NFL Preseason Opening Betting -Cincinnati vs Dallas

Think about this for a minute; say you gave up drinking beer for a month. You are used to Guinness or some of the other heavier brews on the market. You dropped a few pounds and decided to treat yourself, but not go crazy and thought a Michelob Ultra is the way to ease back in. That accurately describes the NFL Hall of Fame Game, not overly satisfying after months of no football, but it beats the heck out of watching the World Cup.

Cincinnati and Dallas are defending division champions and each will try to use that as a springboard to bigger and better things in 2010.

The Bengals were one of the more conservative offensive teams in the NFL last season (26th is passing yards) in putting together 10-6 (6-10 ATS) campaign. The front office tried to rectify that situation by giving quarterback Carson Palmer more weapons.

Cincinnati drafted tight end Jermaine Gresham from Oklahoma and added former Tampa Bay wideout Antonio Bryant. In the past couple of weeks, they also brought Terrell Owens on board to shore up the position, suggesting there will be no shortage of commentary with T.O. and Chad Ochocinco.

Coach Marvin Lewis is 15-13 ATS in exhibition contests in his tenure at Cincinnati.

Neither the Bengals nor Dallas is expected to have the regulars play more than a series or two.

The Cowboys were 11-5 (9-7 ATS) in the regular season a year ago and are definitely looking to put the playoff disaster in Minneapolis (34-3) behind them as quickly as possible. Most feel this is a critical year for Tony Romo and coach Wade Phillips, both needing to move to the next level.

The Cowboys brass is disappointed rookie receiver Dez Bryant won’t be available for this tilt, having suffered a high ankle sprain in practice last week. Bryant was the star of camp to that point. Otherwise, Dallas is a mostly veteran team and places little stock in games like this as 5-20 ATS record in the first two weeks of the preseason proves.

Oddsmakers had Dallas as three-point favorites in Canton and they've been flipped to a field goal underdog, with the total at 32.5. The Cowboys are 1-4 ATS in last five as preseason underdogs, while Cincinnati is 11-20 ATS as favorites.

This is the first ever meeting between these teams before the regular season.