Week 3 Betting Picks: Against The Spread

Sep 22, 2021

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The machine of the NFL season is in full gear, and Week 3 is already upon us. I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, it feels like Labor Day was five minutes ago and now everything in every store is pumpkin flavored. That might even apply to banks and appliance outlets, but I will have to get back to you on that. It is uncanny that the late summer into early fall period simply flies by every year, yet we (I) never get accustomed to it and am always shocked by it.

Looking back on Week 2, it was a tilting outcome, to say the least. The Panthers came through for us and did not force a moment’s sweat. The same cannot be said about the other three picks.

The Eagles, a three-point home dog to the 49ers, lost by six. The points left on the field in the first half were absolutely unspeakable, followed up by a wholly uninspired second half of offense. It is the first half I want to touch on. A 36-yard Jalen Reagor touchdown was overturned for him stepping (being shoved) out of bounds. Fast forward a few minutes. Jalen Hurts completes a roughly 90-yard pass to Quez Watkins. Not only did he not score on a play of this length, but the offense managed zero points from the possession. We were also on the Cardinals and Chiefs, both -3.5, which both ended in betting heartbreak.

While the results did not prop us up last week, the reasoning behind the picks played out as expected. The 49ers' secondary was, and is, quite exploitable. The Eagles simply had bad breaks and terrible execution at times. The Cardinals were always going to score big on the Vikings. It was the Vikings who were able to be balanced on offense and score plenty of their own. However, the one occurrence that shocked me was Lamar Jackson being able to bring the Ravens back against the Chiefs. That one simply gets a “well played” and we move on to the next ones.

We were going to have four betting picks this week, but we are losing one due to the truly questionable nature of a key player. The Colts +5 would be a play if we knew Carson Wentz and his pair of sprained ankles would be available and close to normal. Additionally, both the Giants -3 and Steelers -4 were also close to being plays, and I still might opt for them later in the week. We do still have three plays, let’s get to them.