{"id":12702,"date":"2009-08-31T09:59:54","date_gmt":"2009-08-31T14:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=12702"},"modified":"2009-08-31T10:01:27","modified_gmt":"2009-08-31T15:01:27","slug":"mnf-preview-vikings-vs-texans-310809","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nfl\/mnf-preview-vikings-vs-texans-310809\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Night Football: Vikings vs. Texans"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Minnesota Vikings vs. Houston Texans 8:00 ET<\/h2>\n<p>ESPN\u2019s Monday Night Football heads to Reliant Stadium for a Texas-sized <a title=\"NFL Preseason Betting\" href=\"\/nfl\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>NFL preseason betting<\/strong><\/a> affair. QB Brett Favre will lead his Minnesota Vikings (2-0, 2-0 ATS) in battle against the youthful Houston Texans (1-1, 1-1 ATS).<\/p>\n<p>The Vikings moved to 2-0 in the preseason when they beat the Chiefs 17-13 last week, while the Texans were embarrassed by New Orleans 38-14.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/respsportscapping.php?leaderboard\/leg,nfl\/afc,AF23_15\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR TOP NFL FOOTBALL HANDICAPPERS FOR 2009 \u2014\u2013&gt;<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The <a title=\"Bookmaker.com Sportsbook Review\" href=\"\/sportsbooks\/bookmaker-review\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Bookmaker<\/strong><\/a> oddsmakers opened up the hosts as 2.5-point favorites, but since then, the Texans have risen to -3 (-125). The \u2018total\u2019, which opened at 41, has since dropped to 40.<\/p>\n<p>The Brett Favre era didn\u2019t exactly get off to a picturesque start last week for the Vikings.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmaker.ag\/?cmpid=3052_415\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin: 1px; border: 3px solid #ffffff;\" src=\"http:\/\/banners.bmaker.ag\/images\/book_football_250_250_0.gif?cmpid=3052_415\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" \/><\/a> Favre completed just one of his four passes for four yards and didn\u2019t even lead Minnesota to a first down. QB Tarvaris Jackson looked like a man on a mission though, as he completed 12 of 15 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. The biggest question in Vikings camp is whether they used Jackson extensively to see whether he can win the backup job or whether he was just showcased for trade bait. Fellow backup QB Sage Rosenfels didn\u2019t make an appearance in the game, potentially signaling the end of his short stay with the Vikes as well. Minnesota has the #1 ranked defense in the NFL, allowing just 8.0 points per game this season. The unit has only given up one touchdown so far\u2019 that more than makes up for an offense which has only scored a total of 30 points in two games.<\/p>\n<p>Even though preseason contests are normally inconsistent, no one saw Houston\u2019s 24-point defeat coming last week. After QB Matt Schaub led the Texans on a touchdown drive six minutes into the game, the wheels simply just fell off. New Orleans\u2019 quarterbacks simply move the ball up and down the field with ease, and RB Mike Bell dropped 100 yards and a score on a hapless Houston defense. Schaub\u2019s strong preseason continued against the Saints, as he followed up his 7\/7 opening game by going 11\/16 for 97 yards and a touchdown. The rushing attack mustered just 70 yards on 25 carries. Keep an eye on DE Connor Barwin. The Texans\u2019 second round draft pick has recorded a sack in both of his preseason games, and HC Gary Kubiak will have a hard time keeping him off the field in spite of the fact that the team already has strong book ends in DEs Mario Williams and Antonio Smith.<\/p>\n<p>These two squads have only met twice in Houston\u2019s brief history, but they\u2019ve never met in the preseason. Minnesota holds a 2-0 advantage both SU and ATS. Both games have flown past the \u2018total\u2019 with ease. Dating back to last preseason, Minnesota has played four straight \u2018under\u2019 contests. The Texans have lost three of their L\/4 preseason betting affairs, but their 24-point loss to the Saints was the worst exhibition defeat the team had suffered since losing by the same 38-14 final tally to the Bucs in 2005.<\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmaker.ag\/?cmpid=3052\">Lay Some $$$$ Down on tonight&#8217;s Vikings vs. Texans Monday Night Football Clash with Bookmaker.com! Click Here To Deposit With Visa\/MC Today! <\/a><\/h3>\n<pre><em><strong>20% SIGN UP BONUS - \"SPECIAL\" PLUS 10% EXTRA BONUS, JUST EMAIL MIKEL@2BETDSI.COM \r\nTO GRAB THE EXTRA 10%. CLICK SIGN UP NOW TO GRAB YOUR FREE FOOTBALL BETTING $$$$\r\n<\/strong><\/em><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NFL gambling preview for ESPN\u2019s Monday Night Football matchup in Week 3 of the NFL preaseason between the Vikings and the Texans&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[226,227,16799,3037,2654,706,3041,16798,16797,16796,16800,1340],"class_list":["post-12702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl","tag-bookmaker","tag-bookmakercom","tag-bookmakercom-nfl-odds","tag-mnf-gambling","tag-mnf-odds","tag-monday-night-football","tag-monday-night-football-preview","tag-nfl-presason","tag-vikings-texans-odds","tag-vikings-vs-texans","tag-vikings-vs-texans-picks","tag-week-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12702"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12784,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12702\/revisions\/12784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}