Bobby Brooks on Twitter the entire football season for all things NFL betting.