Rams vs. Broncos NFL Odds, Betting Trends: Denver Among Largest Preseason Favorite Ever Tracked

Rams vs. Broncos NFL Odds

*NFL odds updated as of Saturday at 8 a.m. ET

College football returns today at 1 p.m. ET, so Saturday’s sports slate is the rare occasion where the NFL will take a backseat to another sport.

Still, bettors will certainly get down on Saturday’s NFL preseason action, but based on The Action Network’s public betting data, today’s college football matchups are driving significantly more action than their professional counterparts.

Interestingly, there are some large point spreads for today’s NFL preseason schedule, including one of the biggest ever tracked by our Bet Labs software.

Let’s take a look at the massive Rams vs. Broncos 8.5-point spread and where this ranks in preseason betting history.

Rams vs. Broncos NFL Betting Trends

Our historical database tracks NFL odds and statistics back to the start of the 2004 preseason.

And since then just one preseason matchup has closed with a spread larger than 8.5 points: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots (-9) on Sept. 1, 2011.

In addition, just two NFL preseason games have closed at the current Rams vs. Broncos spread of 8.5 points:

• Green Bay Packers (-8.5) vs. Indianapolis Colts on Aug. 26, 2011
• Los Angeles Rams vs. New England Patriots (-8.5) on Aug. 26, 2010

In all three of these situations with historically-large NFL preseason odds the road team covered the spread, though a three-game sample is nothing to bank on when looking forward.

However, there is a trend of larger preseason underdogs covering the number across a larger sample size.

NFL preseason underdogs overall are 542-492-31 (52.4%) against the spread (ATS) since 2004, landing slightly past the break-even mark of 52.38% when assuming a vig of -110.

And once the spread reaches at least 4.5 points, the win rate for NFL preseason underdogs climbs to 54.5% over a sample of 168 games.