Another week of NFL football has come and gone, and we're now in the swing of the season. After Week 2, we've already got a number of big-time surprise teams coming up from the woodwork and there's still a lot of season left for teams that are currently struggling to get back on the saddle.
Which teams are going to come away with wins in Week 3? We're going to make our league-wide game picks and score predictions for every game, as well as give some analysis of what each team has looked like through the first two weeks of the season.
Let's dive right in with a big slate of games on tap fo Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season.
NFL picks and score predictions for every Week 3 game
New England Patriots (1-1) @ New York Jets (1-1)
Thursday, September 19, 8:15 PM ET
The first game on the menu for Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season is a battle of two AFC East rivals, both teams having rather surprising starts to the young season.
The New York Jets were absolutely dismantled in the first week of the season in front of a national Monday Night Football audience. They bounced back in Week 2 with a win over the Tennessee Titans, but to say that win was overly impressive would be a stretch. The Titans are not a very good team overall, and the Jets were able to capitalize on some mistakes by young quarterback Will Levis in the second half.
The emergence of Braelon Allen gives the Jets a fearsome duo out of the backfield, however, and an interesting advantage in this particular matchup against the New England Patriots.
This could be an old-school Big Ten type of matchup with the Patriots coming in playing much tougher through the first two weeks of the season than pretty much anyone expected. They beat the Bengals in a low-scoring Week 1 game and had the Seattle Seahawks on the ropes in Week 2. Jerod Mayo has that defense playing hard but do the Pats have the playmakers offensively to outlast the Jets in a slugfest on the road?
I’m taking the Jets (-6.5) by a touchdown in this one.
Prediction: Jets win 23-16
New York Giants (0-2) @ Cleveland Browns (1-1)
Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET
The New York Giants finally showed some life in Week 2 of the NFL season against the Washington Commanders, but a late drop on fourth down from star rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers essentially sealed the Giants’ 0-2 fate.
But Nabers can’t be blamed for the Giants’ loss in Week 2. He’s the reason they were in the game in the first place. And the Giants have figured out what will be their offensive strategy all year long: Feed Malik Nabers the ball and let everything else filter through that. And why wouldn’t you keep throwing this guy the ball until teams prove they can stop it? Even on the pass he dropped, he was open and had an easy first-down reception.
The Giants will need Nabers to step up in a big way if they are going to go on the road and beat a Cleveland Browns team that is going to pin its ears back and make life miserable for Daniel Jones.
Myles Garrett and the Browns defense terrorized Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars in Week 2 and held the Jags to just 13 points while sacking Lawrence four times (hitting him eight).
It still wasn’t a great overall performance from quarterback Deshaun Watson in Week 2, but we at least saw him take fewer sacks and not throw the ball to the other team.
The Browns are favored by 6.5 points at home in this game and while I find that to be a really generous number, it makes sense given the ability of their defense to dominate games.
Prediction: Browns win 17-13
Green Bay Packers (1-1) @ Tennessee Titans (0-2)
Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET
Is this the Matt LaFleur revenge game or the Malik Willis revenge game? Or both?
Probably more so on the Malik Willis angle, right?
The Green Bay Packers are coming off of one of the most impressive victories of the young NFL season, and I don’t say that in any sort of tongue-in-cheek kind of way. Matt LaFleur is a great coach, and he put that on display in Week 2 as the Packers were forced to sit Jordan Love due to an injury he suffered in Brazil in Week 1, starting Malik Willis.
Willis was just recently acquired in a trade with the Titans at roster cuts, and the Titans dumped the former third-round pick for next to nothing.
Willis didn’t light up the stat sheet in Week 2, but he didn’t need to. The Packers protected him with a great running game and overall gameplan as well as a playmaking defense that bounced back after a rough debut in Week 1.
Speaking of rough, the Tennessee Titans have had a rough couple of games to start the season. They’re not getting blown out, by any means, but we saw Titans head coach Brian Callahan scream, “What the f*** are you doing?!” at quarterback Will Levis after a head-scratching mistake in the Titans’ loss to the Jets this past week.
Watching the Titans, it’s like you can visibly see Levis’s play taking years off of Callahan’s life with some of the choices he’s making out there on the field. But he’s a young quarterback.
In this kind of matchup, even without Jordan Love (potentially, we’ll see), I think you have to give a huge edge to the coaching of Matt LaFleur and the dominance of his running game through two weeks of the season. Not only that, but that Packers’ defense has forced a lot of turnovers.
