You always have to expect the unexpected in Week 1 of the NFL season, and it delivered in a big way. The defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles were on the ropes against the Micah Parsons-less Dallas Cowboys while the reigning AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs were humbled by the Chargers in Brazil.
Daniel Jones had a huge game. Geno Smith had more passing yards than any other quarterback in the league in his Raiders debut. The Ravens blew a huge lead against the Bills on Sunday Night Football. It was a wild Week 1, but that could be merely an appetizer for what NFL fans get treated to in Week 2.
Week 2 includes a number of possible playoff preview matchups, as well as the marquee Super Bowl LIX rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. We're making our NFL picks and score predictions for every game on the schedule, so grab your favorite beverage or a snack (or both), and enjoy.
Week 2 NFL Picks and Score Predictions for Every Game
Washington Commanders (1-0) @ Green Bay Packers (1-0)
Thursday, September 11, 8:15 PM ET
How about this to kick off Week 2 action? The Green Bay Packers taking on the Washington Commanders could be an early look at a playoff matchup, maybe even an NFC Championship matchup.
These two teams both won in Week 1, but the Packers looked like an absolute unit against the Lions while breaking in their new superstar pass rusher Micah Parsons. The Packers have pretty much everything going for them from a star quarterback in Jordan Love to a dynamic group of offensive skill players, and now a loaded defense with a true premier edge rusher.
It’s going to be fun to see how the two quarterbacks in this game go toe-to-toe and how the Commanders’ defense holds up against the plethora of weapons the Packers have.
The biggest test here will be Jayden Daniels going up against a Packers defense that just made life absolutely miserable for one of the best offenses in the league the past couple of years. Daniels is an elite dual threat who had over 300 total yards of offense in Week 1, but he’ll get put to the test on the road with a short week to prepare for Jeff Hafley’s crew.
The Packers are early 3.5-point favorites against the Commanders and that feels pretty fair at this stage. With both teams having a short week, it’s going to come down to which team can make the fewest mistakes.
Prediction: Packers win 27-22
Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0) @ Cincinnati Bengals (1-0)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals are each looking to bounce back in a big way this coming season after missing the playoffs last year. The Jaguars obviously overhauled their front office and coaching staff, then got to work on the roster. And they didn’t inherit a bare bones group, as we saw in Week 1.
The Jaguars ran all over the Carolina Panthers to the tune of 200 yards. After an offseason of speculation over whether or not he would still be around this year or if he was on the trade block, Travis Etienne was outstanding with 143 rushing yards and 8.9 yards per carry.
If Jacksonville can get Trevor Lawrence back to form, they’re going to be a fun team to monitor this season. We didn’t even really see the full display of what Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter can do.
As ironic as it is, the Bengals opened the 2025 season in a defensive battle with…the Cleveland Browns? The Bengals getting into a low-scoring battle is already surprising enough based on how their offense and defense performed last year, but to see them struggle with the Browns, of all teams, was alarming.
Yes, it was just Week 1, but the Bengals are one of a wide variety of teams with a lot to clean up. Thankfully for them, their new-look defense, called by Al Golden, really stepped up in a tight game.
I think we’re going to see the Bengals come through this week being favored by 3.5 at home, but if that defense regresses to what we saw from them last year, the Jaguars have plenty of weapons to pull off a road upset.
Prediction: Bengals win 25-24
New York Giants (0-1) @ Dallas Cowboys (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
Although both the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys share 0-1 records after the first week of the season, these teams look like they’re headed in completely different directions.
We might be on alert this week for Giants quarterback Russell Wilson getting benched after Brian Daboll was noncommittal about his status for the second week of the season. After what we saw from Jaxson Dart in the preseason, it’s hard to imagine the Giants are going to be overly patient. If things start to get ugly against Dak Prescott and the Cowboys, maybe we do see Wilson get pulled.
And things could get ugly in this one rather quickly. The Giants have a tough defensive front, so we can’t count them out, but the Cowboys looked pretty darn good in their season-opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. In particular, Dak Prescott looked outstanding. If not for some dropped passes by CeeDee Lamb, we may very well be talking about the Cowboys pulling off the upset of the week this past week.
Dallas has a chance to get back on the saddle after the ugly end to the Micah Parsons saga/trade, and get a divisional win here in the early stages of the season. As an added bonus, they might be able to send the Giants into a full-on quarterback controversy.
