The NFL returns Thursday night with the Chiefs and Lions kicking off the 2023 regular season. There are 272 games to be played until we reach the playoffs and it starts at Arrowhead Stadium.
The start of the season also means it’s time to get your predictions in for pick ‘em contests. There are a variety of ways to approach pick ‘em contests. You can pick every game straight up or every game against the spread. Some contests might not require you pick every game on the slate, but plenty require all. And some will even mix in confidence levels.
Confidence pools require you to pick winners, but then you also have to assign a level of confidence. For Week 1, that would mean assigning 16 points to the pick you feel most confident in, 15 for the next most confident, and all the way down to 1 for the pick you feel least confident about.
Each Thursday, I’ll be providing my weekly picks broken down into confidence levels. I have high, medium, low, and no confidence picks. I’ve dropped in three asterisks next to games that are a betting upset.
High confidence
Ravens over Texans
Commanders over Cardinals
Medium confidence
Seahawks over Rams
Vikings over Bucs
Chiefs over Lions
Eagles over Patriots
Titans over Saints***
Cowboys over Giants
Bills over Jets
49ers over Steelers
Low confidence
Colts over Jaguars***
Falcons over Panthers
Chargers over Dolphins
Browns over Bengals***
No confidence
Raiders over Broncos***
Packers over Bears***