SPORTS BETTING

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Houston Texans 8:00 ET

  Posted on Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT by North Shore Sports, INC

  
  

  NFL pre-season betting concludes this weekend with a full slate of games on the betting card. After playing back-to-back road contests in the middle of their 2008 pre-season schedule, the Houston Texans (2-1) will return home to Reliant Stadium on Thursday night, where they’ll battle the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-1) in their fourth and final NFL pre-season betting affair. These two teams have hooked up in Week 4 of every pre-season since the Texans came into existence back in 2002. The Bucs hold a 5-1 SU and ATS series lead going into their football betting clash this week.

  The 2-0 SU & ATS Buccaneers returned home to Raymond James Stadium for their final home game before the regular season to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their defense played well limiting the Jags to 201 total yards, but that was no consolation to NFL bettors that backed Tampa and the ‘under’ that night. The three-points the oddsmakers gave the Bucs wasn’t enough, as the 23-17 defeat handed Tampa Bay their first pre-season loss both SU and ATS. The game also went over the closing ‘total’ of 34.5. Tampa Bay couldn’t muster anything on the ground against the Jags stout ‘D’. The running back trio of Warrick Dunn, Michael Bennett, and Earnest Graham averaged a paltry 2.9 yards per carry on their 15 combined rushes. Four turnovers by the offense won’t allow HC Jon Gruden to be the jolly coach he was the last two weeks, especially when considering the Bucs pride themselves on taking care of the football and playing stellar defense.

  The Texans also came out of the blocks in the pre-season on fire, notching successive victories and going 1-0-1 ATS. Though a failed two-point conversion with less than 2:00 to go left the Texans on the short end of their 23-22 defeat against the Dallas Cowboys, the six-points allowed Texans bettors to cash their spread tickets. Oddsmakers had installed the Cowboys as five-point favorites. The final TD also narrowly pushed the game over the closing ‘total’ of 43.5. Rookie RB Steve Slaton, formerly of West Virginia, continued to make a case for playing time amongst the crowded Texans backfield rushing for 44 yards on ten carries. If Houston’s to be successful in ’08, the first-team defense will have to step up after allowing opponents to hang 20 points on it in the first half the last two weeks.

  Offshore Sportsbooks have tagged the Texans three-point favorites in this intra-conference match-up, with a ‘total’ of 36.5. In their previous six match-ups, the Bucs have outscored the Texans by an average of 11.8 PPG, so consider putting Tampa Bay on your NFL betting card this week. Betting trends would also suggest a higher scoring affair, as the average game between these teams in the pre-season has 38.2 points per game.

  Whether you prefer betting spreads, ‘totals’, or moneylines, Bookmaker.com is your home for all of your NFL betting action. Be sure to login to your account and get your action down on this game and all of Week 4’s NFL pre-season propositions!!!