The NFL enjoyed a brilliant opening week of the 2022/23 season last week and now they return for another round of games with great opportunities to make money.
Among the games taking place are the Los Angeles Rams taking on the Atlanta Falcons, the Cincinnati Bengals taking on the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders facing off with the Detroit Lions.
We’ll take a look at those three games and provide you with our best free NFL picks for the week to see if we can earn you some extra money for the weekend.
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The Super Bowl 56 champions opened their season with a thumping defeat against the Buffalo Bills 31-10 on the opening weekend and will be keen to put it right this week.
Cooper Kupp managed to score a touchdown but defensively the team got simply run over as Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Gabe Davis and Isaiah McKenzie managed to put them to the sword.
As for Atlanta, they were also defeated on the opening weekend but they went down by just a single point against the New Orleans Saints 26-27.
Cordarrelle Patterson and Marcus Mariota managed a touchdown each while kicker Younghoe Koo scored 14 points, but it wasn’t enough as Taysom Hill and Michael Thomas (2) hit touchdowns for the Saints and Wil Lutz kicked seven points to give the home side the win.
The last time these two teams met was back in 2019, where the Rams came out 37-10 winners.
A 10.5-point is a lot to cover in the NFL. However, the Rams are angry, coming off of an embarrassing loss to the Bills in the season opener, and they are out for revenge. Could they have a better opponent to take out frustrations on than the Falcons? Probably not.
The Falcons scored points early and controlled the game in the first half against the Saints, but the Saints ultimately pulled off the comeback victory and showed that not much has changed and the Rams are a far stronger outfit than the Saints.
The Rams’ defence is so much better than it showed in the season opener, and factor in that the Bills seem capable of doing what they did to anyone on any given day. The Falcons just aren’t on that level.
The LA offense looked rushed and poor during the clash with Buffalo, especially along their offensive line with two new starters, but with Atlanta’s defensive nowhere near as convincing it’s highly unlikely to have that view again after the weekend game.
Once the Rams blow the game open, they will not look back and they could run up the score, so back them to cover the spread despite how big it is.
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The Bengals were expected to do well against the Steelers in week one, and they took the game all the way to overtime before suffering defeat by three points.
The Cowboys on the other hand were smashed by Tom Brady and his boys, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers claiming a dominant 19-3 win on the opening weekend.
Considering the Dak Prescott injury on Sunday night which has ruled him out for 6-8 weeks, the Bengals should dominate this football game.
Even when Prescott was in the game, the Cowboys’ offense was erratic and weak, even when factoring in how good the Buccaneers’ defence has been.
This is because the Cowboys were lazy this offseason when it came to replacing the gaps left by Amari Cooper, Cedrick Wilson, La’el Collins, and Connor Williams. Those holes are clear for all to see and it seems unlikely they’ll be any good this season.
Cincinnati had plenty of chances to win despite two missed kicks by Evan McPherson and five Joe Burrow giveaways, so the expectation is they should be able to create enough to win here too.
This Bengals team is the superior unit and looking for revenge, and it will take it out on Cooper Rush and the Cowboys.
Dan Quinn’s sensational defense will keep the game close early but expect the Bengals to blow it open in the second half for the cover.
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The Commanders opened up their NFL season with a big win over the Jacksonville Jaguars with a 28-22 score, setting the tone for their upcoming season.
The Lions on the other hand were part of one of the most exciting games of the weekend but also came up short, dropping a loss to the Phildelphia Eagles who earned a 38-35 win despite the Lions claiming a 14-0 swing in the fourth quarter.
Last week against the Eagles, the Lions had to prove that they could hang with an explosive Philadelphia offense, which they did. Led by D’Andre Swift, Jamaal Williams, and one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, the Lions dropped 35 points against a talented Eagles defense.
Now, they get a Commanders’s defense that held their own against the Jaguars, but will also be without stud defensive lineman Chase Young. Young’s absence leaves vulnerability to run up the middle, which plays right into Detroit’s strengths and leaves them vulnerable.
The Commanders looked beatable last week against a side that I’d consider to be weaker than the Lions, so Detroit should be able to come in to their home stadium and claim a win on the small spread.
Those are our NFL picks for the week.
About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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