NFL Week 4 Betting – Schedule & Marquee Matchups

NFL Week 4 Betting Marquee Matchups:

Ravens @ Steelers

NFL betting fans know it will be very interesting to see how the Pittsburgh Steelers handle the first several games of the 2010 season without their starting quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. By the time October comes across the calendar and week four arrives, the Steelers will have a much better sense of their strengths and weaknesses. They’ll have a pretty good idea of what they can and can’t do with quarterback Dennis Dixon. It’s worth noting that Dixon replaced a banged-up Roethlisberger last November in Baltimore, and nearly led the Steelers to a road upset of the Ravens. Will Dixon use that teachable moment and turn it into an occasion for growth, or will the near-miss nature of that overtime loss, caused by one of his mistakes, make Dixon a mental midget in this game? If Baltimore doesn’t pass an early-season test at Cincinnati, this game will be a must for the Super Bowl-minded Ravens. There’s a lot to consider in this AFC North head-knocker of a matchup.

49ers @ Falcons

As San Francisco’s year of truth continues, online betting will see how coach Mike Singletary’s squad handles a cross-country flight for an early-afternoon kickoff, something a lot of West Coast teams generally don’t overcome. If the 49ers can give a good accounting of themselves against a loaded Atlanta team intent on dethroning New Orleans in the NFC South, we’ll be able to say – with a certain degree of optimism – that the culture truly is changing in the San Francisco locker room. In the 1980s and 1990s, this matchup regularly tilted in the 49ers’ direction (ah, the old NFC West; the 1998 season was an exception to the rule). This year, Atlanta is the favorite, but perhaps the 49ers have grown up enough to make this a contest.

Redskins at Eagles

This isn’t a game with Super Bowl implications, but like many other contests that dot the NFL landscape, it’s a big battle because of the backdrop. Much as Brett Favre’s journey to Lambeau Field last season, as a member of the hated Minnesota Vikings, drew such a considerable degree of attention, so it also stands that this game will generate boffo box-office ratings for FOX. Donovan McNabb, for so many years the icon of the Philadelphia franchise, returns to The City of Brotherly Love as a member of the despised Washington Redskins. The emotions will soar through the skies in this Eastern metropolis as the hometown Eagles confront the man who carried them to five NFC title game appearances and one Super Bowl trip. Nothing says drama like an iconic quarterback playing on the road against his former team. This game wouldn’t have the same amount of juice had it been staged in Washington. In Philly, this collision will truly move the needle in terms of ratings and national interest.