Despite the addition of Jadeveon Clowney, the Tennessee Titans open as underdogs to the Denver Broncos for the Week 1 contest at Empower Field at Mile High.
According to BetMGM, the Broncos (-1) are slightly favored over the Titans (+1), with an over/under set at 40.5.
The Broncos have been very good at home in Week 1 in years past. In fact, Denver has won its last seven Week 1 home games and are 28-6-1 all time when playing season-openers at home, per ESPN’s Mike Clay.
The last time these two teams faced off was in Week 6 of the 2019 season. The Broncos were the victors in that contest at home, 16-0, although both teams looked quite different under center. For Denver, it was Joe Flacco, and for the Titans, it was Marcus Mariota.
Now, Drew Lock has fully taken over in Denver after a strong finish to last season, while Ryan Tannehill is the No. 1 signal-caller in Tennessee.
Tannehill was sensational in the final 10 games of last season and led the Titans’ offense to some of the best scoring numbers in the NFL in that span. Other than at right tackle, Tennessee’s offense looks nearly identical.
Lock wasn’t quite as good as Tannehill, but he was still impressive nonetheless. Now, the Broncos’ second-year quarterback has some new toys on offense, including running back Melvin Gordon and rookie wide receiver Jerry Jeudy — and that’s on top of wide receiver Courtland Sutton, tight end Noah Fant and running back Phillip Lindsay.
As long as both teams don’t see any ill effects from an abbreviated offseason, there should be more scoring this time around; however, the amount of the expected increase in points will depend upon how on top of its game each defense is.
The Titans and Broncos have made significant upgrades to their defenses, which were already formidable beforehand. Denver added Jurrell Casey to their talented group, while the Titans recently inked Clowney — and those are just one of multiple moves each team has made to improve its defense.
With that said, this game could go either way in terms of being a defensive or offensive battle, which only adds to what is already shaping up to be an unpredictable Week 1 in the NFL overall.
