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NFL Predictions Week 1: Odds, Picks and Projections for Opening Schedule
- Updated: September 6, 2016
In just a few short days, the 2016-17 NFL season will officially begin with the kickoff of the Carolina Panthers-Denver Broncos game on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The NFL draft, free agency, training camps and the preseason have all been appetizers that have kept us going, but regular-season football is finally here to satiate our appetites.
NFL picks and predictions for the first week of the regular season are always somewhat of a guessing game, as no one has yet seen these teams play their starting lineups in meaningful game action. The preseason can only tell us so much.
Still, using what we’ve seen on the field these last four weeks and with the help of Odds Shark’s handicappers, we can make some predictions for which teams will start their seasons off 1-0.
Take a look below to find odds, picks and projections for all 16 teams heading into Week 1.
Safest Bets
Green Bay Packers (-3.5) at Jacksonville Jaguars
It’s somewhat surprising the Packers aren’t opening as bigger favorites at EverBank Field, even accounting for a home-field advantage for Jacksonville.
The Jaguars are coming off a 5-11 season in 2015, and while expectations are healthy for their 2016 season given the young talent they’ve added on both sides of the ball, opening the season with a win against a Super Bowl favorite in Green Bay would be a tall order.
In the secondary, first-round pick Jalen Ramsey will join former Packer Davon House in trying to quash the reunion between Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his favorite target, Jordy Nelson, who will make his return to the field after missing the entire 2015 season with a torn ACL.
While trying to prevent the deep completions to Nelson, the Jaguars will also have to gauge just how much of a problem new Green Bay tight end Jared Cook poses in the Packers’ short-to-intermediate game.
Meanwhile, Jaguars passer Blake Bortles will have his work cut out for him against the Packers …
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