NFL Preseason Betting Free Picks: San Francisco 49ers at Oakland Raiders

Added on Aug 28, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NFL

Week Three of the NFL preseason is in full swing, and we’ll take a look at a Saturday night game between the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers. Both teams are 2-0 straight up and against the spread in the 2010 preseason, and this ‘Battle of the Bay’ should have a little more intensity than the garden variety exhibition contest.

San Francisco 49ers at Oakland Raiders
August 28 6:00 PM Pacific

One team is something of a fluke in our estimation while the other is for real. Guess which is which? San Francisco has been a pointspread player’s best friend ever since Mike Singletary took the reins of this team midway through the 2008 season. Since then, the Niners have gone 14-7-4 ATS during the regular season including 9-4-3 ATS in 2009. This year could see San Francisco return to the postseason as they’ve got the inside track to win a very weak division. That notwithstanding, they’re a very good team that’s getting better with a strong rushing game, an underrated and improving defense and finally some depth at quarterback with veteran David Carr backing up Alex Smith.

Oakland has been fortunate to catch their preseason opponents at the right time, and they’ve benefitted from the strong preseason play of Kyle Boller (who’d be a Hall of Famer based on his preseason performance throughout his career). The Raiders have needed Boller to step up since the team has had a ton of injuries during preseason and particularly at quarterback. Charlie Frye is out for the season after wrist surgery and Bruce Gradowski has been hampered by a nagging groin injury (he’s listed as ‘questionable’ for this game). Jason Campbell will play most of the game for Oakland, and that’s not necessarily a plus for the Raiders. Campbell may be a better quarterback longterm, but for the purposes of preseason handicapping Boller is the more experienced and dependable choice.

Campbell won’t have an easy time of it against a loaded Niners’ defense that will be among the league’s best within the next couple of years. Mike Singletary wants to win every time his team lines up to play football, while Oakland will be more focused on getting Campbell in sync with the first team offense under game conditions. And don’t think that Singletary won’t want to make a statement that the Niners are once again the better team in the Bay Area. Niners win outright and at this price that’s all we need them to do.

Bet San Francisco +1’ over Oakland