NFL Week 1 odds, game previews: Take advantage of up to $3,750 in sportsbook promo code offers

Daily News Journal

03 August 2023

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Ready for some football?

Online sportsbooks and bettors certainly are, as they’ve been tracking, analyzing, and adjusting the Week 1 NFL odds since the schedule release in early May. That makes it, by nature, the most scrutinized week of the 18-week NFL regular season.

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Following, we preview each of the 16 Week 1 games scheduled for Sept. 7-11. Also, be sure to check out our review of the top NFL betting sites to find the best online sportsbook fits for you.

Believe it or not, coach Dan Campbell’s on-the-upswing Lions enter the season as the NFC North favorites.

But they face a Hurculean opening week task on the road against the defending champs. The Chiefs are favored to repeat in 2023 and are 41-11 at Arrowhead Stadium since Patrick Mahomes took the reins in 2018.

But definitely give touchdown-underdog Detroit an extended look as K.C. is only 23-26-3 against the spread at home over that same span.

Welcome to the New QB Era in the NFC South as all four teams in the division open the season with fresh faces calling the signals.

In Carolina, it’s No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young, while Atlanta counters with 2022 third-round pick Desmond Ridder.

The teams have split each of the last two seasons, but the Falcons are 11-4 SU and 10-5 ATS over the last 15 meetings.

The key for this Week 1 Battle of Ohio will be the status of Bengals QB Joe Burrow, who sustained a calf injury early in training camp.

If Burrow is somehow out and backup Trevor Siemian is in, look for the line to flip in Cleveland’s favor.

Burrow, though, would dearly like to reverse his fortunes against the Browns, as he’s 1-4 in five starts vs. Cleveland, which is hoping for a much better Year 2 from its own QB, Deshaun Watson.

QB Trevor Lawrence is looking to lead the Jags to their first back-to-back division titles since 1998-99.

Up first is a road game against the new-look Colts, who are starting over at head coach (former Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen) and QB (fourth-overall pick Anthony Richardson or veteran Gardner Minshew) after a 4-12-1 finish a season ago.

It might be a tad surprising to see Jacksonville laying more than a field goal in Indy, but the Jaguars are 9-6 SU and 12-2-1 ATS over the last 15 meetings in this AFC South series.

Kirk Cousins and the Vikings are near-TD favorites in this battle of 2022 NFC playoff teams.

And on the surface, why not? Minnesota is at home coming off a 13-4 season, while the Bucs finally saw Tom Brady retire during the offseason, leaving journeyman Baker Mayfield and the unproven Kyle Trask as the top QB options.

Beware, though, of some Twin Cities regression as the Vikings were an unsustainable 11-1 in one-possession games last season — with the lone loss coming in the playoffs — and were only 7-10-1 ATS, including that postseason defeat to the New York Giants.

These former perennial playoff performers are trying to get back on track after disappointing 7-10 seasons in 2022.

The Saints have a new QB in former-Raider Derek Carr, and the Titans may soon follow suit after drafting Malik Willis in the third round last season and Will Levis in the second round this year to press veteran starter Ryan Tannehill.

In any case, Tennessee still figures to rely heavily on bulldozing RB Derrick Henry, but how much gas does he have left in the tank? Henry turns 30 before the end of the season and has logged a league-most 1,337 touches since the start of the 2019 season.

At first glance, this looks to be an opening week mismatch with the Niners, who have played in three of the last four NFC Championship Games, taking on a 9-8 Steelers team from a season ago led by unproven second-year QB Kenny Pickett.

But coach Kyle Shanahan’s team certainly has QB questions of its own — namely who among Brock Purdy, Trey Lance and Sam Darnold will start and actually stay healthy for the majority of a season?

Preseason signs point toward Purdy getting the nod, and then we’ll start to see if the 2022 seventh-round pick’s stunning 6-1 record as a starter to end last season was an aberration or a sign of things to come.

Colt McCoy vs. Sam Howell.

That could very well be the starting QB matchup in this one with the 14th-year Arizona veteran taking on Washington’s second-year signal-caller.

But despite Howell having made only one start a year ago, the Commanders are nearly a touchdown home favorite against what could be the league’s worst team.

Speaking of bad teams opening on the road, the 2022 NFL-worst Texans travel to Baltimore to take on Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.

Baltimore did make the playoffs last season at 10-7 but is looking for bigger and better things from Jackson — who just signed to a new long-term contract — and a shift to more of an aerial-oriented attack.

Houston will counter with promising rookie QB C.J. Stroud, but the Texans have a steep hill to climb after going a league-worst 11-38-1 over the last three seasons.

It’s precisely why the Ravens are the biggest Week 1 favorite on the board, laying nearly 10 points.

The Jordan Love Era begins in Green Bay with the Packers a slight road underdog in Chicago.

Can Love pick up where predecessor Aaron Rodgers left off against the rival Bears (24-5 vs. Chicago)?

Entering his third season, Bears QB Justin Fields has much to prove. Fields was a big-time threat with his legs last year, finishing seventh overall with 1,143 yards rushing, but most of his key passing numbers — 2,242 passing yards, 60.4 completion percentage and league-high 55 sacks — need substantial improvement.

Can new coach Sean Payton fix aging QB Russell Wilson and the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense of 2022?

Is QB Jimmy Garoppolo a better fit than Derek Carr in Josh McDaniels’ Raiders offense after a poor 6-11 season?

The answers will start to surface on the opening Sunday in Denver.

The Broncos have opened as a field goal-plus home favorite, but Vegas has dominated this AFC West rivalry of late, winning eight of the last 10 games while going 9-1 ATS.

The Foxboro Mystique isn’t what it used to be as Bill Belichick and the Patriots are home underdogs of more than four points for only the fourth time in the last 20 years against the defending NFC champs.

Meanwhile, 2022 MVP runner-up Jalen Hurts and Co. will attempt to pick up where they left off despite having to replace their offensive and defensive coordinators and five defensive Super Bowl starters.

This is one of the more intriguing games on the Week 1 slate as two of the AFC’s 2022 playoff teams and promising young quarterbacks clash at SoFi Stadium.

Both entering their fourth seasons, the Bolts’ Justin Herbert is out to prove he can consistently win big games, while the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa has to show he can stay healthy after missing a combined eight games over the last two seasons with concussion and other issues.

L.A. has been listed at less than field-goal home favorite, meaning the oddsmakers consider this to essentially be a pick’em matchup.

These two NFC West foes flipped their 2021 scripts a season ago as Geno Smith and the surprising Seahawks improved to 9-8 and qualified for the playoffs while the Super Bowl-champion Rams fell to 5-12 for their first losing season since coach Sean McVay took over in 2017.

Seattle last year swept the season series for the first time since 2013 and are solid 5.5-point home favorites in this one.

Both of these NFC East foes made the playoffs and advanced past the first round last season.

Now both are aiming higher, particularly the Cowboys, who haven’t made it past the divisional round since winning it all to cap the 1995 season.

Dallas has dominated the series of late, winning 11 of the last 12 games while posting a 9-3 ATS record.

That — and their continuing national popularity — is why the Cowboys are field goal-plus road favorites vs. a 2022 playoff team on Sunday Night Football.

We get another divisional clash involving the other N.Y. team on Monday Night Football as the Jets welcome Josh Allen and the Bills in Aaron Rodgers’ Big Apple — er, New Jersey — debut.

It’s the first of six national prime-time/stand-alone games for the Jets, and this initial one will be a tough ask with Buffalo a slight road favorite in the tightest-lined contest of the week.

Overall, Allen’s Bills are the three-time defending AFC East champs and have won five of the last six against the Jets.

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