After the Dallas Cowboys edged the Arizona Cardinals 20-18 in last Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game to push as two-point betting favorites, the Carolina Panthers will kick off Week 1 of the NFL preseason this Wednesday by hosting the Houston Texans as three-point home chalk.

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And Carolina fans and bettors hope to get their first look at electrifying rookie running back Christian McCaffrey in a game situation in the contest.

McCaffrey was drafted eighth overall by the Panthers out of Stanford and might be seen running the wildcat offense at times versus the Texans. Carolina starting quarterback Cam Newton is working his way back from a shoulder injury, so reserves Derek Anderson and Joe Webb should get most of the work under center.

With two-time Davy O’Brien Award winner Deshaun Watson finally off to the NFL, the Clemson Tigers will need to replace one of their best players of all time. The defending national champion Tigers are expected to tab junior Kelly Bryant as Watson’s successor at quarterback, as they look to defend their conference title as the +300 second choice to take their third straight behind the Florida State Seminoles (+110).

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Bryant is battling a pair of freshmen in Zerrick Cooper and Hunter Johnson but figures to have the upper hand for the starting job due to his experience heading into his third season in the system. Clemson finished 14-1 last year, capped by an upset of the defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide in an NCAA title rematch. The Tigers host the Seminoles on November 11 in a key ACC Atlantic Division matchup.

Florida State returns its quarterback in sophomore Deondre Francois and was third in the ACC Atlantic a year ago behind Clemson and the Louisville Cardinals. Francois is one of the top Heisman Trophy candidates from the ACC at +1800 in addition to 2016 winner Lamar Jackson (+800), the Louisville quarterback who took the country by storm early last season before tailing off at the end. The Seminoles do have to replace running back Dalvin Cook, who was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round.

Only two quarterbacks have been able to equal or surpass the passing yardage of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees over the previous seven seasons.

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One of them set the all-time record for passing yards in a season (Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos in 2013). The other one (Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2014) tied Brees with 4,952 yards that year and appears to be a good value play this season. Brees is the +300 favorite to win the passing yards title in 2017.

Last year, the 38-year-old veteran threw for the second-most passing yards in his career, totaling 5,208 to go along with 37 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. The only better campaign he had came in 2011 when he threw for a then-NFL record 5,476 yards with a career-high 46 touchdowns and 14 picks. Manning later broke the mark with 5,477 two years later when he also tossed the most touchdowns in a season (55).

Winning the NFL’s regular-season MVP award has been a curse of sorts for the winner, who has not won the Super Bowl in the same year since Kurt Warner of the St. Louis Rams in 1999. Since then, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots has won the NFL MVP award twice (2007 and 2010) while taking home the Super Bowl honor four times (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XLIX and LI).

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Coming off a remarkable comeback victory in last year’s Super Bowl, Brady is the +450 favorite to win this year’s NFL MVP award.

Brady missed the first four games of the 2016 regular season but still turned in one of the best campaigns of his 17-year career with 28 touchdowns and a career-low two interceptions. His passer rating of 112.2 was the second-highest number of his career too, sitting just behind his 2007 MVP season when he scored a 117.2.

When you win eight straight division titles and have totaled at least 12 victories in the last seven, then you should probably be an overwhelming favorite according to oddsmakers. That is certainly the case for the New England Patriots, who are -500 favorites to take home their ninth consecutive AFC East title.

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New England leads the charge of divisional favorites heading into the 2017 season, and rightfully so. After pulling off a remarkable comeback in Super Bowl 51 to win their fifth Vince Lombardi Trophy, the Pats are the team to beat again this year. But two other NFC squads are strong chalk to win their respective divisions as well.

The Seattle Seahawks are listed at -350 to win the NFC West for the fourth time in five years while the Green Bay Packers are -140 to take the NFC North for the sixth time in seven seasons.

The National Football League has found itself again in a conflicted position about casinos and gambling.

On Friday, USA Today Sports reported that the NFL—aka the ‘No Fun League’—has reached a settlement with a children’s charity that filed a lawsuit against the league last year.

A quick history: In 2015, more than 25 NFL players were scheduled to attend a charity bowling event organized by the Strike for Kids. The league, however, shut down the event because its location was at a 72-lane bowling alley inside the Sunset Station hotel and casino. An NFL lawyer told the charity that the event’s location violates the league’s gambling policy, which bars its players and personnel from engaging in “promotional activities or other appearances at or in connection with events that are held at or sponsored by casinos.”

This prompted the charity to file a lawsuit against the NFL for fraud, claiming that it had lost money and sponsors because the event had to be moved to a smaller venue. The charity also asked a federal judge to compel NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify under oath about the inconsistencies in the league’s gambling policy.

The National Football League’s disinterest in New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s stake in casino operator Caesars Entertainment is heaping fresh scorn on the league’s oft-criticized anti-gambling stance.

On Monday, sportswriter Bart Hubbuch published a lengthy article on Deadspin detailing his failed efforts to publish a story in the New York Post regarding Kraft’s (pictured right) involvement with Apollo Global Management, one of two hedge funds that purchased Caesars in 2008 before surrendering majority control last year via the casino company’s bankruptcy restructuring.

