There is an exciting slate of 14 games on Sunday. Here are final score predictions for all of the Week 3 Sunday contests, with reasoning.
Keep track of my “Sunday Score” all season long. This weighted formula gives me five points for every correct outcome. For every team whose score I predict exactly correct, I get an additional three points. Here’s how I’ve fared so far:
Sunday Score: 97
Winner/Loser picked correctly: 17/27
New York Jets 3, New England Patriots 31
Luke Falk is going to have a solid couple-week stint as the starter for the Jets, but that streak doesn’t begin with his first career start. The Jets will put up just three points as the Patriots continue to dominate in their third game.
Detroit Lions 27, Philadelphia Eagles 21
The Lions upset the Chargers last week, and they will do the same thing against the Eagles this week. With several Philly starters dealing with injuries, the advantage remains with the undefeated Lions on the road this week.
Oakland Raiders 17, Minnesota Vikings 30
Dalvin Cook is going to run like crazy all over this Oakland defense. The Raiders will answer with a couple scores of their own, but it certainly won’t be enough to get their second win. Instead, they’ll suffer their second consecutive loss.
Baltimore Ravens 38, Kansas City Chiefs 34
This is going to be the best game we see this entire regular season. It’s a battle of explosive offenses and the league’s No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, respectively. The Chiefs’ defense (specifically their secondary) will be the weak link in this game, leading to their first loss as Baltimore remains undefeated.
Atlanta Falcons 21, Indianapolis Colts 17
A traditional football score for a somewhat traditional contest. This game, while consisting of five touchdowns and a field goal, won’t be extremely exciting in terms of action. Rather, it’ll be a close game between two fairly equal teams.
Denver Broncos 10, Green Bay Packers 28
The Green Bay Packers are off to a solid 2-0 start. Meanwhile, the Broncos are 0-2 after a tough loss against the Raiders and a crushing loss to the Bears in the final second of last week’s game. The Packers should win this one fairly easily.
Miami Dolphins 6, Dallas Cowboys 31
The Cowboys will be the next in the growing list of teams fortunate enough to play against the Dolphins. Dallas advances to 3-0 while the Dolphins fall to 0-3 in Josh Rosen’s season debut.
Cincinnati Bengals 17, Buffalo Bills 21
The Bills are shaping up to be one of the league’s most solid all-around teams. John Ross and Tyler Boyd will make some big catches for Cincinnati, but the Bills will be able to hang on for the win as they stay undefeated while the Bengals remain winless.
New York Giants 13, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
Daniel Jones will have a passing touchdown in his NFL debut, but it won’t be enough for his first career victory. The Buccaneers will get their second victory of the year while the Giants remain winless. This could quite possibly be an all-around sloppy contest.
Carolina Panthers 17, Arizona Cardinals 27
Kyler Murray will finally get his first career win as the Cardinals advance to 1-1-1, bumping the Panthers down to 0-3. While Cam Newton’s absence will hurt, it could be time for Carolina to rethink some things structure-wise.
Pittsburgh Steelers 20, San Francisco 49ers 21
The 49ers are 2-0 and the Steelers are 0-2, but I still think this should be a very close contest. I’ll give the advantage to Jimmy Garoppolo and the Niners with momentum on their side against the inexperienced Mason Rudolph and his struggling Steelers.
New Orleans Saints 10, Seattle Seahawks 24
The Saints and interim starter Teddy Bridgewater will be able to find some wins before Drew Brees returns from his injury, but the Seahawks are too tough of an opponent for them to take New Orleans seriously. The Seahawks should advance to 3-0 here.
Houston Texans 24, Los Angeles Chargers 13
In this battle between a pair of 1-1 teams, the Houston Texans, with momentum from their last-minute 13-12 win over the Jaguars last week, will be able to knock off the Chargers, still hurting from their somewhat surprising loss to the Lions.
Los Angeles Rams 26, Cleveland Browns 13
This is certainly not the primetime game you want to see, but there’s nothing that can be done about that. The Rams will advance to 3-0 as they handily defeat the Cleveland Browns, knocking them back to 1-2 on the season.
