NFL Week 3 Predictions

Week three in the NFL is upon us and after a solid week of predictions in the season openers, my picking train fell off the tracks last week as I finished with eight up and eight down. Hopefully, I can put together a better analysis this week and get back to my winning ways. Let’s get the ball rolling with my team up first.

Los Angeles Chargers at Pittsburgh: The Pittsburgh Steelers will play their 2024 home opener on Sunday; September 22 and their opponent will be the equally 2-0 Los Angeles Chargers. As Justin Fields prepares to be the starter for the third straight game (Russell Wilson still nursing an injured calf), the Chargers offense will be led by another Justin, this one named Herbert. It’s the Justin vs. Justin show and there is no argument as to who the better quarterback is. I think this will be a defensive slugfest. Through the first two games of the season, I gave Pittsburgh’s offense the benefit of the doubt thinking they would put up some big numbers on the scoreboard which obviously was not the case. This will be their toughest defensive challenge to date and the Chargers will be hard pressed to produce on their offensive side of the ball. Home field advantage in my opinion will be huge on this day. Steelers 20 / Chargers 17

New England at New York Jets: Aaron Rodgers made it through the first two weeks without an injury and he went from a bad game in the opener to a much better outing last weekend. The Patriots have been somewhat of a surprise but given the Jets defense I think they win this one. Jets 31 / Patriots 17

New York Giants at Cleveland: The Browns will try to keep pace with the Steelers in what should be an easy game. Daniel Jones saved his job in week two for the time being anyway despite losing to Washington. On the other sideline, Deshaun Watson is in a remarkably similar boat to Jones. I can see the Giants pulling an upset, but I don’t think it will happen. Browns 20 / Giants 10

Green Bay at Tennessee: It was believed that Jordan Love might not play this week, but he was at practice taking part. The Titans are 0-2 and if they fall flat here and Will Levis plays poorly, Mason Rudolph might be called in to save the day. My gut is saying upset but the Packers are better than Tennessee, so I’ll go with my brain choice. Packers 35 / Titans 21

Chicago at Indianapolis: The Caleb Williams show takes to the road for the second straight week in a noisy Indianapolis facility. Indianapolis has dropped their first two games, and they do not want to fall too far behind the Texans. I like the horseshoes at home. Colts 28 / Bears 24

Houston at Minnesota: There are several quarterbacks in the NFL right now making noise and being talked about around water coolers. In Minnesota they have one of those QBs and his name is Sam Darnold. Tossed around the league for lack of success Darnold and the rest of the Vikings are 2-0. Darnold beat the team he played for last year in week two, the 49ers. He began his career with the Jets and played for the Panthers. So, with his fourth team in seven years, he may have finally reached the potential the Jets thought he had. This will most likely be a shootout with the dangerous C.J. Stroud behind center. Vikings 37 / Texans 34

Philadelphia at New Orleans: The Eagles have been plagued with controversy since last season ended. Between quarterback and head coach and then losing at home to the Falcons in week two, the Eagles now get to face one of those quarterbacks mentioned above. This one is Derek Carr the castoff from the Raiders who is lighting it up this season for the Saints. One stat that has been much talked about is New Orleans scoring on 16 consecutive drives to open the season. In the season opener the Saints throttled the Panthers 47-1. Next game? A 44 spot on a team slated to make the post season, the Cowboys. The Eagles are more than going to have their hands full. Saints 27 / Eagles 24

Denver at Tampa Bay: Here we have the final quarterback who has rejuvenated his career. That would be Baker Mayfield who after a spectacular 2023 campaign has picked up right where he left off. Mayfield is firing on all cylinders and has the Bucs at 2-0. While Caleb Williams is floundering in Chicago, another rookie Bo Nix is also struggling with the Broncos. He’ll have a tough day again in this one. Bucs 27 / Broncos 17

Carolina at Las Vegas: A rookie quarterback from last year, Bryce Young was expected to show improvement in 2024. NOT. Young is on the bench and in comes veteran Andy Dalton. It’s going to be another long season for the Cats. Las Vegas pulled off the upset of the season in week two knocking off the Baltimore Ravens on the road. If they were able to do that this game should be a walk in the park. Raiders 45 / Panthers 12

Miami at Seattle: With Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve with yet another concussion, one player should not make a team but in this case, this type of injury has not only devastated Miami’s offense it could also demoralize a team. With their high-priced QB out, the Dolphins are handing the ball to Skylar Thompson who is backed up by Tyler Huntley. OUCH. The ‘Hawks meanwhile are 2-0 soon to be 3-0. Seahawks 24 / Dolphins 13

Baltimore at Dallas: Before the season began, the Ravens were favored by most to win the north. This was to be the season that quarterback Lamar Jackson is not a victim of a playoff bust. So here we are with the Ravens losing their first two and at risk for a third straight loss to the Cowboys who were humiliated at home by the Saints a week ago. You know Dallas is coming back strong. Head Coach Mike McCarthy can ill afford another blowout loss. It won’t happen and Steelers fans everywhere will be cheering for America’s Team. If Pittsburgh can beat the Chargers and the ‘Boys beat the Ravens, Baltimore finds themselves three games behind first place so early in the season. Cowboys 16 / Ravens 14

San Francisco at Los Angeles Rams: The Niners are very beat up. Star running back Christian McCaffrey is on IR said to be out six weeks. Deebo Samuel is questionable for this game as of this writing. San Francisco has two more questionables in Dee Winters and Talanoa Hufanga. The Rams are in not much better shape. Cooper Kupp is questionable, and Puka Nacua is out for several weeks. This game could probably go either way, but I’ll stay home on this one. Rams 34 / 49ers 27

Detroit at Arizona: What the Cards did to the Rams last week is shocking. Was this all smoke and mirrors or is Arizona that good? The Cardinals also could have won their opener but fell just short of beating Buffalo. This will be a good test for them, and this will be my upset of the day. Cardinals 23 / Lions 21

Kansas City at Atlanta: Kansas City has won two straight close games to open the defense of their title. Everyone’s greatest quarterback in the league had a solid performance to open the NFL season but then a not-so-great game beating the Bengals. There will be some that compare Kansas City’s start to the season like last year when many thought the Chiefs had fallen back a bit but don’t let this fool you. The Chiefs went on to win their second straight Super Bowl. Kirk Cousins righted his ship a bit last weekend and playing at home again I believe he’ll find success on the Chiefs defense and Atlanta will do just enough to eek out an upset win. Falcons 31 / Chiefs 28

Jacksonville at Buffalo: It was thought the Jaguars would bounce back this year after a horrific season in 2023 that had them at 6-2 after beating the Steelers and then disrespecting the Terrible Towel. That was a mistake on their part because they were then hit with the well-known Terrible Towel Curse. The Jags would lose six of their next nine to finish 9-8 and miss the playoffs. This season was supposed to be a bounce back after getting to the divisional round of the post season a year before. Trevor Lawrence was granted a big contract extension and Jacksonville lost their first two games and will lose this one too. Bills 48 / Jaguars 13

Washington at Cincinnati: The second of two Monday night games (Jags and Bills the other), here we have yet another rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels. The LSU product in his very first NFL season is holding his own. In two games he has completed 40 of 53 passes for 410 yards and a rating of 97.2. He’s averaging 5.1 yards per carry when toting the rock and has reached the end zone by way of his feet twice. The Bengals are supposed to be an AFC favorite with Joe Burrow back in the saddle performing as most expect him too. Cincinnati will win this one, but the Commanders will give them problems. Bengals 23 / Commanders 17

Running Pick Record from Week to Week

Week 1: 12/15

Week 2: 8/16

Week 3: TBD