2% Teaser (2-team, 6-point) - Bengals (-8 to -2) and Seahawks (-6 to PK): These are two favorites that I expect to win Week 1, but not necessarily in a rush to lay points with either. Cincinnati faces New England, who projects to be the worst team in the entire league with a rookie HC (Jarod Mayo) replacing the legendary Bill Belichick. Mayo has already elected to go the “safe route” at QB by starting veteran Jacoby Brissett over rookie Drake Maye. Don’t think that matters here. The Patriots could easily lose by double digits, but - again - I’m WAY more comfortable in needing the Bengals to win by just a FG. If they don’t, then my belief that they are a playoff contender, with a healthy Joe Burrow back at QB, would obviously be misguided. A lot is being made about the status of WR Ja’Mar Chase. But I don’t think the Bengals even need him here. Cincy was still able to win 9 games last year even with Jake Browning at QB. Burrow was almost never healthy last season and that is why the team stumbled out of the game. The few weeks Burrow was operating at full strength, the offense looked great, including a win over San Francisco. The Patriots are not going to win many games this season. This definitely won’t be one of them. 

Seattle has taken money against Denver. The Seahawks are the right side, but I don’t want to lay six points. But they will win over a bad Denver team that is starting a 24-year old rookie (Bo Nix) at QB. I am NOT a BO-liever as most QBs that come into this league at that age simply never pan out to much. I know Broncos HC Sean Payton has never won fewer than seven games in a season, so the win total of 5.5 looks awfully low, but this is NOT the time to be betting this team. It’s actually the other HC that has me more excited, as Mike Macdonald comes over from Baltimore (where he was the DC) to replace Pete Carroll. I think this Seahawks team could be a dark horse playoff contender. They were in the playoffs two years ago with a resurrected Geno Smith at QB and now, under Macdonald, the defense should be a lot better.  The numbers say Denver’s defense made a dramatic improvement over the course of last season, but that was largely turnover-fueled and the byproduct of facing bad QB’s. 2% Teaser: Bengals (-2.5 or better) and Seahawks (-2.5 or better)