Week 1 brought plenty of excitement and surprising performances across the NFL. With regards to my picks for the Underdogs column, it also brought me a 1-1-1 record. I have three more underdogs for you to consider this week on DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Minnesota Vikings at Indianapolis Colts: Vikings +3
Both of these teams are coming off of losses in Week 1, but they came against very different foes. The Vikings fell at the hands of the Packers, who should be one of the best teams in the NFC. Their defense couldn’t slow down Aaron Rodgers, who threw for 364 yards and four touchdowns. Davante Adams ate them alive, catching 14-of-17 targets for 156 yards and two scores. The Vikings did score 34 points, but their defense giving up a whopping 43 points to put them in an 0-1 hole.
Meanwhile, the Colts should have had a much easier opponent in the Jaguars, who are clearly a rebuilding team — especially after releasing Leonard Fournette before the season. Still, they lost in Philip Rivers’ debut by a score of 27-20. He did have 363 passing yards, but he only produced one touchdown compared to two interceptions. He had 20 picks last year, so that could be an area where he struggles again this season. The Vikings have the superior offense here with Dalvin Cook leading the way and I expect their defense to play better against a lesser quarterback, so I’ll take the points. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings won this game outright.
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Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans: Jaguars +9
One of the main reasons why the Jaguars were able to pull off the win over the Colts was the play of quarterback Gardner Minshew, who completed 19-of-20 pass attempts for 173 yards and three touchdowns. They also received steady contributions from their new top running back James Robinson, who carried 16 times for 62 yards. He even caught his lone target for an additional 28 yards.
The Titans pulled out a close win on Monday Night Football over the Broncos by the score of 16-14. However, it probably shouldn’t have been that close given that kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed three field-goal attempts and an extra point. The Jaguars might not be as bad as originally expected, although winning here on the road will certainly be a tall order. With that being said, Minshew might still be able to help keep this game close enough to where taking the points could prove to be profitable.
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New York Giants at Chicago Bears: Giants +5.5
The Bears looked to be on their way to a disappointing loss in Week 1 when they were down 23-6 after three quarters against the Lions. Mitchell Trubisky couldn’t get anything going up to that point, but he led a crazy fourth-quarter comeback that resulted in a victory. He threw three touchdown passes in the quarter, finishing the game 20-for-36 for 242 yards. Considering he only had 17 touchdown passes across 15 games last season, it was certainly an unexpected comeback.
Things didn’t go as well for the Giants in Week 1, who had a tough matchup against the Steelers. Daniel Jones committed a costly turnover with the Giants in the red zone in the third quarter and Saquon Barkley was held to six yards on 15 carries. The end result was a 10-point loss that actually could have been much worse. Their defense is going to struggle this year given their lack of talent in the secondary, but their offense has plenty of weapons to enable them to be productive. Winning this game on the road won’t be easy, but I think they score enough to keep it close.
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