The Cowboys are pretty hefty 4.5-point favorites at home this week, which is a significant number considering how even they were perceived to be with the Giants going into the year. We all saw how good Prescott was in Week 1, and you can bet CeeDee Lamb is going to be motivated to absolutely go off in this game, which I think he will.
Prediction: Cowboys win 28-16
Chicago Bears (0-1) @ Detroit Lions (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
All of the concerns we had about the Detroit Lions in the offseason seemed to be valid after the first week of the season.
We’ll avoid any confirmation bias here because the Lions have a chance to bounce back in Week 2 against the Bears, and they could look like the same operation we’ve seen under Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn in the snap of a finger. But against the Green Bay Packers, we saw a defeated-looking Lions team.
The Lions made things look better on the final score and box score late against the Packers with a ridiculous touchdown grab by rookie Isaac TeSlaa, but that came in garbage time and was merely for optics. Maybe a little confidence boosting going into Week 2. The Lions did not look like the same squad without Ben Johnson calling plays offensively, and Jared Goff has historically struggled without one of Johnson or Sean McVay calling the plays for him.
This is going to be a huge gut check for the Lions going up against a Bears team that now employs Johnson and is looking to make noise of its own in the NFC North this season.
The disappointment for the Bears is going to linger for some time. They didn't just have the Vikings on the ropes, they blew a substantial lead at home by giving up three touchdowns to a guy starting his first NFL game. That one is going to sting.
Now, they've got to go on the road and beat a Lions team that is going to be playing ticked off after losing in Week 1 as well. We didn't see enough from Caleb Williams and the Bears' offense in Week 1 to really buy that they can outscore a motivated Lions team.
Prediction: Lions win 23-19
Los Angeles Rams (1-0) @ Tennessee Titans (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
Week 2 represents the home debut of Tennessee Titans #1 overall pick Cam Ward, who showed some serious guts and moxie in his first start of the season against the Denver Broncos. Although the results were not there, Ward was let down in a big way by some of his teammates dropping passes, including his top receiver Calvin Ridley.
Ridley, in particular, couldn’t get open at all against Pat Surtain (but nobody really can) and when he did get the chance to make plays, the ball hit the ground because he dropped it.
Ward is going to have to go back to the well yet again and go up against a Los Angeles Rams defense that once again has some serious teeth on the defensive front. The Broncos got to Ward six times this past week, and he’ll feel the pressure once again with a Rams defense that got 7 QB hits and 3 sacks on CJ Stroud this past week.
The Rams didn’t have the most efficient offensive operation against the Houston Texans, scoring just 14 points, but they made enough plays when it mattered. After getting the first week jitters out of the way, I’m expecting a much more efficient look from Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense in Week 2, especially getting Davante Adams more involved.
The rams are 6.5-point favorites on the road early on in the week, and while the Titans gave a valiant effort against a Broncos team that made the playoffs last year, things could get ugly for them at home if they aren’t gifted a bunch of extra possessions like they were by the Broncos.
Prediction: Rams win 31-17
New England Patriots (0-1) @ Miami Dolphins (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
I think it’s fair to say that this matchup between the 0-1 New England Patriots and the 0-1 Miami Dolphins is a matchup between two of the most disappointing teams of Week 1 this season.
Let’s start with the Patriots, who faltered at home under new head coach Mike Vrabel. To be fair, the Pats didn’t have their best defensive player (Christian Gonzalez) and were picked apart through the air by Geno Smith and the Raiders. Whenever Gonzalez is back in the mix, that changes a lot for New England’s defense.
However, even the announcers of the game were bringing up “accuracy issues” for quarterback Drake Maye, which is the opposite of what anyone thought would happen or wanted to hear in Week 1. Maye was not good for the Patriots, although he should be afforded plenty of patience as he’s only in his first full season as the starter there.
He’s going to have to be better going forward and so is Josh McDaniels, who is back calling plays for the Patriots.
Speaking of needing to be better going forward, how about the disastrous Week 1 performance by Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins? They were absolutely wrecked by the Indianapolis Colts and Tagovailoa turned the ball over three times in the process. That’s not going to fly going forward, and you can really sense the tension between players on this team is about to boil over.
Is Mike McDaniel going to be able to get a hold on things before it’s too late? The Dolphins are just 1.5-point home favorites, making it clear that Vegas doesn’t know what to make of this one. I’ll take the Dolphins in an early coin flip to be the ones to bounce back.
Prediction: Dolphins win 19-16
San Francisco 49ers (1-0) @ New Orleans Saints (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
Teams are always making adjustments in Week 1, but both the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints were making a lot of them.