Prediction: Packers win 23-19
Chicago Bears (1-1) @ Indianapolis Colts (0-2)
Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET
The first two weeks of the 2024 NFL season haven’t been overly kind to either Chicago Bears #1 overall pick Caleb Williams or Indianapolis Colts second-year player Anthony Richardson.
Let’s start with the Bears, who are coming off of a really rough loss to the Houston Texans in Week 2. We saw the Bears’ defense get off to a hot start in Week 1, helping the struggling/learning offense with a rookie quarterback by actually putting some points on the board and leading the team to a win. That wasn’t the case in Week 2 against the Texans.
The Bears’ defense wasn’t able to force a number of turnovers in the loss to Houston, and DeMeco Ryans schemed things up to make life miserable for Caleb Williams, who was sacked a whopping seven times while throwing a pair of interceptions. But the Chicago defense still kept it close and kept the Texans under 20 points, which is crucial.
The Colts, on the other hand, are an even tougher team to project this week because they’re playing at home and the offense has been explosive at times, but Anthony Richardson just threw three interceptions (one on a last-ditch hail mary play) against the Green Bay Packers. What’s worse, the Colts really allowed the Packers to dominate them on the ground and dictate time of possession.
Indianapolis is just 1.5-point favorites in this matchup at home, indicating Vegas thinks this game is bordering on being a toss-up. And that’s kind of where I’m at as well.
Prediction: Colts win 17-14
Houston Texans (2-0) @ Minnesota Vikings (2-0)
Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET
It’s unfortunate that we’re going to have to see one of these two teams come away from Week 3 of the NFL season with a loss, because the storylines have been great with them being undefeated through the first two games.
The Minnesota Vikings have been a lot of fun with Sam Darnold at the quarterback position, a sentence not many people thought they would actually read when the games started mattering. Darnold’s emergence under Kevin O’Connell is not altogether surprising since the guy has not been in a good situation since he came into the NFL in 2018. Now, he’s in a good situation, he’s had plenty of time to grow and learn in the NFL, and he’s making plays.
Not only that, but Brian Flores is calling a great defense and O’Connell is really able to lean on that side of the ball right now. Even though Christian McCaffrey didn’t play, the fact that the Vikings just held the 49ers to only 17 points is significant.
Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is certainly familiar with Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell from their time going against each other in the NFC West as members of the 49ers and Rams, respectively. This will be a fun chess match and a really good test for Darnold against a Texans defense that just embarrassed Caleb Williams and the Bears.
The Texans racked up seven sacks and a pair of interceptions in Week 2 and they’ll smell blood in the water against a quarterback like Darnold, who has been turnover-prone for the majority of his NFL career.
The Vikings have been a great story thus far, but I’m going to remain a skeptic for at least one more week here.
Prediction: Texans win 24-20
Philadelphia Eagles (1-1) @ New Orleans Saints (2-0)
Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET
With all due respect to the Philadelphia Eagles, we’ve got to start off this game prediction by talking about the New Orleans Saints.
The Saints have been the NFL’s most dominant team through the first two weeks of the season and it’s hard to pinpoint any holes to poke in what they’ve been doing. When they came out in Week 1 and just flat-out crushed the Carolina Panthers, I think everyone was like, alright, that’s great – you beat up on the worst team in the league. Well done.
But then when they came out and dismantled the Dallas Cowboys? Well, that’s a different ballgame entirely.
What the Saints have done through the first two weeks of the season is nothing short of remarkable, leading the league in points scored and doing it in a variety of ways. If the Saints’ offense can keep it up against the Philadelphia Eagles, the noise around Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak becoming a head coach elsewhere in the NFL is going to start to get really loud.
The Philadelphia Eagles got really nonchalant in a home loss to the Atlanta Falcons that I think could be classified as a major debacle, all things considered. The Eagles had a chance to go up by 10 points late but Saquon Barkley dropped an easy third-down pass, and after Philly kicked a field goal to go up by six, they got the “YOU LIKE THAT?!” treatment from Kirk Cousins.
You hate to see it. Or maybe some of you don’t.
Either way, I’m buying what the Saints are selling right now.
Prediction: Saints win 33-28
Los Angeles Chargers (2-0) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (2-0)
Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET
Just like the Vikings and Texans game before it, this is another game where it’s going to be difficult to see someone leave with a loss. You love the stories that are being built for both of these AFC teams heading into Week 3.
