VSiN Primetime | August 10, 2026 | Hour 2

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
Live from the Circus Sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas on VSiN, the SportsBetting Network.

**Tim Murray** (0:12)
Coming up in 15 minutes, Sam Monson. Always great to talk to Sam, formerly of Pro Football Focus, now the Check the Mic podcast. And we will be joined by him coming up in 15 minutes. He'll give us his early thoughts on what he likes heading into the upcoming season. Throughout the show, Matt, we're going to continue to look at those quarterback depth charts. I know you wrote about it on vsin.com. And you gave me a good idea about Thorne Eistrom, our buddy up in the Twin Cities, who was Captain JJ McCarthy heading into the draft, really wanted him to be drafted by the Vikings. He got his wish. And I don't know if it's played out to his liking so far, Matt, when it comes to the Vikings. But we talked to Drew Dinsick a little bit about the Vikings. And I think there's a decent amount of people. I'm curious, Matt, your perception on the NFC North. Do you look at a team at Minnesota North of 5 to 1 as someone that jumps out to you? Or do you think the Detroit Lions who were in last place last year, benefit from a little bit of an easier schedule? They reclaim the North this season.

**Matt Youmans** (1:17)
I already bet the Lions to win the North. I think plus 180 is what I got about that a couple months ago. We put this NFL betting guide out in June. I thought when you looked at the Lions' schedule, it's actually a huge, huge difference between what the Lions face in their schedule, what the Packers, the Bears and the Vikings face.
I also was betting on a bounce back from Detroit. Last year at this time, I was asked a bunch of times, what's your regression team in the NFL and the Lions were my number one regression team. I thought they were going to take a big step back last year. And some of that had to do with losing both coordinators. You know, that was talked about a lot. Ben Johnson gone to the Bears, Aaron Glenn gone to the Jets.

**Tim Murray** (2:03)
The Jets would give them back.

**Matt Youmans** (2:04)
Yeah, I think they would.
I don't know if the Lions should take it back. But Ben Johnson going to the Bears was a loss, let's put it that way.
Also the Lions' offensive line was weaker. No, at one point they had the strongest offensive line in the NFL and I thought last year definitely had taken a hit. Well, the Lions did regress. Now this year, I expect to bounce back here, but a lot of it has to do with the schedule too. I mean, it's pretty much an unfair advantage almost for the Lions when you look at the schedule breakdown for this team. Derek Stephens was in the studio with us a couple months ago and he was raving about the Lions over the win total 10 and a half because he loves the schedule, as a Lions fan, he loves it. How can you not?

**Tim Murray** (2:46)
You think about a team that benefited with an easy schedule last year, the New England Patriots, how did that work out?

**Matt Youmans** (2:52)
How about the Broncos?

**Tim Murray** (2:53)
Yeah, all off season long, it was the Patriots over their win total and lo and behold, not only do they win their win total, I think you had a bet on them to win the division.

**Matt Youmans** (3:02)
I did and I will give the Patriots credit for this because a lot of people act like that the only reason they won all those games is they had a soft schedule. Patriots went to Baltimore in one and they went to Buffalo.

**Sam Monson** (3:12)
Yeah, winning that game in Buffalo was...

**Matt Youmans** (3:14)
A couple big time wins.

**Tim Murray** (3:16)
Right now, Matt, we sit in a scoreless game, bottom of the fourth inning, Boston and Toronto. Take a look at where we are from a live line standpoint. Red Sox down to a minus one 18 favorite. Sunny Gray pitching for the Red Sox. How about the total tonight? Mets Braves, eight and a half was the closing total. When you get a first inning grand slam, usually you're sitting in decent shape to have this game go over the total. Live number 15 and a half right now. This game closed eight and a half. So you're not home yet if you bet the over, but that might be one of the worst bets of the year. If this over does not hit. But you always wonder too, Matt, we see five runs scored in the top of the first, two runs in the bottom of the first, another here in the top of the second. Excuse me. At what point does this thing start slowing down and you look to bet that live under? But we will see right now. Live total 15 and a half juice slightly over Mets minus 472 favorites at DraftKings. Once again, 6-2 lead for the New York Mets after the Braves went to Yankee Stadium, lost yesterday, or won yesterday, I beg your pardon, but lost Friday and Saturday against the Yankees.