The 49ers obviously had a very disappointing year in 2024 with the number of injuries they had to deal with, and that was followed by a mass exodus of star players in the 2025 offseason. It was one tough pill to swallow after another, but the Niners had no choice but to reload. They came out in Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks, who have a new look of their own, and they gutted out a tough win on the road.
Brock Purdy went out and earned his new contract with the team, orchestrating a game-winning drive late. The 49ers will need to have a much more efficient all-around operation offensively going forward, but that’s the case for most teams at this point.
They got a big breakthrough from last year’s first-round pick Ricky Pearsall and have Christian McCaffrey back. They’ll continue to be tough to beat.
The Saints nearly got a game-winning throw from Spencer Rattler in Week 1. Had Juwan Johnson held onto what would have been a tough grab, we might be having a different conversation about the Saints. As it is, they are going to have to bounce back quickly to avoid an 0-2 hole at the start of this season.
The 49ers are 6.5-point favorites on the road, and that’s a team that just feels like it’s going to get hot at some point offensively. I have a hard time seeing Spencer Rattler doing a lot of damage against Robert Saleh’s defense.
Prediction: 49ers win 24-13
Buffalo Bills (1-0) @ New York Jets (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
Who would have thought that the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets would be involved in the two most entertaining shootout games of Week 1 this season?
The New York Jets lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they gave it a heck of an effort. It took a great play by Jalen Ramsey busting up a pass intended for Garrett Wilson late in the game to end the comeback bid by Justin Fields and the Jets, and now we’ll all watch this Jets team with great interest going forward.
Fields was extremely effective as both a passer and runner, leading the Jets to 30-plus points right out of the gates, but that Jets defense struggled to stop Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. And with that in mind, how are they going to stop this Buffalo Bills offense?
The Bills were down double-digits at home this past week against the Baltimore Ravens, of all teams. After looking like they couldn’t stop a nosebleed for the first three-plus quarters of the game, the Bills all of a sudden got a couple of clutch defensive stops late and erased a double-digit deficit to come back and win. And that kind of win can spark some serious momentum for a team like this.
It’s hard to see the Bills losing many games, especially when there’s a talent discrepancy like this one. They’re pretty substantial 7-point favorites on the road against the Jets, and even if this one gets to another shootout, I don’t see any way the Jets are making enough plays to beat Buffalo.
Prediction: Bills win 34-23
Seattle Seahawks (0-1) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (1-0)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
A couple of teams with new quarterbacks this year going at it again as the Pittsburgh Steelers look to follow up their Week 1 shootout win against the Jets. The Seahawks, meanwhile, are trying to avoid an ugly 0-2 start with one of the most brutal scenarios you can ask for.
West coast teams typically struggle traveling to the East coast to play early window games. It’s not an exact science, but you can look through the years, especially early in the season. This is tough for teams to do. And the Seahawks did not look nearly good enough in Week 1 to give them the benefit of the doubt that they can make something weird happen on the road against the Steelers.
The Sam Darnold era is off to a rocky start, and he’s going to have to return to the form we saw in Minnesota last year rather quickly, or Seattle is going to have big problems on their hands. Especially with every other NFC West team winning in Week 1, this is an important bounce-back game.
Vegas is thinking the Seahawks are possibly going to be able to pull it off. The Steelers are just 2.5-point favorites at home after Week 1, which seems wildly low. After watching Aaron Rodgers throw four touchdowns in a vintage performance for his Steelers debut, the Steelers showed a level of offensive output that could bring this team back into the AFC North discussion.
I think they’re going to easily cover those 2.5 points, but maybe the oddsmakers are seeing something we all didn’t.
Prediction: Steelers win 27-18
Cleveland Browns (0-1) @ Baltimore Ravens (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 1:00 PM ET
If you’re in a survivor pool, you might have your gimme of the week here in this Week 2 matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns.
With all due respect to the Browns, the Ravens losing this game would only be the result of them being -5 in the turnover battle or something egregious like that. The Ravens are whopping 11.5-point favorites for this game, and it’s not hard to see why.
After taking a double-digit lead late into the fourth quarter against the Buffalo Bills, the Ravens blew it and are sitting at a disappointing 0-1 just like they were this time a year ago. Even with Baltimore struggling at the start of last season as well, they’re getting a bit of a gimme on the schedule here with the Browns coming to their house for their home opener.
Cleveland, to its credit, was locked in a tough battle with the Bengals last week. They limited Ja’Marr Chase, they limited Joe Burrow, and they limited the Bengals’ offense. We’d be remiss if we didn’t at least acknowledge that, but there’s also no question that the Ravens are a different level of beast compared to the Bengals right now.
