Minnesota suffered a blow this week as its top pick, J.J. McCarthy, went down with a meniscus tear and will be out for the rest of the season. However, the Vikings weren't expecting him to be the starter in Game 1 of the regular season, and they have NFL experience with Sam Darnold, Nick Mullens, and Jaren Hall. It was Hall who went 7-for-16 for 63 yards in the Vikings' 24-23 win over Las Vegas last week, and Darnold finished 4-for-8 for 59 yards. Minnesota racked up 452 total yards and held the Raiders to 188 passing yards. Cleveland lost 23-10 to Green Bay, and the game went UNDER. Kevin Stefanski is now 5-5-1 straight up and ATS in preseason. The Browns ran for only 56 yards, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Tyler Huntley, and Jamies Winston combined for 24 of 32 passing for 208 yards and no TDs. Cleveland is 10-4-1 UNDER in preseason home games since 2015. Stefanski doesn't plan on playing DeShaun Watson until next week. Take the Vikings as a Max Play and the UNDER.
This pick was released to clients on August 15, 2024 at 10:53AM ET.
NFL
Minnesota at Cleveland
August 17, 2024
4:25 PM Eastern
2 units on Minnesota +4.5 (-105) (risk 2 to return 3.9)
Result:
WIN
WIN
1 unit on Game Total UNDER 36.5 -110 (risk 1 to return 1.91)
Result:
LOSS
LOSS
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