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Both these teams looked very good in their respective Week 1 matchups, but we'll find out a lot more when they play good competition (and not the Bills/Colts). I'm inclined to take the road team here because I'm higher on the Ravens this year and think they looked extremely balanced. I also don't have a real problem fading Andy Dalton in a prime time game.
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Is this a weird number? The Redskins dominated the Cardinals in Week 1 on the road, looking sharp for the first time in an opener under Jay Gruden. The Colts kept things close against the Bengals for much of their game before eventually crumbling late. I'll back the home favorite with more balance and a substantially better defense. Weather could be a serious factor here with Florence moving up the coast. Keep an eye on that under if it stays above 45.
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Maybe I'm just missing something here? The Falcons are better at home and should be looking to exorcise some demons after a brutal Week 1 loss. But with no Keanu Neal (out for the season) and potentially no Deion Jones (missed practice this week), it's entirely possible the Panthers are able to run the ball effectively. Carolina lost 22-10 to the Falcons in Atlanta last year -- I think they can score enough to keep up and stay within a field goal here. If Luke Kuechly is out for any reason I would probably change this pick, for what it's worth.
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Tough game to pick here because we don't know what the line will end up at without knowing the full status for Aaron Rodgers. It's early in the week for his recovery and Mike McCarthy won't commit to anything. Given that Rodgers is likely to be limited in his movements, I'll take the Vikings here -- their defense won't slow down on pressuring Rodgers in the second half.
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The overreaction from the public to the Bills loss in Baltimore was steep -- Buffalo was a nine-point underdog when this opened. But don't sleep on the Chargers and their inability to close out teams early in the season, as well as their struggles with coming east and actually putting together a decent game. This could be a slopfest depending on what Florence does and I like Buffalo at home in a slopfest on the east coast.
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I'm setting this at Titans + 3 without knowing exactly what the line will be, because we don't know what Marcus Mariota's status will be. Suffice to say I can revisit this game if Blaine Gabbert is starting. I did really like the idea of taking the Dolphins to beat the Titans and taking the Texans to keep it close with the Patriots and then taking the Titans to beat the Texans, though, so if Mariota plays I'll go with Tennessee in a surprise pick here. Dion Lewis picked up right where he left off last year.
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Here's a line that STINKS. The Chiefs looked great and the Steelers looked terrible and this is moving towards Pittsburgh (it opened at Steelers -5). The public does love the Steelers, though, and they are a much better team at home. Mike Tomlin's fared quite well against Andy Reid, going 4-1 since 2014, with the only loss a game where Landry Jones started. The Chiefs defense wasn't good against the Chargers and a better team potentially wins that game. I'm gonna zig here and take the Steelers. You should be hammering this over if you see anything at 52 or lower.
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Tough matchup here with both teams coming off big outings in Week 1. My concern is the Jets were great in primetime while the Dolphins were basically the least-watched game in the NFL, thanks to it lasting seven hours with delays. The Jets were 7-1 against the spread last year at home, but every single game came as an underdog. I need to see what the deal is with the Jets defenders -- Trumaine Johnson, etc. -- before locking this in, but would lean towards a still-underrated Jets team right now.
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How many times do the Saints have to not cover at huge spread at home for me to stop taking them? I actually think this spread should be double digits, except New Orleans laid a massive egg against the Buccaneers and the Browns managed to tie the Browns. This should be a motivated Saints team and Hue Jackson will make enough mistakes to give New Orleans a double-digit victory.
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HOO BOY. Only took one week and we've got our first nearly two-touchdown spread. You can't ever feel good about taking a team laying 13 points, but I think I can comfortably do it with the Rams here for two reasons. One, the Cardinals are terrible. And two, the Rams do a really good job of finishing teams off. They'll be more comfortable at home and the offense/defense are both so explosive I can see them easily tacking on one or two fourth-quarter scores to cover. Man it's not fun taking that number though.
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Again, another over reaction spread here. It's tempting to zig when everyone will be zagging against the Lions considering how terrible they looked against the Jets. But here's my thing: the 49ers didn't look THAT bad considering they were missing Marquise Goodwin and going against maybe the best defense in football. Kyle Shanahan has hung points on Matt Patricia before and I think the 49ers have a nice little explosion on offense this week.
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If this is the Vikings against the Patriots, they are not a home underdog. The Jaguars might not have the same kind of home field advantage, but they're still a very good team and should not be an underdog to anyone at home. I'll reluctantly take the points, provided that Leonard Fournette is able to go, because the Jaguars should be able to overpower the Pats at the line of scrimmage and at least minimize the damage Tom Brady can do in the passing game.
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Feels like I'm taking too many favorites, but the Broncos have a good homefield advantage, get one more day of rest and have a favorable matchup here. They can basically utilize the Rams second-half gameplan and turn Derek Carr into Charles Checkdown before leaning on Royce Freeman to pound the ball. Oakland should be deflated after seeing what happened when they were overpowered by the Rams in Week 1.
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The biggest takeaway from the Cowboys-Panthers game in Week 1? Don't worry about the receivers. Look at the interior pressure Kawaan Short got on Dak Prescott. Damon Harrison and B.J. Hill could have a field day for the Giants defense and should be able to bottle up Ezekiel Elliott. The Cowboys defense might be better than people think, but I could see the Giants ripping off a couple explosive plays and winning this one. Both teams might not be great, but I'll take the better matchup and the points.
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Probably going to play the Bears first-half line here because Matt Nagy looks like he's going to get this team out front early with scripting on a regular basis. But I'll take the Seahawks to keep it close after a rough outing against a very dangerous Broncos defense. The Bears are coming off a brutal and emotional loss to the Packers and should be fired up to play at home, but the Seahawks have the best player on the field and Russell will keep it snug in prime time.
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