San Francisco 49ers (-2.5) at -115 @ Seattle Seahawks (+2.5) at -105
How long will it take for Coach Pete Carroll to realize that “Ra-Ra” speeches and motivational tactics that work for hungry college athletes have no hope of succeeding with grown men already making millions? That is the task for Carroll and his Seattle Seahawks who are a mix of old veterans like Matt Hasselbeck and the new regime of youngsters he has brought it. Seattle is expected to have a tough time this season, but they do have quite an easy schedule but will end up on a plane quite a bit.
In Week 1, Seattle welcomes in their division rival in San Francisco, a team that is expected to contend and win this division. The 49ers are a year older and have some great experiences from last season to build upon. The key for them is to take care of business in their own division and it starts with a win up in Seattle to begin the season.
Since Carroll is a coach starting tenure with a new team, it is important to note that since 2000, any team that had a new coach that year has tended to struggle out of the gate. For a coach with a new team in that period, those teams went 29-41 SU in Week 1 games, and had a 33-35-2 ATS record. Although that ATS record does look better, most of those SU losses that covered against the spread were thanks to teams like Oakland who managed to not get blown out by a big number and stayed within the line. Those ATS wins are because those losing teams score late and get within a number like -7 or -10 etc, and given that this is such a low line at -2.5, the SU numbers mean more. Don’t get it twisted either, there were coaches like Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells, Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden, and Marty Schottenheimer that all had fresh starts with their new teams and went 0-1 SU and ATS in that span.
It boils down to the simple fact that it takes time for the players to learn and execute the new systems and the coaches to adapt and build around their team’s strengths. A month of training camp and a few weeks here and there of off-season workouts just isn’t enough time for things to mould together.
I expect the 49ers to win the NFC West this season and get back to the playoffs for the first time in awhile. With six games against Seattle, St. Louis and Arizona, San Francisco could end up sweeping their division, and it begins here. San Francisco needs to win this game and be in good form because a Monday night date with the defending champions in San Fran is on tap for Week 2, and they want to be prepared and playing their best at that time. They will use the Seahawks as a tune up for that contest and Pete Carroll will continue down the path of those great coaches before him going 0-1 SU and ATS in Week 1 with a new team.
Take San Francisco -2.5 in Week 1 of NFL betting.
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