Weekend Blitz: NFL Week 1 picks + best of the web
Welcome back to Year 2 of the Weekend Blitz.
For those of you who are new, here's what you've stumbled upon: Each Friday during the NFL season we will give you our best bets of the week, with the spread. None of this straight-up stuff (although, you should definitely check out FOXSports.com's weekly expert picks, which includes me). And we only give you the games we like. If you're someone who likes to place a recreational wager every now and then, you know it's unrealistic to bet the board, so we don't pick every game.
We finished the 2014 season at 39-34-1. Respectable, but not great. Hopefully we can swing a few of those losses in our favor and put together an impressive record.
As we stated at this time last year, lay low in Week 1. Just bet two or three games. Give yourself a week to see the teams, figure out how coaches will use personnel and get a lay of the land.
Having said that, there are three games we do like this week and there isn't a powerhouse in the trio.
JAGUARS +3 VS. PANTHERS: We're on the Blake Bortles bandwagon. As a rookie last season, Bortles made great strides as the year went on. Over his last five games, he threw just two interceptions after throwing 15 in his first nine games. And now Bortles has rookie T.J. Yeldon as a weapon. Make no mistake, though. This is just as much an anti-Carolina pick as it is pro-Jacksonville. The Panthers starting wide receivers for this game? Ted Ginn Jr. and Philly Brown. To say Cam Newton doesn't have weapons would be a gross understatement. You won't even need the three points in this one. Jags win outright.
JETS -3 VS. BROWNS: I'm not going to lie to you. You can easily lose this game when Jets QB Ryan Fitzpatrick throws a late interception. That's his specialty. Plus, he's 34-56-1 as a starting NFL quarterback. Having said that, we still like him better than Browns starter Josh McCown. Even though the Jets brought in Brandon Marshall to join Eric Decker as the starting receivers, New York will win this game with its defense and a heavy dose of running back Chris Ivory, who we expect to have a breakout season.
VIKINGS -1 AT 49ERS: We got on the Vikings bandwagon late last season and picked them successfully a bunch of times. We're all-in on Minnesota this season. We absolutely loved what we saw from Teddy Bridgewater in his rookie season and now he has Adrian Peterson in the backfield. I don't think San Francisco is going to be as bad as most people think after losing Jim Harbaugh to Michigan and turning over the roster, but Colin Kaepernick vs. Minnesota's strong defense is a bad matchup for the Niners.
● Gambling guru Todd Fuhrman looks at common mistakes gamblers make.
● Mandatory.com gives us a look at what all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks would look like if they were bald.
● MuscleProdigy.com has photos of the 50 most jacked NFL players.
Every year on Sept. 11, I watch David Letterman's monologue from his first show back after the attacks on the United States. It's as raw and powerful today as it was 14 years ago.
@JimmyTraina solid pickup at Rudy's pic.twitter.com/jEZvFOlE0l
— matthew (@mattejacob) September 11, 2015
@JimmyTraina "Nothing better than a good Patriots radio broadcast in my headset!" pic.twitter.com/uX1RLVBqxD
— Wayne (@papaboy9) September 11, 2015
@akz516 @JimmyTraina @MikeFrancesaNY no matter who wins, this will be the opening of Francesa tomorrow https://t.co/svpQw3aCuP
— Rum and Jokes (@Rum_and_Jokes) September 9, 2015
