The five month sprint to Miami begins this weekend as the NFL’s 100th season kicks off.
In a break from tradition, it’s the game’s oldest rivalry kicking things off as the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers in the now annual Thursday kickoff game.
There are 12 games in the early hours of Monday morning each with their own unique storylines before the Patriots get to unveil Super Bowl banner number six against the only other six-time Super Bowl champion, Pittsburgh Steelers.
To close out the opening weekend of action it’s the ESPN double header featuring two teams that could be destined for big things with New Orleans playing Houston followed by Oakland and Denver for the nightcap.
We’re previewing all 267 NFL games this season starting with the first 16 here with our recommended betting plays.
Since the NFL got sick of seeing the Patriots kicking off the season with their Super Bowl celebrations, they decided to mix things up and let Chicago host Green Bay for the 100th season celebrations. Green Bay will be hoping it’s the start of a new harmonious era with Matt LaFleur replacing Mike McCarthy as head coach but that will probably come down to whether or not his royal highness Aaron Rodgers actually wants to get on board with the plan. Chicago’s defence is still looking pretty good although it’s hard to have any faith in whoever is kicking for them right now. Not to mention Rodgers doesn’t lose to the Bears a whole lot, in fact last year’s defeat at Soldier Field was just the fifth time in 21 games. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first of three meetings between these teams as Rodgers pulls another miracle out of the hat and picks up an upset win to start the season.
In the race for second in the AFC East, it’s probably going to come down to the Jets and Bills. Of course this game won’t decide the course of the season for either side but let’s treat it like it will. Some people are higher on Sam Darnold than I am, and while “Sammy D” has the potential for a breakout season, I’ll need to see it before fully buying in. This one might be a good game to watch in the form of a highlights package come to think of it, either way, the Jets should win and hold the Bills to a relatively low score, so I’ll take the under as well.
This is the start of what should be a painfully long season in Miami. They traded for Josh Rosen, only to bench him, although the former UCLA & Arizona quarterback should be glad he’s only watching this game. Instead it’ll be Ryan Fitzpatrick set to take a beating from the Ravens defence which doesn’t bode well for Miami. Baltimore should cruise home here and win by at least two touchdowns and even though the Ravens want to find more balance, I’ll back Lamar Jackson to run for a score in this one. For the final leg, take the under because it seems like the Ravens could tally more sacks than points allowed.
The last two sides to lose the AFC Championship to New England face off in hot and humid Jacksonville. A year after lighting up the league, Patrick Mahomes is returning the bulk of his supporting cast from January with a few useful additions. That doesn’t bode well for a Jaguars defence that was far from invincible in 2018 despite its phenomenal talent. Even if they do manage to shut down Tyreek Hill, Mahomes should be able to get the ball to Travis Kelce, rookie Mecole Hardman or his staple of running backs. There’s just too much speed for the Jaguars to slow down here and this could be a high scoring clash.
Let’s see what the big deal is about those Browns then. We’ve heard about their potential for the last six months and they get an early test against the Titans. They’ve been bet down way too low in the Super Bowl market so maybe it’s better to just back them week to week. I like their chances to get off to a good start against the Titans here but it would be a shock if everything was flowing smoothly in this game. Tennessee has a strong defence that could create some speed bumps for Cleveland but their offence is more probably than not going to suck. If Derrick Henry can get going that might shorten the game but this has the makings of a “get the win by any means and get out of dodge” game for the Browns.
After struggling through the last 18 months with injury, Carson Wentz is back and starting the Eagles season opener. It’s a relatively soft landing against a Washington side that is really lacking anything exciting from a viewing or betting perspective. Case Keenum is keeping the seat warm for Dwayne Haskins after stumbling through the season in Denver last year but that Eagles defence should be in for a confidence boosting performance against a porous offensive line & underwhelming skill position players. I like the Eagles to put up 30 points at a minimum here which instantly puts the over into play and the Redskins have managed double digit points in all bar one clash with the Eagles this decade so take the doubles market of the Eagles to cover.
