For Jack of a Better Name

Tonight on Thursday Night Football we get an SEC QB matchup as Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals host Tua and the Miami Dolphins. While I'm not sure if Tua should be playing in this game the Dolphins are coming off a triumphant comeback against the Buffalo Bills where their defence shined. Cincinnati has seemed to right the ship after a 27-12 win over the Jets. The Bengals are favoured by 3.5 at home and I think these teams are a lot closer than they may look. I will take Cincinnati to win and Miami to cover the 3.5 this feels like a field goal game to me. Record Winners- 27-20-1 Spread- 25-23

1. Lamar Jackson A real shock to the top 2 but they both lost while Lamar kept chugging forward. 2. Patrick Mahomes Mahomes and Allen both lost but I decided the interception isn't as bad as not being able to run a play 3. Josh Allen Bounced a pass to Isaiah McKenzie and couldn't run a final play to beat the Dolphins. He'll be fine 4. Jalen Hurts Not just in the top 10 but top 5 for Hurts he has dominated first halves so far 5. Aaron Rodgers Beat Brady in a slugfest. Neither looked great 6. Tom Brady Missed that 2 point conversion for the tie at the same time Aaron Judge was batting. 7. Tua Tagovailoa Tua and the Dolphins have reeled off impressive wins despite the fact Tua probably has a concussion 8. Joe Burrow A significant resurgence from Joe Cool albeit against the Jets but this could catapult the Bengals 9. Justin Herbert Got destroyed by the Jags and he probably shouldn't be out there playing but major respect for trying 10. Derek Carr They're 0-3 but some of...

Super Bowl Contenders Bills, Chiefs, Eagles, Packers Playoff Contenders Dolphins, Ravens, Bucs, Rams, Vikings, Chargers Fringe Playoffs Jags, Bengals, Cowboys, Lions, 49ers, Browns, Cardinals, Saints, Colts, Broncos No Mans Land Panthers, Titans, Giants, Raiders, Steelers, Commanders Tankapalooza Falcons, Bears, Jets, Seahawks, Texans

Tonight on Monday Night Football the Dallas Cowboys is visiting the 2nd most important team in New York right now The Giants. Daniel Jones vs Cooper Rush or Aaron Judge hitting number 61, I'll take watching the latter in person. The 2-0 Giants are favoured by 2.5 at home and I'm very weary of the G-Men. But the Cowboys are coming off a big win against Cincinnati. We've seen teams twice now which should help to decide this but it really doesn't. I'm going to take Rush and the Cowboys to win and cover the 2.5 Record Winners- 26-20-1 Spread- 24-23

Detroit 24 Minnesota 28 Still can't believe this result. I kept thinking the Lions would pull this out Baltimore 37 New England 26 The score is closer than it really was. Lamar could be MVP. Mac hit the Griddy New Orleans 14 Carolina 22 Jameis playing through injury was admirable but this game didn't help me assess either team Houston 20 Chicago 23 The Texans should have run the ball or taken a knee and gotten to overtime. They're scrappy but not good Kansas City 17 Indianapolis 20 Good win for the Colts. The Chiefs need to clean up the special teams. Really thought Mahomes was driving for the win Philadelphia 24 Washington 8  The Eagles dominated the 1st half and Carson Wentz was terrible Buffalo 19 Miami 21 Buffalo lost on a coin toss in the playoffs and ran out of time this week. I don't know if Tua is okay Cincinnati 27 NY Jets 12 The Bengals looked like last year. The O-Line is still questionable but Burrow can probably survive. Las Vegas 22 Tennessee 24 A 2 point ...

Houston at Chicago -2.5 Texans win and cover Las Vegas at Tennesee +2.5 Raiders win and cover Kansas City at Indianapolis +6.5 Chiefs win and cover Buffalo at Miami +5.5 Bills win Dolphins cover Detroit at Minnesota -6.5 Vikings win Lions cover Baltimore at New England +3.5 Ravens win and cover Cincinnati at NY Jets +4.5 Bengals win and cover Philadelphia at Washington +6.5 Eagles win Commanders cover New Orleans at Carolina +2.5 Panthers win and cover Jacksonville at LA Chargers -7.5 Chargers win Jags cover Atlanta at Seattle -1.5 Falcons win and cover Green Bay at Tampa Bay -2.5 Packers win and cover LA Rams at Arizona +3.5 Rams win Cardinals cover San Francisco at Denver +1.5 49ers win and cover Record Winners- 18-14-1 Spread- 16-17

Week 3 of the NFL season kicks off with the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting the Cleveland Browns with a QB matchup between Mitch Trubisky and Jacoby Brissett. Cleveland is favoured by 5.5 coming off blowing a 13-point 90-second lead to the New York Jets. Pittsburgh lost by a field goal to New England. Both teams coming off losses adds a little more pressure to a divisional matchup. The matchup overall isn't great so I will take Cleveland to win but Pittsburgh to cover the spread and keep it close. Record Winners- 17-14-1 Spread- 16-16