The Los Angeles Chargers are already 2-0 under new head coach Jim Harbaugh, but this Week 3 game against the Steelers will be their first really big “test” of the 2024 season. The Chargers ran all over the Panthers in Week 2 after beating up on the Raiders in Week 1. With all due respect to the Raiders after what we saw them do in Week 2, the Steelers have a different breed of defense and are playing at home.
The Chargers have run the ball so well that Justin Herbert hasn’t had to do much and has been relatively protected. But the Steelers are going to force Herbert to throw the ball more in this one and it’s going to be interesting to see how Jim Harbaugh adjusts his strategy and play-calling.
Mike Tomlin is inevitable. We all know this. Say what you want about the Steelers but every year, this team is capable of winning tough games, even if they look like the Iowa Hawkeyes out there at times. They play so well defensively that they are able to work with almost whatever the QB gives them as long as he’s not turning the ball over at a high rate.
And although Justin Fields hasn’t lit the world on fire in the first two weeks, we actually saw him make some really nice throws and protect the ball against the Denver Broncos in Week 2.
The Steelers are only favored by 1.5 points at home in Week 3 but based on what the Chargers have done to this point in the season, that’s pretty fair. I still think we’re going to see the Pittsburgh defense grind out another tough, low-scoring affair here.
Prediction: Steelers win 18-16
Denver Broncos (0-2) @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0)
Sunday, September 22, 1:00 PM ET
Things are going about as you would expect for the Denver Broncos through two weeks with rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
Nix and the offense under head coach Sean Payton have struggled, putting up just 26 points in the first two weeks of the season against the Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburgh Steelers. The really unfortunate thing is that it hasn’t been all bad from Nix, but his teammates offensively have really let him down at horrible moments.
Has Nix made bad decisions in his first two games? Absolutely, which is to be expected from rookie quarterbacks. But the Broncos have been dropping passes left and right, and the top two running backs in Denver – Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin – have averaged a combined 2.3 yards per attempt through two games.
As much as people want to pin everything on Bo Nix – who does deserve his share of blame for the team’s 0-2 start – how are you supposed to excel as a rookie in the NFL when the running game is that bad?
The Broncos now have to travel to the East Coast to play a hot Buccaneers team that has looked really good through the first two weeks of the season. The Broncos’ best hope here might be to catch the Bucs sleeping after a couple of really nice wins to open the season, including their win this past weekend on the road against the Detroit Lions, a fellow contender in the NFC.
Todd Bowles is going to have his stellar defense ready to feast against a struggling rookie QB, but that Bucs offense is going to have to be on point against a Denver defense that has played pretty well through two games this season. The Bucs are favored by 6.5 points at home here, and the Broncos are going to have to show a lot on the road to cover that spread.
Prediction: Bucs win 19-16
Carolina Panthers (0-2) @ Las Vegas Raiders (1-1)
Sunday, September 22, 4:05 PM ET
You have to start off by giving credit where it’s due, because I’ve been really hard on the Las Vegas Raiders throughout the course of the offseason. For the Raiders to go into Baltimore and gut out a tough win against the Ravens is no small deal.
It’s actually a really big deal, as far as things can be a really big deal early in the season. The Ravens are historically great at home, and West Coast teams flying to the East Coast to play in that early time slot is never an easy task. But the Raiders were up to the task against the Ravens, and Maxx Crosby has started his early candidacy for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
The Raiders now get the opportunity to turn around and play at home against the worst team in the league – the Carolina Panthers – and perhaps catch some momentum in the early goings of the 2024 season.
The Panthers have been abysmal for the first two weeks of the year, getting absolutely blown out in consecutive weeks by both the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers. When looking at the first three games on their schedule, however, this road trip to Las Vegas may be the most “winnable” game the Panthers have.
Former #1 overall pick Bryce Young has officially been benched by the Panthers in a slightly shocking development. We'll have to wait and see what Andy Dalton can do under Dave Canales.
The Raiders are 7-point favorites in this game, which feels pretty reasonable considering the effort we just saw from them on the road. But they need to come back home and prove that win against the Ravens didn’t take the wind out of their sails.
I still think Maxx Crosby is about to absolutely feast in this matchup once again.
Prediction: Raiders win 27-13
Miami Dolphins (1-1) @ Seattle Seahawks (2-0)
Sunday, September 22, 4:05 PM ET
It took the Seattle Seahawks every second of their four quarters against the New England Patriots, but they ultimately got the job done. And we saw a lot of good things from quarterback Geno Smith in his second game under new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.
