Week two is upon us and with a new week comes a new batch of bets. We have learned a little bit about these teams following their opening games and opinions are being shaped accordingly. Based one what we know so far, here are the bets I like this weekend.
Chiefs – 3.5 vs Baltimore
Kansas City probably faced their toughest challenge of the regular season in week one and still walked away with the win. Now they will play a Ravens team that lost to the Raiders on Monday night. That’s an inferior team with less time to prepare.
Even if I believe the Ravens were a playoff team like they have been in recent years, this is a matchup that doesn’t favor their style of play. The Chiefs can score very quickly with one of the most explosive passing attacks in the game. The Ravens are a run heavy team and that will be hard to sustain if they fall behind. Really, this spread feels like free money to me.
49ers – 3.5 vs Philadelphia
The 49ers barely covered my spread last week after letting the Lions claw back into the game. That was a 7.5 point spread. This is half that and it’s against what I view as a similar quality of opponent.
I have a hard time seeing the Eagles stop this 49ers rushing attack. And if Philly does fall behind then they might have to be more aggressive with their passing attack and I don’t think that’s a good thing for Jalen Hurts.
Rams – 4 vs Indianapolis
The Colts are a team I respect. They have legitimate strengths and are very solid all the way around. However, I don’t believe that “solid” is good enough when you go up against a true title contender. We saw that last week when they lost to Seattle and I think we’ll see a similar type of performance this week.
The Rams are one of the few teams I view as contenders. They blew out the Bears, who were a playoff team last year, on Sunday night and have some of the best players in the league. I look for Matthew Stafford to have another strong performance and make this game out of reach by at least a touchdown.
Washington Football Team -3 vs New York Giants
Thursday night football is always a strange game. Quarterback play is often inconsistent. Injuries are more of a factor with the quick turnaround. In these types of games, I like to bet on the team with better trench play.
I really like the Washington pass rush in this game. Going against a Giants offensive line that is still finding themselves, this is a unit that could cause a lot of problems. On top of that, I am optimistic about the Washington passing offense with Tyler Heinicke. Buccaneers fans got a first hand look at what he is capable of and I don’t think the Giants are equipped to stop him as a runner.
Bucs – 11.5 vs Atlanta
There are no two ways about it, the Atlanta Falcons are bad. They are bad on paper and they looked even worse in their opener. On the flip side, we already know how good the Bucs are. In case you forgot, they’re the defending champions.
So the question then becomes if I think one of the best teams in the NFL will beat one of the worst by two touchdowns? I’m pretty comfortable with that number. Especially after a sloppy week one game, the Bucs will look to fine tune things as they prepare for bigger games in the weeks to come. I could easily see this game being a blowout in Tampa’s favor.