 1. Patrick Mahomes Beat Herbert in a great showdown so the king will remain. 2. Josh Allen Dissected the Titans to a level I haven't seen in recent memory  3. Aaron Rodgers He owns the Bears for a reason 4. Lamar Jackson Blew the game to the Dolphins but he still looked dynamic throwing and running 5. Tom Brady He beat the Saints finally. No, Mike Evans, next week will be a test 6. Justin Herbert This drop is not his fault but that injury looked awful and I hope he fully recovers 7. Jalen Hurts First appearance for Jalen and he could be here to stay. Two pretty good wins with a divisional opponent next 8. Kyler Murray First appearance for Kyler this year and I took 21 seconds to figure out what to write. 4th was good for Murray 9. Russell Wilson Managed the win but still hasn't looked great. One more week to prove he's still got it 10. Derek Carr I would say Tua, Stafford, and Burrow are still lurking around this spot but Carr has got the weapons to succeed

Super Bowl Contenders Bills, Chiefs, Bucs, Chargers, Eagles, Packers Playoff Contenders Dolphins, Ravens, Rams, Vikings, 49ers Fringe Playoffs Broncos, Cardinals, Raiders, Saints, Giants, Lions, Cowboys, Browns, Jaguars No Man's Land Bengals, Colts, Patriots, Titans, Steelers, Commanders, Panthers Tankapalooza Jets, Seahawks, Falcons, Bears, Texans

In the second half of the doubleheader for Monday Night Football Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles are hosting Kirk Cousins, his primetime record, and the Minnesota Vikings. This should've been the Jalen Reagor revenge game but I don't know what kind of impact he will have in this one. The Eagles are favoured by 1.5 coming off a win against the Lions. The Vikings beat Green Bay so both teams are riding a high coming into this one. I think these teams are pretty even so I'll take the Eagles to win in Philly and the Vikings to cover.  Record Winners- 15-14-1 Spread- 15-15

Tonight we've got a Monday Night doubleheader and it begins with a matchup between the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. Josh Allen and the Bills looked that good in the Thursday Night opener against the Rams and the Titans blew their week 1 game to the Giants. The Bills are favoured by 9.5 in their home opener. I am not ready to overreact either way but I will take the Bills to win and cover more because I can't trust the Titans. Record Winners- 15-14-1 Spread- 15-15

Carolina 16 NY Giants 19 The Panthers did not deserve to lose this game but good on the Giants being 2-0 Washington 27 Detroit 36 Good on Goff with 4 TDs beating Wentz and bringing the Lions to 1-1  Seattle 7 San Francisco 27 Prayers up for Trey Lance that was a difficult injury to see but the 49ers are a different team now Houston 9 Denver 16 This game was awful and the fans had to help Denver countdown the play clock and somehow they're 1-1 Arizona 29 Las Vegas 23 How did the Raiders let this happen? Kyler Murray really woke up in the 4th Quarter. Absolutely incredible comeback and collapse Cincinnati 17 Dallas 20 What an excellent start for Cooper Rush this year. The Bengals O-Line looks worse than last year Micah Parsons looks almost better than the previous year New England 17 Pittsburgh 14 There was one good offensive play in this game an absolute snooze fest Tampa Bay 20 New Orleans 10 Brady did it and actually beat the Saints in the regular season. Evans and Lattimore reuni...

Thank our lord and saviour Justin Herbert for playing with something wrong with his rib cartilage just to back door cover the 3.5. Now let's get into picks for today NY Jets at Cleveland -6.5 Browns win Jets cover Washington at Detroit -2.5 Lions win and cover Tampa Bay at New Orleans +2.5 Bucs win Saints cover Carolina at NY Giants -2.5 Panthers win and cover New England at Pittsburgh +1.5 Steelers win and cover Indianapolis at Jacksonville +4.5 Colts win Jags cover Miami at Baltimore -3.5 Ravens win and cover Atlanta at LA Rams -10.5 Rams win Falcons cover Seattle at San Francsico -8.5 49ers win Seahawks cover Cincinnati at Dallas +7.5 Bengals win and cover Houston at Denver -9.5 Broncos win Texans cover Arizona at Las Vegas -5.5 Raiders win Cardinals cover Chicago at Green Bay -9.5 Packers win and cover Record Winners: 8-8-1 Spread 7-10

We get quite the treat for the first Thursday Night Football Amazon Prime game with Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit. Justin Herbert and the LA Chargers visit Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead. Both teams are 1-0 after wins over the Raiders and Cardinals respectively. This could already be a deciding factor in the AFC West title race. Kansas City is favoured by 3.5 against a Chargers team that won in Kansas City last year. What an incredible game and QB matchup we get tonight and for the next decade-plus. Tonight I'm going to play it safe and take the Chiefs to win and the Chargers to cover the 3.5 points Record Winners: 7-8-1 Spread  6-10

1. Patrick Mahomes Picked apart a not-so-great defence but a great start without the former star receiver 2. Josh Allen Dominated a better NFC west defence than Mahomes but the advantage will still go to Mahomes for now  3. Justin Herbert Herbert/Brady is close but I went with Justin Herbert for getting revenge for that week 18 loss last year 4. Tom Brady The Bucs as a whole didn't look great but they've got time 5. Lamar Jackson Yes they played the Jets but you can only play the team in front of you and Lamar was impressive looking for a contract 6. Aaron Rodgers R-E-L-A-X for now. If they lose next week the panic button will be hit 7. Derek Carr Lost to Herbert but looked great with his new weapon. Adams/Renfrow/Waller may be the best weapons group 8. Dak Prescott Got hurt and he still manages to be on this list for one more week 9. Russell Wilson It's not his fault they didn't let Russ cook at the end of the game 10. Joe Burrow Stafford/Cousins/Hurts linger and one o...