And coming off of a devastating loss like that, Baltimore is going to have a major chip on its shoulder. Baltimore is the early biggest favorite of the week, and for good reason. Before the late collapse against Buffalo, it looked like Baltimore was going to coast to a 10-point win and put up 40 points on one of the best all-around teams in the league with the reigning MVP leading their offense.
I’m expecting the Ravens to bounce back big in Week 2, but weirder things have happened.
Prediction: Ravens win 37-17
Denver Broncos (1-0) @ Indianapolis Colts (1-0)
Sunday, September 14, 4:05 PM ET
This is a hilarious matchup of 1-0 teams who were the polar opposites (in many ways) of what people expected them to be going into the start of the season.
Let’s start with the biggest surprise of Week 1, which was Daniel Jones and the Indianapolis Colts. Jones was lights out in his debut with the Colts, looking like a rejuvenated player under head coach Shane “The QB Whisperer” Steichen. Although things haven’t worked out with Anthony Richardson at this point, the Colts would gladly take a resurgence from Jones after his ugly ending with the Giants last season.
The Colts dominated the Dolphins as they honored the life of the late owner Jim Irsay, but they’ve now got a problem coming to town in Week 2. The Denver Broncos’ defense brings waves of pass rush, and they had one of the highest pressure rates of any team in Week 1. They got after Titans rookie QB Cam Ward, and it only figures that they’ll find a way to speed up Daniel Jones’s clock as well in Week 2.
The expectation for the Denver Broncos was that they would be much improved offensively, but we saw some of the same struggles from them as last year. Bo Nix was too careless with the football, the running game took a long time to get going, and this Broncos team needed some huge plays defensively to fend off the Titans at home in Week 1.
I’m banking on that Denver defense coming through in a big way this week on the road against the Colts, even though the Colts looked so good offensively this past week. The Broncos are early 2.5-point road favorites. That defense of Denver’s is championship-caliber.
Prediction: Broncos win 24-15
Carolina Panthers (0-1) @ Arizona Cardinals (1-0)
Sunday, September 14, 4:05 PM ET
Carolina Panthers fans have wasted no time calling for defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero to be dismissed of his duties after his unit gave up 200 yards rushing against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, but there might also be equal parts concern about Bryce Young and the offense after their struggle to get going against the Jaguars as well.
After the second half of last season, the Panthers felt like they’d seen enough out of Bryce Young to continue building around the former #1 overall pick out of Alabama, so that’s exactly what they did. But the support Young needs right now is a top-tier defense to give him extra possessions to work with.
The Panthers can’t give him that.
It’s going to be tough for them to go on the road and face off against a Cardinals team that has a variety of ways to beat you offensively, even though Week 1 wasn’t perfect for them either. If the Panthers are giving up 200 yards to Travis Etienne and the Jags, what’s going to happen when they go up against James Conner, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Trey McBride?
This is going to be another major test for Evero’s defense and if things get out of hand early in the season, he’s likely going to be replaced. The Cardinals are pretty hefty 6.5-point favorites to open the week here, and that feels pretty generous toward the Panthers based on what we saw out of them in Week 1.
Prediction: Cardinals win 27-18
Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) @ Kansas City Chiefs (0-1)
Sunday, September 14, 4:25 PM ET
It’s only Week 2, and we have already gotten some incredible matchups early on this season. In Week 1, it was the Buffalo Bills hosting the Baltimore Ravens in what could end up being a preview of the AFC Championship Game.
In Week 2, we’re getting a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs looked a lot like what we’ve come to expect out of them in recent years offensively in Week 1, but they have to be extremely disappointed with how badly their defense struggled against the Los Angeles Chargers. Despite that, the Chiefs were in the game late and had a chance to pull a rabbit out of their hats, but they couldn’t do it.
You don’t see that team losing one-score games very often.
The Eagles got a win in Week 1 but they were not overly impressive against the Cowboys. Either that, or the Cowboys were much more impressive than anyone expected. Still, the Eagles have so many ways they can win games and they proved that against Dallas. Jalen Hurts isn’t afraid to sling the ball around if he needs to, but he took matters into his own hands as a runner against Dallas.
Eagles GM Howie Roseman clearly wasn’t thrilled about how his pass rush looked in that game, so he brought in veteran Za’Darius Smith to fortify the group and add a veteran presence. As long as Jalen Carter isn’t spitting on Patrick Mahomes, we should see a much better Eagles defense here in Week 2. I think they’ll spoil the Chiefs’ home opener.
