Week 1 NFL picks against the spread, straight-up, and totals

The NFL season is upon us and that means it’s time once again for NFL picks. Every week this season, we’ll be making picks of every game against the spread and straight-up (moneyline), and also offering a total prediction.

My skills are hit-or-miss and I’ll be happy to finish this season north of 50% on my spread picks. I’m competing in some contests this year, with one involving confidence picks (straight-up picks with a confidence number assigned to each pick) and one involving just my five best spread picks of the week.

Below you’ll see my picks for this week in a widget that will offer my year-to-date results as we move forward. I’m already 1-0 on total picks thanks to the Bills thumping the Rams. Maybe I should have included them as a best bet!

For this week, my five spread best bets are Falcons (+5.5) over Saints, Bengals (-6.5) over Steelers, Patriots (+3.5) over Dolphins, Commanders (-2.5) over Jaguars, and Raiders (+3.5) over Chargers. Of those five, I’d probably warn you to stay away from Falcons-Saints given the uncertainty with both teams and the craziness that can be this rivalry, but I think the Saints are likely a little overrated coming into this year, so we’re going to stick with that.

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