And just like that, there are no 1-loss teams. The Steelers built a big lead and hung on to defeat the Colts, while the Panthers, who were double-digit underdogs, shocked the Packers in Lambeau. The Vikings upset the Lions in Detroit, while the Broncos won a defensive struggle in Houston. The Bears beat the Bengals in a shootout, the Chargers held on to beat the Titans, and Arizona snapped a 5-game losing streak in Dallas. And the Bills defeated the Chiefs for the fifth straight time…in the regular season.
The Broncos host the Raiders on Thursday night, and the Falcons play the Colts in Berlin early Sunday. The Ravens travel to Minnesota, and the Patriots meet the Bucs in Tampa. The Jags visit the Texans, the Rams are at San Francisco, and the Steelers play at the Chargers on Sunday night. Monday night features a good matchup when the Eagles go to Green Bay.
Here are this week’s lines. All spreads taken from ESPNBet on Tuesday the 4th at 8:40 am CT.
According to the ESPN Power Ratings, the Bucs are the #4 team in the league, while the Pats are #8. Pats are tied with the Colts and Broncos for the best record in the AFC.
Yeah, I’m not sure that anybody saw this coming. Especially after opening the season with a loss to the Raiders at home.
Among the trade deadline deals, Indianapolis acquired CB Sauce Gardner from the Jets in exchange for the Colts’ 2026 and 2027 first round picks, and WR AD Mitchell.
This spread is interesting, and weird. Yes, the Packers are only a half-game worse than the Eagles, but Green Bay has been inconsistent, and is now missing one of their best offensive weapons (TE Tucker Kraft).
I doubt all the injuries are priced in the spreads, yet. Houston is favored by 1.5 (albeit at home) but Stroud is day to day on concussion protocol. The Jags aren’t a great team but that’s a bonkers line at the moment.
A single defeat when you are strong home favorites doesn’t mean a huge amount and the team usually bouce back. For example the Eagles lost in NY in week 6 but bounced straight back.
Hoe advantage usually counts for about -3, not sure if it should be more for Lambeau I would go for the Eagles against the spread but don’t think it is way out.
I will say that, as a longtime Packer fan, who’s seen them lose to the Browns and Panthers, and barely beat the Bengals, in recent weeks, I don’t have a lot of confidence in their ability to put in a good showing against a quality opponent.
As a Seahawk I don’t follow the Packers as closly as you but the two best teams you have played the season (Lions and Steelers) you managed to get a W.
I don’t know why but teams often lower or rise to the level of their opponent.
The Packers looked very good, and played complete games the first two weeks of the season , against the Lions and Commanders; at that early point, they were considered one of the top teams in the league.
Then, they choked against the Browns, and barely escaped with a tie against the Cowboys. They beat the Steelers after digging themselves into a hole, by scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter. Similarly, they had to come back from behind to beat the Cardinals. Even when they’ve won after Week 2, they haven’t looked great, and they keep missing opportunities.
The Sauce Gardner trade seems like a pretty big win for the Jets for me. I didn’t think he was still considered enough of an impact player to warrant two first round picks. But then it’s tough to analyze stats of players on teams that lose a ton of games.
It also presumes that Indianapolis plans on extending Daniel Jones, since they won’t be able to draft a first-round QB for the next few seasons, barring some other trade in the off-season.
If nothing else, the Sauce trade makes the Packers’ trade for Micah Parson seem much more reasonable. The CB position has, to me, a lot more volatility than the DE position, and Gardner hasn’t been as dominant as he was the first two seasons.
But Indy is surely in win now mode. I’m just not sure I like that mode.
Extending Daniel Jones surely has to be the plan. It’s only a third of the way into the year, but he appears to be a franchise quarterback, which is a big deal because when he came to us, I thought he was washed.
No, it was just the fact that he was on the Giants.
