Taphorn’s Twelve Pack: NFL Week 2 Bets
This write-up will feature twelve weekly betting lines (The Twelve Pack). Six NFL Week 2 bets I like will be broken up into half units, full units and double units. The additional six lines will be lines to stay away from.
- Week 1 Record: 3-3; -3.0 units
6 NFL Week 2 Bets I Like:
1. Atlanta Falcons at Tampa Bay Buccaneers -11.5
The Falcons were manhandled by the Eagles in Week 1 and Jalen Hurts looked great. Tampa didn’t play the cleanest game against Dallas in the opener but turned it on when it was needed. Expect Tampa’s defensive line to dominate the Falcons and Brady and the offense to try and clean things up. Bet amount: 1 unit at Caesars
2. San Francisco 49ers -3.5 at Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles dominated the Falcons in the trenches, but that Falcons team is more likely to pick top five than to make the playoffs.
The Niners bullied Detroit up until the two-minute warning when the Lions decided they’d try and play spoiler to any San Francisco backers. I expect Kyle Shannahan to exploit the Eagles secondary and the Niners to move to 2-0. Bet amount: 2 units at DraftKings
3. Denver Broncos -6 at Jacksonville Jaguars
The Broncos were one of the weeks most impressive teams, beating the Giants handily in the Meadowlands. Trevor Lawrence and Urban Myer had a rough awakening in the NFL against a Houston team that may not find much success the rest of the year. Look for Vic Fangio’s defense to confuse and test Lawrence again this week. Bet amount: 1 unit at DraftKings
4. Minnesota Vikings at Arizona Cardinals -3.5
Another matchup of teams that performed on opposite ends of the spectrum. The Vikings rallied back against the Bengals, only to lose in overtime after a Dalvin Cook fumble, while the Cardinals looked unstoppable in Nashville against the Titans. Joe Burrow had no problems picking apart Minnesota’s defense and I don’t expect Kyler Murray to either. Bet amount: ½ unit at FanDuel
5. Dallas Cowboys +134 at Los Angeles Chargers
Dak Prescott showed no signs of rust against the Buccaneers in the season opener. The Cowboys played Week 1 without Zack Martin and get him back for Week 2, but may be without La’el Collins, Michael Gallup, Randy Gregory and Demarcus Lawrence.
The Chargers won on the road in D.C., but Ryan Fitzpatrick left the offense in a tough place exiting with a hip injury. This game should be a duel between the quarterbacks and Prescott edges out Justin Herbert by a small margin. Bet amount: ½ unit at FanDuel
6. Kansas City Chiefs -3.5 at Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens have the injury bug and Lamar Jackson has the turnover bug. The Chiefs have had Baltimore’s number in recent history and showed last week that they can turn it on at a moment’s notice. Mahomes hasn’t lost a game in September in his career and has been utterly dominant. Bet amount: 2 units at Caesars
6 NFL Week 2 Bets to Avoid:
1. New York Giants at Washington Football Team -3
Defensive slop fest. That’s what to expect in this game. Despite the Giants investments in the offseason the offense looked average to say the least against Denver. Washington loses Fitzpatrick for a number of weeks so all in all I’m staying away from this one.
2. Cincinnati Bengals at Chicago Bears -3
Keeping this game off my radar on the off-chance Matt Nagy does the smart thing and puts Justin Fields in at some point during this game. The Andy Dalton revenge game doesn’t carry enough weight to tip the scale for the Bears here.
3. Houston Texans at Cleveland Browns -12.5
Admittedly I overestimated the Texans last week. They do have a collection of decent veteran players that were able to wipe the floor with the inexperienced Jags. Cleveland should have no problems with them this week, but we’ll see if there’s any fatigue from the excitement in Kansas City a week ago.
4. Buffalo Bills -3.5 at Miami Dolphins
The Bills bandwagon lost some steam losing at home to the Steelers last week, but this is still a good football team. The Dolphins got a rare win in Foxborough over the Patriots but didn’t look that convincing doing so. The Week 17 matchup lingers here when the Bills embarrassed Miami but expect this one to be much closer.
5. Tennessee Titans at Seattle Seahawks -5.5
The Titans made of the biggest splashes this offseason by adding Julio Jones but that didn’t pay dividends in Week 1. Ryan Tannehill landed on his back courtesy of Chandler Jones more times than Julio caught the football. Russell Wilson was cooking in Indy in a big road win and nothing in Tennessee’s secondary suggested they will slow that down. The Titans will likely ride Derrick Henry to get back on track to try and keep this one closer.
6. Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers -11.5
The ugliest performance of the week goes to the Packers. Aaron Rodgers and company took a beating at the hands of Jameis Winston and the Saints, but it’s likely not an indication of how the entire season will go. They’ll handle the Lions easily but this team will take some time to fully hit their stride from the past two seasons.