Despite losing in Week 1, Kansas City is opening as a bit of a surprise 1.5-point favorite.
Prediction: Eagles win 27-26
Atlanta Falcons (0-1) @ Minnesota Vikings (1-0)
Sunday, September 14, 8:20 PM ET
The Atlanta Falcons didn’t run the ball overly well in Week 1, but they got just enough out of second-year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to win the game, and the defense couldn’t close the deal against Baker Mayfield and the Bucs.
Atlanta has all of the pieces to be a surprise team in the NFC this year, but they need development on the defensive side of the ball quickly, or the Bucs could start running away with that division. After Week 1, there’s obviously no need to panic, but Raheem Morris is going into Minnesota trying to avoid an 0-2 start against his former colleague Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings.
This is a battle of former Sean McVay assistants as well as a battle between two first-round picks in the vaunted 2024 NFL Draft class, a group which saw a lot of mixed results in Week 1.
The debut of young quarterback JJ McCarthy was a wild ride, to say the least. The Vikings have to be encouraged with the way McCarthy responded to some serious adversity on the road in Chicago, accounting for all three of his touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
McCarthy looked like a franchise quarterback late in that game, and Kevin O'Connell was up to his old tricks. It's impossible to doubt that guy at this point, he just knows how to call plays, put his guys in position to succeed, and win close games.
The Vikings are early 4.5-point favorites against the Falcons this week, but we’ll see if that changes any as the week progresses.
Prediction: Vikings win 26-23
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-0) @ Houston Texans (0-1)
Monday, September 15, 7:00 PM ET
If anyone was hoping that last year’s regular season struggles for the Houston Texans were just a mirage, it looks like they might have just regressed to the mean. The Texans still have way too much talent not to be a factor this year, especially in the AFC South, but they’re in an early 0-1 hole and have to quickly find their way out.
This is a sneaky great matchup this week, even though the Bucs and Texans don’t really receive all that much national hype. The storyline for Houston has got to be figuring out a way to get that offense going with Stroud returning to the form we’ve seen from him when he’s at his best. After putting up nine points in Week 1 against the Rams, struggling on third downs, and having just seven passing first downs, there’s nowhere to go but up, right?
The Buccaneers snuck one out against their division rival Falcons in Week 1 as Baker Mayfield engineered a game-winning drive, capped off with a touchdown to stud rookie Emeka Egbuka. The early reviews on Egbuka this offseason were overwhelmingly positive, and after catching two touchdowns in his debut, it’s easy to see why the Bucs would have forsaken more pressing needs to take such a great-looking young player.
This is going to be a fun game to watch from a chess match perspective. Both of these teams are capable of playing tight defense, and both are capable of fireworks on offense. I’m leaning toward the Bucs in a tight-scoring game, but Vegas has the Texans as early 2.5-point favorites at home under the lights.
Prediction: Buccaneers win 25-22
Los Angeles Chargers (1-0) @ Las Vegas Raiders (1-0)
Monday, September 15, 10:00 PM ET
Few quarterbacks were as impressive in Week 1 as Justin Herbert of the Chargers, but Geno Smith was slinging the ball around for the Raiders in his debut with the team as well.
In this nightcap on a Monday night doubleheader, we get a second consecutive AFC West matchup for the Los Angeles Chargers, who beat the Chiefs in Brazil in Week 1. The Raiders went on the road to New England and gutted out a win against the Patriots, maybe showing a bit better defensively than anyone (myself included) expected to start the year.
If Justin Herbert plays even close to the level we saw against the Chiefs on a consistent basis, the Chargers are going to be difficult to beat. He was laser-focused in that game, as dialed in as we’ve ever seen him, and he was spreading the ball around flawlessly to all of his different receivers. The Chargers were obviously known last year for running the ball effectively, but Herbert took matters into his own hands last week and shredded that Kansas City defense.
The Raiders are going to have to get after him early in order to keep this game tight going into the second half. As well as the Chargers played in Week 1, they’re only favored on the road here by three points. It seems like the oddsmakers were rather impressed with Geno Smith’s passing performance, but the health of Brock Bowers will be something to watch this week.
Both teams threw the ball a ton in Week 1, and we could see this game really emphasize the two first-round running backs on the ground. I like the Chargers here, but don’t be surprised if Geno Smith can pull a rabbit out of his hat.
Prediction: Chargers win 24-21