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UPDATE: The NFL has postponed Steelers-Titans to later in the season due to the Titans’ Covid-19 outbreak. I’ve crossed that game off my list.
The NFL is back for Week 4, and we’re opening with the New York Jets hosting the Denver Broncos in a Thursday Night Football game that will test the bounds of the league’s dominant TV ratings. The game kicks off at 8:20 p.m. ET and airs on NFL Network.
The Broncos opened as a 2.5-point favorite but the line has come down to -1 — and even pick ‘em at some shops. This is a messy matchup, with two teams that have a whole host of questions. The Broncos have been crushed by injuries, going to Brett Rypien at quarterback this week. Meanwhile, the Jets are just a bad football team. They’ve dealt with some tough injuries of their own, but the talent level is just not there.
Each Thursday, I put together a list of straight up picks for the weekly schedule. I’ll have picks against the spread over the weekend, but this is a chance to just pick winners and losers. This year though, I’ve changed up the approach. Instead of simply picking winners and losers, I’m also grouping the picks by confidence — high confidence, medium confidence, low confidence, no confidence.
A week removed from going 15-1, last week I struggled to a 9-7 performance. It’s not great, but bad weeks are going to happen. I went 3-3 in medium confidence picks and 0-2 in low confidence picks. Below I’ve posted all my picks, with my record in that confidence level in parenthesis. A game with three asterisks (***) after it indicate a game where I’m picking the betting underdog to get the win. It’s another high chalk week.
High confidence (15-3)
Bucs over Chargers
Seahawks over Dolphins
Cardinals over Panthers
Ravens over Washington
Rams over Giants
49ers over Eagles
Medium confidence (13-6)
Texans over VikingsSteelers over Titans
Cowboys over Browns
Chiefs over Patriots
Packers over Falcons
Low confidence (3-4)
Lions over Saints
Bengals over Jaguars
Bears over Colts
Raiders over Bills
No confidence (3-1)
Jets over Broncos
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