The Seahawks haven’t exactly faced off against the toughest gauntlet of opponents to start the year, but that’s not going to matter at the end of the season if they keep on racking up enough wins. First-year head coach Mike Macdonald is 2-0 and now has a home game against the Miami Dolphins in Week 3, and this is a Dolphins team that is going to have to operate without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
In other words, it’s a golden opportunity for the Seahawks to get off to a 3-0 start to the season and start taking advantage of the other teams in the NFC West slipping up a little bit early on this year.
And as far as the Miami Dolphins are concerned, this is a great chance for Mike McDaniel to prove exactly why the organization extended him as the head coach of the team. He wasn’t extended just because of the way he’s helped revive Tua Tagovailoa’s career. He knows how to put players in positions to succeed offensively.
The Dolphins got smashed against the Bills on a short week last week, but they’ve had some extra time to get Skylar Thompson ready to compete here and even though the folks in Vegas like the Seahawks at home by 6.5 points, I could see this being a closer game than people think.
I am still going to roll with the Seahawks at home, but I think the Dolphins cover.
Prediction: Seahawks win 26-22
Baltimore Ravens (0-2) @ Dallas Cowboys (1-1)
Sunday, September 22, 4:25 PM ET
Well, I’ve got to eat at least a little bit of crow regarding the Dallas Cowboys, because after their impressive Week 1 performance against the Cleveland Browns, we saw them fall completely flat in Week 2 at home against the New Orleans Saints.
The Cowboys were obviously horrible defensively against the Saints but the offense didn’t help much with a pair of interceptions from Dak Prescott and not even 70 rushing yards on the game. It was an ugly performance from the Cowboys all-around, and they don’t have any time to wallow in self pity.
This week, the Cowboys welcome the Baltimore Ravens to town, a Ravens team that was inches away from a road win in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs and just saw the Las Vegas Raiders come into their house and squeeze out a close win in Week 2. In other words, the Ravens are going to be playing ticked off in this game against the Cowboys.
How will each of these two teams respond to vastly different but equally disappointing Week 2 losses?
The Cowboys have to take better care of the ball offensively, but they need to tighten up defensively. The Ravens are going to see the way the Saints pounded the Cowboys with the running game and try to duplicate that themselves, so the Cowboys have to make sure they force a lot of throwing from Baltimore so the pass rush can pin its ears back against what has been a porous Ravens offensive line through two weeks.
The Ravens are 1.5-point favorites on the road for this one.
Prediction: Cowboys win 24-23
San Francisco 49ers (1-1) @ Los Angeles Rams (0-2)
Sunday, September 22, 4:25 PM ET
And here we have a matchup between two rather snake-bitten teams to start the 2024 season. But nobody is more snake-bitten than the poor Los Angeles Rams, who just continue to suffer blow after blow to their roster.
Already down Puka Nacua at the wide receiver position, the Rams lost Cooper Kupp in their Week 2 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, who were seemingly able to move the ball at will against the Rams’ defense as well. As much as it has hurt a team like the 49ers to not have Christian McCaffrey out there for their offense, they still have three other elite playmakers to work with.
The Rams have been absolutely gutted.
This is not a great situation for the Rams to be in with the 49ers coming off of a tough road loss. Now, they have a chance to come back against a familiar divisional opponent and get back on track while the Rams are still going to be relatively down bad.
You can see just how rough the Rams have it based on the fact that Vegas has the 49ers as 7.5-point road favorites, even though they are coming off of a pretty disturbing loss on the road against the Minnesota Vikings.
Obviously, the smart and safe bet feels like riding with the San Francisco 49ers, even though we’ve seen Sean McVay work some magic with patchwork units in the past. The losses of both Kupp and Nacua are probably a little too much to overcome, not to mention what the Rams are dealing with defensively right now.
This one has 31-17 written all over it.
Prediction: 49ers win 31-17
Detroit Lions (1-1) @ Arizona Cardinals (1-1)
Sunday, September 22, 4:25 PM ET
Arizona Cardinals rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. was clowned after a Week 1 performance in which he only had one reception for four yards and was barely able to break 16 MPH on the in-game GPS.
I guess MHJ had the last laugh, because the Cardinals featured him in their blowout win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday and he responded in a big way. Harrison caught four passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns as the Cardinals topped 40 points, proving their offense has the ability to be explosive and dynamic with a healthy Kyler Murray and a legit #1 target in the passing game.
