Straight-up NFL picks, Week 1: Backing a Steelers upset and trying to figure out Bills-Jets
At long last, the NFL is back. Real, honest-to-goodness, it-counts-in-the-standings football is here.
A humid slog through the preseason delivered us at the doorstep of Week 1, where a handful of marquee matchups highlight an otherwise underwhelming slate. Sure, we’ve got the rising Detroit Lions and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs opening up the year on Thursday Night Football and Aaron Rodgers’ New York Jets debut — against the Buffalo Bills! — on Monday night. We’ve also got Sunday games like Panthers-Falcons, Titans-Saints and Cardinals-Commanders.
So yeah, a real mixed bag to kick things off. But, because it’s football, we’ll be here to give you our straight-up picks for all 272 regular season games this fall.
As usual, I’ll be picking alongside fellow NFL writer Robert Zeglinski and FTW editor Charles Curtis. This year, we’re joined by BetFTW scribe Prince Grimes and FTW associate editor Mary Clarke. These are our picks for Week 1.
| Game | Christian | Robert | Charles | Prince | Mary |
| Lions at Chiefs | Chiefs | Lions | Chiefs | Chiefs | Chiefs |
| Panthers at Falcons | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons | Falcons |
| Bengals at Browns | Bengals | Bengals | Bengals | Bengals | Bengals |
| Jaguars at Colts | Jaguars | Jaguars | Jaguars | Jaguars | Jaguars |
| Buccaneers at Vikings | Vikings | Vikings | Vikings | Vikings | Vikings |
| Titans at Saints | Saints | Saints | Saints | Saints | Saints |
| 49ers at Steelers | 49ers | 49ers | Steelers | Steelers | Steelers |
| Texans at Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens |
| Cardinals at Commanders | Commanders | Commanders | Commanders | Commanders | Commanders |
| Packers at Bears | Packers | Bears | Bears | Bears | Bears |
| Raiders at Broncos | Broncos | Broncos | Broncos | Broncos | Broncos |
| Eagles at Patriots | Eagles | Eagles | Eagles | Eagles | Eagles |
| Dolphins at Chargers | Dolphins | Chargers | Chargers | Chargers | Dolphins |
| Rams at Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks | Seahawks |
| Cowboys at Giants | Cowboys | Cowboys | Cowboys | Cowboys | Cowboys |
| Bills at Jets | Jets | Bills | Jets | Jets | Bills |
| Last year: | 173-94-2 (.648) | 173-94-2 (.648) | 158-109-2 (.592) | n/a | n/a |
| Year to date: | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
And here are those selections in a better-formatted screenshot of our actual picks sheet, which unfortunately struggles to translate to our editing software.