As much fun as we like to have with Kirk Cousins, that shouldn’t distract from the fact the Vikings have surrounded him with a really good team. And the one good thing about Cousins is he can beat up on worse teams and I know the Falcons have the flash of Julio Jones but this could be another sub .500 season in store for the second favourites in the NFC South. Last year the Vikings went 6-3 against the spread as a favourite and they find themselves favoured here. I’ll back them to win & cover in their home opener.
If one of the early games is worth waking up for, it’s definitely this one. Both sides have made the Super Bowl in the last five years but neither one left with the Lombardi Trophy. The Rams should have the edge in this one but have they spent too long dwelling on their offence’s no show in February? Top to bottom their talent should get them over the line here and Brandin Cooks should find the end zone but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Panthers superstar back Christian McCaffery picks up a touchdown or two as well.
About the Colts… losing Andrew Luck sucks but if there’s one coach that knows how to get around a backup quarterback, it’s Frank Reich. He of course struck the match to light up Nick Foles as the Eagles Offensive Coordinator in their run to winning Super Bowl 52 after Carson Wentz was lost to a knee injury. I wouldn’t go as far as to say Jacoby Brissett will win MVP of the title game this year just yet, but Reich at least knows how to put his understudy (or in this case new leading man) in positions to succeed. If I keep going on this path I might actually be able to talk myself into a Colts upset, especially with the Chargers still missing Melvin Gordon, although their backfield should be able to replicate a fair percentage of his usual production if not impact. Their passing game should give them enough of an edge to pull away here but I’ll back the Colts to cover as insurance against an upset.
If you’ll care to look back at the NFL Season Preview, I picked Seattle as a value play to win the Super Bowl and the Bengals could be the worst team in the league. Naturally then this game has “mismatch” written all over it and I’ll back a big Seahawks win.
It’s the debut everyone will be eager to see in the late window. Kyler Murray, the first overall pick in the draft and one of the more intriguing talents in recent memory will get his first glimpse of the career he chose over playing in the MLB. It will also be the first viewing of Kliff Kingsbury’s new offence that will apparently revolutionise the NFL. We might not be willing to go that far off one game but they’re taking on a Detroit side with plenty of questions so we’ll go for the value play and back the Cards at home.
It what is now seemingly a Week 1 staple, the Cowboys take on the Giants, but mercifully, it hasn’t been given a featured time slot. The big question for the Cowboys is how ready Ezekiel Elliot will be after missing all of training camp and being rewarded with a six-year extension. He instantly makes Dak Prescott a better quarterback and that should see the Cowboys home here. On the other side of the field Saquon Barkley is a phenomenal talent and could swing this game in favour of the Giants or at the very least help keep it close, even with Eli Manning still running the offence. Dallas has won the last four meetings and both games last year were decided by less than a touchdown.
This is either going to be the best game of the week or a real slog to get through depending on the answers to some of the big questions surrounding these teams. Are Tampa going to get a boost with Bruce Arians in charge now? Will Jimmy Garoppolo come back from his ACL tear in working order? All things considered the 49ers should be the better side but considering this is early September in Florida there is a decent chance this game has some sort of lightning delay so it could drag this one out even more. I like the 49ers potential to get it together for this one although their long term fate is still in question.
It’s fair to say that due to their remarkably long run of success, the Patriots are not the most popular team but they can be a great betting play if you’ve watched them enough. This is not the team we have become accustomed to since 2007 with Tom Brady airing it out all over the field. Bill Belichick has built a defensive team that will look to carry the team to half a dozen wins on their own. Not to mention September is treated as an extended preseason in the five and a half states of New England. So overall this should be a win for a team that has crushed the Steelers more often than not but it might be more of a grind than usual as the Pats keep Big Ben under 20 points.
We can all go into this game hoping this will be a wild, crazy, 80 point spectacular and purely in terms of the offensive talent on offer it could be. I like the Saints head to head but also have Houston as a dark horse contender for the Super Bowl so it’s a tough call. Instead of trying to pick one of these sides I’ll look for some SGM value and go for three big name touchdown scorers instead.
One advantage of having this game as the last one of the weekend, is there is room for all sorts of crazy stuff to happen. Of course with Antonio Brown suspended most of the crazy is gone but sadly, so is a lot of the talent. Denver should handle the Raiders and give Chucky a rough start to what should be their final season before moving to Las Vegas.