They now have face off against Detroit and take on a Lions team that just suffered a home loss at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Having to go to Arizona doesn’t feel like that big of a disadvantage for the Lions, but the Cardinals home crows is going to be rowdy as they’re feeling the hope of the playoffs return with the display their offense put forth on Sunday.
And the Lions looked rough against the Buccaneers. Yes, the Bucs have a really good team and could be a contender in the NFC in their own right, but the Lions were only able to muster 16 points and they also struggled in Week 1 with the Los Angeles Rams. Perhaps the idea that the Lions were a dominant force in the NFC were a bit premature.
We’ll get an idea what they’re made of in this road contest against the Cardinals, where Detroit is a three-point favorite.
Prediction: Cardinals win 34-30
Kansas City Chiefs (2-0) @ Atlanta Falcons (1-1)
Sunday, September 22, 8:20 PM ET
The Kansas City Chiefs remain inevitable, don’t they?
The Chiefs had a come-from-behind win against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and one of the key plays of the game came when Joe Burrow was sacked, lost the ball, and the Chiefs defense recovered it for a touchdown.
Kansas City continues to come under fire due to interesting officiating that seems to happen anytime they are involved in a game, but the Chiefs are seemingly just the best possible combination of lucky and good, certainly weighing heavily on the “good” in that instance.
But there will be a new lead back in Kansas City after Isiah Pacheco suffered a serious injury and that has raised some questions as Carson Steele was a preseason star but fumbled against the Bengals and may be more of a wild card than expected. We could be seeing a lot more of Samaje Perine as he gets up to speed in that Kansas City offense.
From the Falcons’ side of things, we saw an amazing comeback on the road against the Philadelphia Eagles in which Kirk Cousins played great down the stretch.
The Falcons have so much talent offensively and in the defensive backfield that you simply cannot count them out of any game in any given week. Cousins is the type of veteran QB who can really elevate that talent on this roster but there are a lot of new parts still meshing together in Atlanta.
Can the Falcons build on what we saw against the Eagles late? Can they bring that momentum into Week 3?
I think this one is going to be tough for the Chiefs, but they always seem to find a way.
Prediction: Chiefs win 26-20
Jacksonville Jaguars (0-2) @ Buffalo Bills (2-0)
Monday, September 23, 7:30 PM ET
At this point, I am fully buying into this Buffalo Bills team with Josh Allen at the helm. I talked about it all throughout the offseason, but with so many significant subtractions on this Bills roster in 2024, the pressure was going to be squarely on Allen to really lead this team and raise all boats as the franchise quarterback.
Through two weeks, we’ve definitely seen that from him, and we’re seeing other young players step up.
The Bills got a huge game last Thursday from running back James Cook (my fantasy team thanks you, James) and you can just tell that the players on the roster are really responding to the leadership of Josh Allen.
And how about Von Miller continually causing problems even at the age of 35? When he’s healthy, he is still a beast.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have had a couple of really tough losses to start the season, and there’s just something about this team that feels incomplete. We’ve seen rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. make some incredible plays in his first two NFL games and that big play ability gives the Jaguars a fighting chance on the road in this one.
The Bills are favored by 5.5 points at home in this one and I don’t know if that’s quite generous enough.
Prediction: Bills win 27-21
Washington Commanders (1-1) @ Cincinnati Bengals (0-2)
Monday, September 23, 8:15 PM ET
To cap off the Monday night double-header, we’ve got basically the ideal opportunity for the Cincinnati Bengals to get out from the land of the winless and into the win column for the first time.
But we’ve got to give our due respect to the Washington Commanders, who just gutted out a tough win against the New York Giants on Sunday. Through the first two weeks of the season, Jayden Daniels has been the most efficient quarterback among the 2024 rookie class, at least among the guys that are actually playing right now.
Daniels has a couple of rushing touchdowns, no interceptions, and he’s running the ball well. Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury has done a pretty good job of marrying the things Daniels is good at with NFL concepts that are leading to at least some measure of offensive success.
It was good enough to orchestrate a game-winning drive against the Giants.
The Commanders are going to be facing off against a very good defensive coordinator in Cincinnati’s Lou Anarumo, who should be able to make life difficult for a rookie quarterback. The Bengals almost pulled off a win on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs but couldn’t finish the job late.
Things are definitely weird with Cincinnati right now, so I would say you should be on upset alert here a little bit. The Bengals are 7.5-point home favorites over the Commanders and they might be able to take out some frustration on a less-talented Washington team, but I don’t know if the Bengals are at the point where I’d be picking them to cover that spread just yet.
Prediction: Bengals win 24-18