NFL Thursday Night Betting Preview: Raiders vs. 49ers



Prominent professional sports handicapper Ross Benjamin provides us with a betting preview on Thursday night’s NFL contest between Oakland and San Francisco. Join us in reading this fact filled article which will aid you in making the most informed decision.

‘Battle of the Bay’ comes to Thursday Night Football

You’ll need to hold your nose when watching this coming Thursday’s NFL nationally televised game because this matchup absolutely stinks. The Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers will square off at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California with an opening kickoff time slated for 8:20 PM ET.

Currently (10/31), the NFL odds posted at 5Dimes shows San Francisco as a 2.5-point favorite. Additionally, they’re displaying a total of 45.5.

These teams last met on 12/7/2014 in San Francisco and Oakland walked away with a 24-13 upset win as an 8.5-point underdog. As a matter of fact, this will be just a second game played between them since 2011.

NFL Bay Area Futility
San Francisco enters this week with a dismal 1-7 record. The 49ers have lost 6 straight games since defeating Detroit 30-27 at home on 9/16. It must be noted, Jimmy Garoppolo was still the starting quarterback against Detroit. It was a week later that the 49ers #1 signal caller went down with a season ending knee injury.

Oakland vs San Francisco TNF previewThe Raiders have dropped 3 straight and find themselves at 1-6. Oakland’s only win came at home over Cleveland when they prevailed 45-42 in overtime. During this present 3-game losing streak, Oakland has been outscored 95-41.

Turnover Battle
Both teams haven’t been very good when it comes to turnover differential thus far. Oakland is a -7 in that department. Furthermore, during its 6 losses, Oakland has forced a mere 2 turnovers. Comparatively in their lone win against Cleveland they amassed 4 takeaways.

San Francisco has committed 18 turnovers during their first 8 games. That’s despite the fact they didn’t commit a turnover in 3 of those contests. The bottom line, the 49ers are presently at a pathetic -13 turnover differential with half their schedule still to play.

NFL ATS Betting Angle
Any NFL non-division home favorite (San Francisco) that’s playing on a Thursday and it’s after Game 8 of their season, versus an opponent (Oakland) that has at least 1 win, resulted in those home favorites going 26-8 ATS (76.5%) since 1994. Those favorites were also 29-5 straight up in those 34 contests. By the way, since 1980, and excluding pushes, NFL teams that won straight up as a favorite of 2.5-points or less are 839-52 ATS (94.2%),

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NFL Totals Betting Angle
Oakland has surrendered 27 points or more in each of their previous 5 games. Conversely, San Francisco has allowed 27 points or greater during 6 of their 8 games this season, and that includes all 3 played at home. Since 10/22/2017, San Francisco has gone over the total in all 5 of their home games when facing a non-division opponent. Those contests averaged a combined 56.4 points scored per game.

San Francisco 49ers free pickSan Francisco is coming off last Sunday’s 18-15 loss at Arizona. Any NFL team that’s playing in a non-conference game and is coming off a divisional loss by 7 points or fewer, resulted in those teams going 64-29 (68.8%) over the total since 2009. The average total in those 93 contests was 43.9 and there were 49.1 points scored per game.

Final Take and Opinion Pick
This game certainly presents a difficult NFL betting challenge from where I sit. When it comes to making a point-spread wager on this game, choosing either side requires asking a bad team to do good things for you. The logical conclusion is going with the lesser of 2 evils, and good luck figuring that out. I’m personally pass on this game. Sometimes the best bets are the ones that aren’t made at all. Nevertheless, if someone put the proverbial gun to my head then I would be inclined to go over the total of 45.5.

Ross Benjamin Free Pick

Ross Benjamin is a top sports analyst and one of the sports industry's most respected handicappers. Follow him on Twitter: @RossBenjamin1 or visit his website at RBWins.com


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