Super Bowl Contenders Bills, Chiefs, Bucs, Chargers Playoff Contenders Ravens, Eagles, Packers, Vikings, Rams, Dolphins Fringe Playoff Teams Raiders, Colts, Bengals, Saints, Broncos, 49ers No Mans Land Browns, Titans, Cardinals, Steelers, Giants, Commanders, Cowboys, Lions, Panthers, Jaguars, Seahawks Tankapalooza Patriots, Bears, Texans, Jets, Falcons

Our Monday Night Football debut features Russell Wilson's return to Seattle and the debut of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman as the Monday night commentators. Denver visits Seattle with the Broncos walking in as 4.5-point road favourites against the Seahawks. I'm going to keep this simple; I trust Russell Wilson and so do the Broncos giving him that massive contract extension. If the line was a couple points higher I would take Seattle because they could be a scrappy team in a revenge spot. For now, I'll take the Wilson-led Broncos to win and cover. Record Winners- 7-8-1 Spread 6-10

Indianapolis 20 Houston 20 F/OT Ties are terrible but this game deserved to be a tie. Rodrigo Blankenship missed a 42-yard game-winning field goal in overtime after Houston blew a 20-3 lead in the 4th quarter. Neither team deserved to win but a red flag on the Colts this year. New Orleans 27 Atlanta 26 Pain. Remarkable comeback for Jameis and Michael Thomas is still a top 10 wide receiver in football. New England 7 Miami 20 The Mike McDaniel era is off to a good start I can't quite call it great. Tua might hold this team back. The Pats looked all kinds of discombobulated everywhere. Tampa Bay 19 Dallas 3 The Sunday night debut of the new permanent play-by-play commentator for Sunday Night Football gets the biggest dud of Sunday. Dak is hurt so now the Cowboys season is over (Not actually in the NFC East). Brady and the Bucs didn't look that great but it's week 1 let's not overreact. Nice to see Julio Jones making an impact again. San Francisco 10 Chicago 19 The Trey Lan...

New Orleans at Atlanta +5.5 Saints win Falcons cover San Francisco at Chicago +6.5 49ers win and cover Pittsburgh at Cincinnati -6.5 Bengals win Steelers cover Philadelphia at Detroit +4.5 Eagles win Lions cover New England at Miami -2.5 Patriots win and cover Baltimore at NY Jets +5.5 Ravens win and cover Jacksonville at Washington -3.5 Jags win and cover Cleveland at Carolina +1.5 Panthers win and cover Indianapolis at Houston +8.5 Colts win Texans cover Green Bay at Minnesota +2.5 Vikings win Packers cover Kansas City at Arizona +2.5 Chiefs win and cover NY Giants at Tennessee -6.5 Titans win and cover Las Vegas at LA Chargers -3.5 Chargers win Raiders cover Tampa Bay at Dallas +2.5 Bucs win Cowboys cover Record Winners: 1-0 Spread- 0-1

The NFL is officially back and we get a matchup that I predicted to be the Super Bowl last year with the Buffalo Bills visiting The defending champion Los Angeles Rams at Sofi Stadium. The first game of the year is always a weird one and the only team getting more hype than the Buffalo Bills is the Rams roommate the Chargers. Buffalo is favoured by 1.5 to start the 2022 season where 2021 ended. I'm going to cover myself and take the Bills to win but the Rams to cover to begin their super bowl title defence. 

Tier 1- Super Bowl Contenders Bills, Chiefs, Rams, Bucs, Packers Tier 2- Playoff Contenders Chargers, Ravens, Bengals, Eagles, Cowboys, 49ers Tier 3- Fringe Playoff Teams Broncos, Colts, Raiders, Vikings, Titans, Cardinals, Dolphins, Saints Tier 4- No Mans Land Patriots, Lions, Steelers, Commanders, Giants, Panthers, Jaguars, Browns Tier 5- Tankapalooza Jets, Seahawks, Texans, Bears, Falcons

 For Jack of a Better Name is making its triumphant return just in time for football season. For this season we are bringing back the Thursday and Monday night picks and all of Sunday's picks with spreads courtesy of ESPN. Mondays will be for short reactions for all Sunday games. On Tuesdays, there will be power rankings starting with tomorrow before the season even starts. Wednesdays will be reserved for QB Rankings which it's still being decided between Top 10 or ranking all 32. Fridays starting in the new year will be reserved for another story that I can think of depending on the week and the stories that are out there. These will likely be for any of the other sports and the random ideas I have for them. So let's get ready for a great 2022 season. Hopefully with a lot of victories on the horizon.