Every year, we go through certain trends together.
In the beginning, we can lean on underdogs and outdated perceptions carried over from the prior year. Then, we shift into what we are actually seeing in front of us but with an understanding that we still have teams playing a different brand of football compared to their records.
Eventually, we will get a clear picture of the National Football League. But we simply aren’t there yet.
We’re entering the middle territory. We still have plenty of reputations to consider, but we also have five weeks of action — for most teams — at our disposal.
This is usually where it starts to get a little choppy. But, as always, if we’re prepared for it, we can navigate it carefully.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. Spread is listed as advertised number and odds at either DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, or Fanatics Sportsbook (formerly PointsBet). All efforts were made to provide picks at -110 or better, with some stretching to a -125 if no reasonable advertised spread was found.
*Confidence Picks – 2024 Season: 17-16 (Last Week: 3-4)
(2023 Season: 63-61-4) (2022 Season: 54-54-5) (2021 Season: 55-50) (2020 Season: 53-42-3) (2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (10-Year Total: 581-504-30)
All Picks Against Spread – 2024 Season: 43-34-1 (Last Week: 6-8)
(2023 Season: 142-135-8) (2022 Season: 143-132-9) (2021 Season: 158-126-2) (2020 Season: 132-128-7) (2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (10-Year Total: 1406-1243-75)
San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks
The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are both coming off bad losses last week, and they are essentially playing for first place in the division on Thursday night.
Neither team deserves it right now.
The 49ers are arguably surviving on reputation alone, where they have yet to win a conference game, and the combined record of the two opponents they beat is 3-7.
The Seahawks started hot, winning each of their first three games before losing an understandably touch matchup in Detroit but then an unforgivable disaster at home against the Giants.