Week one was not a great success nor a failure. My predictions came out even kindle at 3-3. The Lions, Rams, and Eagles all covered their spreads as I expected, while the Titans got rolled by Oakland, Pittsburgh came exactly 6 points short after allowing a late touchdown to the Browns, and the Falcons defeated Chicago by only 6-points, one shy of the 7 I had them listed at. With that being said, here are the games I like this week.
SILVER PREDICTIONS – WEEK 2
ARIZONA CARDINALS VS INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (+7.5)
This is going to be one ugly game, these might be two of the worst teams in the NFL this season. Andrew Luck can’t come back fast enough for the Colts, while Arizona has been delivered the blow of losing David Johnson for the next 3-4 months. Now don’t me wrong, the Colts looked like absolute garbage on week one, but we can’t over react to those results, Scott Tolzien was at the helm for much of the game and accounted for 14 of the Rams 46 points. Jacoby Brissett should start this week giving the Colts a much better start and playing behind a home crowd is always nice. Arizona on the other hand, should be in shambles offensively this week. With Johnson done for the long term it means that Carson Palmer will be without his #1 Running Back and a guy that accounted for over 2,000 yards of total offense for them last season. Palmer looked old in Detroit and won’t have a strong run game to rely on this week masking his inability to throw the deep ball. I suspect that the Cardinals defense does just enough to have them win this game, but the Colts should not be this big of home dogs, I had them somewhere around +3.5-5.
FINAL SCORE – CARDINALS 23 – COLTS 19
CLEVELAND BROWNS (+9) VS BALTIMORE RAVENS
Baltimore’s defense looks for real. They picked off Andy Dalton 4 times in week one and shut out a team that has made the playoffs five of the last six seasons. It was impressive, but also putrid by Cincinnati. I suspect Cleveland will be more respectable this weekend hitting the road for the first time this year. The Browns defense was able to hold Pittsburgh’s electric offense to only 21-points last weekend and force some impressive turnovers. If they are capable of doing that against the Steelers then keeping this within a 9-point game should be well within reach. It was announced on Tuesday that Danny Woodhead would miss extended time with a hamstring injury and that is a massive blow for this team. Majority of the points Baltimore scored last weekend was due to defensive turnovers. But before Woodhead left the game due to injury he had 3 catches for 33 yards. He is a major security blanket for Flacco and I think that the Browns could expose that this weekend. Didn’t think I would be saying this anytime soon, but give me the Browns and the points on the road this weekend.
FINAL SCORE – BROWNS 13 – RAVENS 20
GOLD PREDICTIONS – WEEK TWO
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (-6) VS NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Tough schedule to start the season for New Orleans. Go can go ahead and chalk them up with an 0-2 record because we all know that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick don’t lose back-to-back games. The most shocking game of week one was watching the Patriots get defeated by Kansas City after holding a 4th quarter lead. But with well over 10 days rest I expect them to come into the Mercedes Benz SuperDome and light up this inexperienced Saints secondary. Last week Sam Bradford was able to make the Saints defense look like swiss cheese, I can’t wait to see what Tom Brady can do. This team clearly still has major problems on the defensive side of the ball and while the Patriots didn’t look so impressive themselves week one, I expect they have a better outing this weekend. Don’t be afraid to lay the points and take the Patriots this weekend, they never disappoint back-to-back.
FINAL SCORE – PATRIOTS 37 – SAINTS 27
TENNESSEE TITANS (-1) VS JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
Jacksonville had to be the biggest surprise in week one. They were over 5-point underdogs in Houston and totally embarrassed the Texans with a 29-7 win, and 10 defensive sacks. Maybe this is year in which the Jaguars finally turn it around, the sharps in Vegas seem to think so. I’m not so convinced quite yet, and I’ll have my money riding on the Titans in this game. Tennessee disappointed in week one with several people assuming they would contend with Oakland, myself included. Marcus Mariota looked sharp at times but was left with far to many third down and long situations. If you take one thing away from the Jaguars game last week consider what Houston did to Jacksonville defensively once they finally pulled Savage and put rookie DeShaun Watson into the game. On the first drive of his NFL career Watson went down the field and scored the first touchdown all day. Mariota is an identical type of play caller and is a duel threat. Give me the points and Tennessee to bounce back in a big way this weekend.
FINAL SCORE – TITANS 27 – JAGUARS 13
PLATINUM PREDICITONS – WEEK TWO
MINNESOTA VIKINGS (+5.5) VS PITTSBURGH STEELERS
I’m sure majority of the public will be riding the Steelers in this game, but I think the smart money will be backing the Vikings. Minnesota looked incredibly impressive in week one holding a strong Saints offense to merely 19 points and only one touchdown. Pittsburgh’s offense did not look good against Cleveland and was able to muster only 21 total points, 7 of which came off a defensive touchdown. Minnesota will be a top 5 defensive team this season and if the offensive line holds up for Sam Bradford, Dalvin Cook could win offensive rookie of the year. The Vikings have great coaching, are extremely deep on the defensive side of the ball and surprised everyone in this exact same situation last year. They knocked off Tennessee, Green Bay, Carolina, the New York Giants and Houston Texans to start 5-0. I’m not expecting they completely shut down the Steelers offense with the amount of weapons they contain, but five and a half points is a lot for a team that just held the 2nd highest scoring offense last season under 20-points.
FINAL SCORE – VIKINGS 20 – STEELERS 17
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS VS SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (-14)
14 points is a lot of points, but I love the Seahawks in this game. Consider this, the last 6 meetings between these two teams at CenturyLink Seattle is 6-0 and have outscored the 49ers by an average of 17.6 points. Seattle is a lock of win the NFC West this season and San Francisco showed me absolutely nothing last week against the Panthers. The 49ers managed to score only 3 total points while turning the ball over twice. They weren’t able to find space anywhere, and this weekend should be more of the same. Seattle has been one of the best defensive teams in the league for the better part of 5 years now and their home field advantage is very well documented. I could see the 49ers offense actually eclipsing 5 false starts in this game and being held below 7-points in back-to-back weeks. The deciding factor in this game will be Seattle’s offensive line. Russell Wilson received barely any protection against the Packers and that is concerning, but I suspect they find a way to romp their division rivals this weekend. Seattle wins big in their first home game of the year.