Straight up NFL picks aren’t going to do much for your single-game betting portfolio. Picking against the spread evens the odds of heavy favorites and blunts the impact of wagering on hopeless underdogs.
But if you’re in a pool, we’re here to help.
We’re here to provide spreadless, winners/losers only picks for all 272 games of the 2022 NFL season. Recently, it’s gone pretty well.
Over the past three seasons, I’ve had wild luck picking Sunday winners. I had the best record of all national NFL writers through the 2019 and 2020 regular seasons, per NFL Pickwatch. I slipped last season but stuck around the top 25, making me the Clemson of straight up selections.
Acknowledging this probably means I’m about to fall on my face, but I’m happy to overthink my picks and pass them on to you every week. Joining me will be Bet FTW’s Robert Zeglinski, who knows the NFL in and out. He is also very interested in 31 teams as a result of being a Bears fan and needing constant distraction from the overturned acid tanker spilling all over where his team used to be. We’ll also line up FTW editor and fantasy guru Charles Curtis to create a Cerberus of well-intentioned picks.
Here’s how those Week 1 picks look with our not-great online publisher, which it turns out isn’t a great tool for importing spreadsheets:
| Game | Christian | Robert | Charles |
| Bills at Rams | Bills | Bills | Bills |
| Saints at Falcons | Saints | Falcons | Saints |
| Browns at Panthers | Panthers | Panthers | Panthers |
| 49ers at Bears | 49ers | Bears | 49ers |
| Steelers at Bengals | Bengals | Bengals | Bengals |
| Eagles at Lions | Eagles | Eagles | Eagles |
| Colts at Texans | Colts | Colts | Colts |
| Patriots at Dolphins | Dolphins | Dolphins | Patriots |
| Ravens at Jets | Ravens | Ravens | Ravens |
| Jaguars at Commanders | Jaguars | Jaguars | Jaguars |
| Chiefs at Cardinals | Chiefs | Chiefs | Chiefs |
| Packers at Vikings | Vikings | Packers | Vikings |
| Giants at Titans | Titans | Titans | Titans |
| Raiders at Chargers | Chargers | Raiders | Chargers |
| Buccaneers at Cowboys | Bucs | Buccaneers | Bucs |
| Broncos at Seahawks | Broncos | Broncos | Broncos |
| Last week: | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Year to date: | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Here they are in a more readable, but not copy/pasteable screenshot:
So, just like that we’re off. Let’s talk about some of these choices.