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<\/a><\/p>\n Ben Johnson is headed back to Detroit for the first time on Sunday. (David Banks \/ Imagn Images)Seattle Seahawks at Pittsburgh Steelers (-3) | 1 p.m. ET Sunday, Fox<\/p>\n
With a young, aggressive defense, two good running backs and an underrated passing attack (if Cooper Kupp is not indeed washed up), the Seahawks will be trouble at some point. Just not right now. Aaron Rodgers averaged only 4.4 air yards per play last week but was 8-of-10 for 101 yards and three touchdowns on play-action. (The Jets didn\u2019t exploit his lack of mobility, but Rodgers said his back was tight \u2014 just like any old guy would say.)<\/p>\n
The Seahawks, meanwhile, allowed the 49ers to complete 6 of 8 play-action passes for 50 yards. Last season, they allowed more play-action touchdown passes than any other defense (14).<\/p>\n
The pick: Steelers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nSan Francisco 49ers (-3) at New Orleans Saints\u00a0 | 1 p.m. ET Sunday, Fox<\/p>\n
The 49ers have been dealing with injuries for two years straight, and they just lost George Kittle and Brock Purdy. Fortunately, the Saints are not a high bar, and teammates have a lot of confidence in new QB Mac Jones. Also, the Saints gave up 5.2 yards per carry to the Cardinals running backs, so Christian McCaffrey (and even Brian Robinson Jr.) will feast. Saints QB Spencer Rattler looks and plays small, and I have no idea why everyone is on the Saints here.<\/p>\n
The pick: 49ers<\/strong><\/p>\nCarolina Panthers at Arizona Cardinals (-6.5) | 4:05 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS<\/p>\n
Bryce Young did not look good \u2014 he managed only 4.4 yards per attempt \u2014 and good luck figuring out whether last season\u2019s last few games were a mirage or if he will play better against a weird, not-bad Cardinals defense.<\/p>\n
The pick: Panthers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nDenver Broncos (-1.5) at Indianapolis Colts | 4:05 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS<\/p>\n
Peyton Manning Jr. was pressured on just 24.1 percent of his dropbacks last week, the third-lowest of his career. I think we mentioned how the Dolphins didn\u2019t cover anybody. Now Jones faces arguably the best defense in the league. Good luck, Danny Dimes.<\/p>\n
The pick: Broncos\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nPhiladelphia Eagles (-1) at Kansas City Chiefs | 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday, Fox<\/p>\n
If not for Chris Jones\u2019 mental mistake on Justin Herbert\u2019s clinching run, there\u2019s a pretty good chance the Chiefs would have come back to win in Brazil \u2014 even without their two top receivers. Take the home dog here, thanks to the Chiefs\u2019 run defense and Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid getting a little Super Bowl revenge.<\/p>\n
The pick: Chiefs\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nAtlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings (-3.5) | 8:20 p.m. ET Sunday, NBC<\/p>\n
The Falcons\u2019 Michael Penix Jr. looked sharp last week. Here, he leads a late drive to lose by just 3. The Vikings are a very good team, but there will be more growing pains for J.J. McCarthy.<\/p>\n
The pick: Falcons<\/strong><\/p>\nTampa Bay Buccaneers at Houston Texans (-2.5) | 7 p.m. ET Monday, ABC\/ESPN<\/p>\n
The Texans allowed pressure on 41 percent of their dropbacks \u2014 26th among all teams \u2014 including five of six dropbacks on which the Rams blitzed, tied for the worst such rate in the league. That\u2019s hard to back against a team that just knows how to win like the Buccaneers.<\/p>\n
The pick: Buccaneers\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nLos Angeles Chargers (-3.5) at Las Vegas Raiders | 10 p.m. ET Monday, ESPN<\/p>\n
Geno Smith\u2019s 362 passing yards were the most by a Raiders quarterback since \u2026 Jarrett Stidham in 2023. Oh. But they are in a good spot here, at home, and with the suddenly overrated Chargers coming off a landmark win over the Chiefs. That is, assuming Brock Bowers\u2019 knee is OK.<\/p>\n
The pick: Raiders\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nBest bets: <\/strong>We\u2019re going with the defenses, as the Ravens, Steelers and Broncos squish the Browns, Seahawks and Colts, respectively. Meanwhile, the Lions give a rude welcome back to Ben Johnson, while the 49ers run over the Saints.
<\/strong><\/p>\nUpset special (spread of at least 3 points): <\/strong>Russell Wilson rises like the Undertaker, and the Giants shock the Cowboys and cash in at +220. We almost made the Giants a best bet at plus-6, in which case we would have taken the Jaguars here at +155 in Cincinnati.
<\/strong><\/p>\n\u2014\u00a0TruMedia research courtesy of Jason Starrett.\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Top photo of Malik Nabers: Cooper Neill \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everyone loves to overreact after the first week, but sometimes a kick in the groin, to paraphrase Tyreek…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":218290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[7140,6328,532,8995,8996,531,8997,1544,8998,8999,9000,9001,2505,9002,8017,3570,535,8986,9006,9003,8812,533,9004,4716,5287,1232,1105,1545,9005,7149,62,8930,3528,9007,67,132,68,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-218289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-arizona-cardinals","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-buffalo-bills","12":"tag-carolina-panthers","13":"tag-chicago-bears","14":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","15":"tag-cleveland-browns","16":"tag-dallas-cowboys","17":"tag-denver-broncos","18":"tag-detroit-lions","19":"tag-green-bay-packers","20":"tag-houston-texans","21":"tag-indianapolis-colts","22":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","23":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","24":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","25":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","26":"tag-los-angeles-rams","27":"tag-miami-dolphins","28":"tag-minnesota-vikings","29":"tag-new-england-patriots","30":"tag-new-orleans-saints","31":"tag-new-york-giants","32":"tag-new-york-jets","33":"tag-nfl","34":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","35":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","36":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","37":"tag-seattle-seahawks","38":"tag-sports","39":"tag-sports-betting","40":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","41":"tag-tennessee-titans","42":"tag-united-states","43":"tag-unitedstates","44":"tag-us","45":"tag-washington-commanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}