A tradition since 2006, the NFL schedules two Week 1 games to enjoy on Monday Night, and this season we have two very interesting ones. The opener has the Detroit Lions hosting the New York Jets with the Oakland Raiders playing host to the Los Angeles Rams in game two. Both of these offer some great betting options and storylines to open the season.

Rams @ Raiders | Sept. 10, 10:20PM ET | Raiders +3.5 Total: 49.5

Online sportsbooks aren’t drinking the Gruden Kool-aid, setting the Raiders as a 3.5-point home dog. Granted, the Rams may have the best team in football, but Chucky must be thinking he’s the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL this season.

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Oakland are rolling with some swagger, signing Doug Martin and Jordy Nelson as depth pieces, adding to the core of QB Derek Carr and WR Amari Cooper. With Beast Mode Marshawn Lynch leading the offensive backfield, look for Gruden to be a new-school old-school coach. He’s going to play old-fashioned smash mouth run the ball play good defense football with some new found flare I’m sure he has uncovered after all his years in the booth.

Like I said earlier, the Rams come in with one of the best all around teams in the NFL. They are stacked on both sides of the ball, and if they can get Aaron Donald signed and reported to camp, their defense will THE best. They brought in Ndamukong Suh, Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib to a defense that was #13 against the pass, but only 28th against the run.

The additions to the Rams don’t end there, adding burner receiver Brandin Cooks from New England all while return the majority of an offense that finished 10th in total offense in the National Football League last year. If Todd Gurley turns out to be the best player in football this season, like his average draft position in fantasy leagues has shown, the Rams will make a solid run for the Super Bowl this year.

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The Rams franchise has only played the Raiders five times, winning three of them and has covered the spread in all but 1. The OVER/UNDER is 2-3. Worth noting is the fact that Oakland has only averaged 12.80 points in those 5 games against, being shut out twice, including their last meeting in November of 2014, a game the Rams won 56-0. Derek Carr the rookie started that day, a Sunday during Thanksgiving Weekend, he went 24 for 39 with 173 yards, zero TD’s and 2 interceptions. The Rams ran all over the Raiders that day, racking up 172 yards and finding the endzone 4 times on the ground.

Will Carr remember that beating? There’s a good chance; so that is just one more storyline to add to this one. As if we needed anymore.

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I can see Gruden wanting to come out of the gate on fire in this one, and I’m sure he will have his team well pumped up for it. If Donald and Khalil Mack can get their contracts settled and on the field, this game will feature a lot of players that you may see play in the Pro Bowl this season. It’s a great way to finish off the first week of the 2018 NFL season. Hopefully you will have won more than 70% of your bets, and getting the season started off the right way.