Backing the road warriors in Week 3
Expect another Thursday stinker in San Francisco
Texans coach Bill O’Brien says “you can’t hide in the NFL.”
But fans cans hide their eyes from the Thursday night extravaganza, which this week, uh, features the Rams against the 49ers.
L.A. is one of nine visiting teams favoured in Week 3; ten if you count the Ravens against host Jacksonville in London. These Rams have something decent going on, and the 49ers have shown very little.
The coaching change to Sean McVay in L.A. seems to be working better than the switch to Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco, which has scored a conference-low 12 points.
On a short week, though, who knows what will appear on the TV screen. Well, we kind of know it won’t be pretty.
The Rams are a two-point favourites. We’re buying. Rams, BaltimoreAs for 16-13 the (minusrest of 3.5) the vs. matchups: Jacksonville The Ravensat London carry their defensive prowess across the pond. Best bet: Ravens, 20-9 Seattle (plus 3) at Tennessee Have to go with the home team. Titans, 17-13 Atlanta (minus 3) at Detroit Lions might be better than anticipated. Still not good enough here. Falcons, 30-23 Dallas (minus 3) at Arizona, Monday night Which are the real Cowboys? Which are the real Cardinals? Cowboys, 26-20 Pittsburgh (minus 7) at Chicago The Steelers are 2-0 without looking particularly good. Steelers, 22-13 Denver (minus 3) at Buffalo The Broncos are 2-0 and have looked good. Broncos, 20-10
Oakland (minus 3) at Washington RememberstruggledRaiders, 33-26in the when East? the Forget Raidersit. ClevelandWait, the Browns(minus 1) are at one Indianapolisof those road Browns, favourites?13-10 Miami Dolphins (minus taking 5.5) advantageat New York of Jets an easy opening schedule. Dolphins, 26-10 Houston (plus 13) at New England A house of horrors for the undermanned Texans. Patriots, 30-13 New Orleans (plus 6) at Carolina The Saints could keep this close before failing. Panthers, 21-18 N.Y. Giants (plus 5.5) at Philadelphia Pre-season NFC East co-favourite falls to 0-3. Eagles, 21-20 Kansas City (minus 3) at Chargers Dangerous game for Chiefs, but if the Chargers can’t hit late kicks ... Chiefs, 24-23 Cincinnati (plus 9) at Green Bay This is the prime CBS telecast. We might turn on NASCAR instead. Packers, 20-6 Tampa Bay (no line) at Minnesota Too bad there is no line (Sam Bradford’s availability), because this could have been the best bet. Buccaneers, 21-10
Last week: Against the spread (79); straight up (12-4) Season totals: Against the spread (13-18); straight up (21-10)
Best bet: 2-0 against the spread, 2-0 straight up Upset special: 2-0 against the spread, 2-0 straight up