Hubbuch says his planned Post article detailing Kraft’s stake in Apollo, which also claims to hold “significant” investments in UK bookmakers Ladbrokes and US slot machine maker American Gaming Systems, was spiked on the orders of Post owner Rupert Murdoch – a close friend of Kraft’s – just half an hour after Hubbuch queried Patriots PR staff regarding Kraft’s gambling holdings.

The gist of Hubbuch’s planned article was NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s (pictured left) disinterest in the major gambling holdings of one of the league’s more prominent owners. The issue has taken on extra significance given Goodell’s recent comments that the league had no intention of letting Las Vegas Sands boss Sheldon Adelson own a piece of the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders due to Adelson’s casino ownership.

Since then, there have been multiple efforts to find investors for the stadium, most recently from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones NFL Oakland Raiders have finally found someone to finance the development of its $1.9-billion stadium in Las Vegas.

Raiders owner Mark Davis reportedly told fellow NFL owners on Monday that Bank of America will back the 65,000-seat domed stadium, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, noting that the bank’s $650 million stake will be a loan and will not include an equity stake in the team or the stadium.

The Raiders have been seeking a new partner for the proposed stadium in Las Vegas after casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson backed out of his pledge to help build the stadium.

The initial plan was for Adelson to shell out $650 million toward the stadium’s construction while the Raiders will commit $500 million. The remaining $750 million would be funded by a 0.88-percentage-point increase in Clark County’s hotel room tax. Adelson, however, backed out of the project, followed by Goldman Sachs, putting the Raiders relocation plans on shaky ground.

Ronnie Lott’s group has finally made its move to keep the Raiders in Oakland.

Fortress Investment Group has sent the NFL and the Raiders a formal proposal to build a new stadium for the team, according to a Sports Business Daily report. An NFL spokesman confirmed the report to Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Jon Mark Saraceno, noting that the proposal included details for a 55,000-seat stadium, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, in Alameda County.

The Oakland City Council and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted in mid-December to support a plan to enter into an exclusive negotiating deal with Lott’s investment team to build a new stadium for the Raiders.

Fortress’s initial plan was accepted by the Oakland council with a 7-0 vote, while the county board voted 3-1. The league, however, rejected the proposal and asked the group to resubmit it with more information.

Many sportsbooks thought they have the Super Bowl LI results in the bag with the Atlanta Falcons winning the title.

The results were looking bad for the New England Patriots at the start of the Super Bowl as the team struggled 21-3 against the underdogs. Even the face of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is painted with dejection as he look up at the end of the first half.

But something happened to the Patriots in between the halftime that awakens the fire inside Brady and his teammates, including Julian Edelman. Was it because of Lady Gaga’s less politically charge and more shiny, shimmering diverse Super Bowl halftime party? Or was it the pessimism of their fans, who poked fun of the team on the internet.

Whatever that it is, it sure helped the patriots turn the tide in their favor and stunned the Falcons like danger in the second half, before sending the underdogs a devastating tsunami to end the game 34-28 in overtime.

I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. There’s a handful of spreadsheets that have shown some expected data, and nothing really stood out to me. After New England slept walk through the AFC side of the playoffs, and Atlanta eviscerated Seattle and Green Bay, we basically knew what we were in for. These are definitely worthy contenders, and that makes it very difficult to develop a Super Bowl LI betting strategy.

The Patriots are currently favored by -3.0 points and I truthfully don’t expect that line to change all that much. The heaviest money will come in over the weekend, but the fact that this line hasn’t really shifted all that much speaks volumes about how well the oddsmakers have done here. In most cases, we’re seeing a 50-50 split. In others, there’s a 66-33 split in favor of the Patriots. It just depends which book you look at.

That makes a ton of sense. Mike McCarthy said it perfectly when he called the Atlanta Falcons a buzz saw. Their ability to score points seemingly at will is incredible to watch. But then again, these are the New England Goddamn Patriots we’re talking about here.

It’s time for the deep dive, folks. Strap in.

These are real Super Bowl LI prop bets by real gamblers. The percentage reflects where the weight of the money on that specific proposition is leaning. We start with some typical renditions of these bets, and then it gets weird.

And honestly, it’s supposed to be dumb. No other game in the entirety of sports betting receives a more inflated market of prop bets than the Super Bowl. It started with stuff like the coin toss and the color of the Gatorade shower, but it’s evolved in to so much more.

So where are people spending their money? Should you follow the herd? Or are you brave enough to blaze your own trail and…uh…follow a smaller herd?!

New England Patriots -3.0 over Atlanta Falcons (68% for New England)

These are real Super Bowl LI prop bets by real gamblers. The percentage reflects where the weight of the money on that specific proposition is leaning. We start with some typical renditions of these bets, and then it gets weird.

And honestly, it’s supposed to be dumb. No other game in the entirety of sports betting receives a more inflated market of prop bets than the Super Bowl. It started with stuff like the coin toss and the color of the Gatorade shower, but it’s evolved in to so much more.

So where are people spending their money? Should you follow the herd? Or are you brave enough to blaze your own trail and…uh…follow a smaller herd?!

New England Patriots -3.0 over Atlanta Falcons (68% for New England)