NFL Week 3: Early Looks and Predictions
Sports Opinion by Ethan Irish
With week 2 coming to a close after two blowout wins for the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles we now have more of an idea of what each team will look like during this season. Currently there are a couple of spreads that stand out to me early this week.
Game: Houston Texans @ Chicago Bears -2.5 (-118) (Fanduel)
The Texans have played their best football I have seen in a while from them and have a record of 0-1-1 while scoring 29 points total. I think this line is way too low even for the Bears. Chicago is coming off yet another loss at home against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. With that said, we have yet to see the full capabilities of the Bears offense. Wide receiver Darnell Mooney and tight end Cole Kmet have been significantly underutilized in this offense. I think a bounce back game could be in order and getting more looks to these guys will probably be part of the game plan against one of the league's worst teams in the Texans.
Early Lean: Chicago Bears -2.5
Game: Pittsburgh Steelers @ Cleveland Browns -4.5 (-110) (Fanduel)
For the Thursday Night Football game this week we have a divisional matchup with the Steelers going into Cleveland to take on the Browns. Where this line is currently does not make much to me. The Browns are coming off a 1 point loss to the New York Jets and only beat the Carolina Panthers by 2 in week 1. On the other side, the Steelers have lost by 3 and won by 3 and the win came on the road against a different division rival in the Cincinnati Bengals. The Browns defense has looked below average to start the year and have relied heavily on the run game involving one of the best running back tandems in the league with Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. While the offense for the Steelers has been quite a bit below average if they can manage to at least slow down the run game a little bit I can see the covering this line.
Early Lean: Pittsburgh Steelers +4.5
Game: Green Bay Packers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers -2.5 (-110) (Fanduel)
The Packers head to Tampa Bay this week and while I think the spread is fine where it is I think the total actually might be too high even if it is only 41.5 (Fanduel). I have seen nothing from these two offenses thus far. Yes, the Packers put up 27 on the Bears but that is usual in that division rivalry. That said, Green Bay has not seen a defense like Tampa Bay's yet who through two games has given up an average of 6.5 points per game. Both of these teams ranked in the top 10 in points allowed, opponent yards per game, and many other defensive metrics even though a lot of them through 2 games do not mean much. On top of this, the Bucs will be missing Mike Evans who is the clear number 1 in the receiver room and Tom Brady's favorite target. I could easily see this game ending at a 17-14 score or somewhere around that number.
Early Lean: Packers @ Buccaneers u41.5 (-110)