NFL Preseason Week 2 Betting Preview: Patriots, Broncos Among Odds Favorites

Six more games will take place on Thursday in Week 2 of the NFL preseason, with each of the home teams favored between 2.5 and four points at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

That is not a big surprise considering the home teams are usually favored by around a field goal in the preseason on average. The rest of this week’s games follow suit, including three more on Friday and closing out with seven on Saturday.

One of the most intriguing games will happen Thursday, when the New England Patriots (1-0) host the Chicago Bears as four-point favorites. The Patriots held joint practices with the New Orleans Saints (0-1) last week before beating them 34-22 last Thursday behind quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who threw for 168 yards before giving way to rookie Jacoby Brissett.

Garoppolo will start the first four games of the regular season for the Patriots in place of Tom Brady, who was suspended for his role in Deflategate. New England and Chicago are practicing against each other this week.

Meanwhile, the Bears (0-1) are coming off a 22-0 home loss to the Denver Broncos (1-0) last Thursday, making Mark Sanchez look like the best signal-caller on the field and helping him take a positive step toward earning the starting job.

Chicago’s Jay Cutler completed three of his four passes for 18 yards and took two sacks for a total of 12 yards. The running game for the Bears also struggled without Matt Forte, with reserve quarterback Connor Shaw leading the way with a team-high 14 yards on two carries.

This week, the Broncos will host the San Francisco 49ers (0-1) on Saturday, with the quarterback competition continuing. Denver is listed as high as a 4.5-point favorite against the dismal 49ers, who fell 24-13 to the Houston Texans (1-0) at home last Sunday.

Sanchez will be looking to follow up a performance that saw him complete 10 of his 12 passes for 99 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Reserves Paxton Lynch (6-of-7 for 74 yards) and Trevor Siemian (7-of-12 for 88 yards) are also in the mix to be the Broncos starter at quarterback and will need to step up in order to supplant the veteran Sanchez.

Lynch was Denver’s first-round pick (26th overall) in the 2016 NFL draft, while Siemian was third on the depth chart behind Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler last year.