Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
We’ve compiled a list of expert predictions for the Texas vs. Texas Tech game on Sept. 26.
Texas will travel to Lubbock to face Texas Tech in the conference opener on Sept. 26. Continue reading “Texas vs. Texas Tech: Who are the experts predicting to win?”
National experts have no confidence that the Detroit Lions can pull off an upset against the Green Bay Packers in Week 2.
Last week, the national media were confident the Detroit Lions would walk away with a victory against the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately, it was the Bears who got the last laugh beating the Lions 27-23.
At the time of this writing, an overwhelming 96-percent of the experts polled are confident the Packers will out muscle the Lions for their second victory of the season, according to NFL PickWatch.
It didn’t take long for the prognosticators to dropship on the Lions after their fourth-quarter collapse against the Bears, but at this point, it’s hard to blame the picks for being one-sided towards the Packers.
Especially considering the Packers’ defense was able to hold the Vikings offense down the majority of the game, while the Packers’ offense looked in mid-season form with Aaron Rodgers throwing for four scores and making minced meat of an inexperienced secondary.
Further tilting the scales towards the Packers, the Lions will be without three starters in Week 2, including Kenny Golladay, Desmond Trufant, and Joe Dahl. Fortunately, first-rounder Jeff Okudah should make his debut this week in place of Trufant.
One area the Lions did have some flashes on offense last week was in the run game, lead by Adrian Peterson. With Kenny Clark ruled out, the Lions need to take advantage of the gap in the middle of the Packers’ defensive line and find a way to run the ball effectively. If the Lions can establish the run early, it could open up the offense and keep Rodgers on the sideline, which will be their best bet for upsetting the Packers.
Who are the experts taking in Week 2?
The Indianapolis Colts (0-1) and Minnesota Vikings (0-2) will be squaring off in Week 2 as both teams look to bounce back from a season-opening loss to a division rival.
In what should be a close matchup on both sides of the ball, the Colts are slightly favored by the oddsmakers in Vegas. It seems to hold the same type of narrative with some of the experts and analysts around the league as most of them are split on who to choose.
Here’s a look at the expert picks for the Week 2 matchup between the Colts and Vikings:
| Expert | Pick | Score (if applicable) |
| Nate Davis (USA TODAY) | Colts | 24-23 |
| Mike Jones (USA TODAY) | Vikings | 28-25 |
| Jarrett Bell (USA TODAY) | Vikings | 20-17 |
| Mike Clay (ESPN) | Colts | N/A |
| Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News) | Vikings | 23-19 |
| Todd Haislop (Sporting News) | Vikings | 30-24 |
| Will Brinson (CBS Sports) | Colts | 24-17 |
| Pete Prisco (CBS Sports) | Vikings | 30-21 |
| NumberFire | Colts | N/A |
| Pro Football Focus | Colts | N/A |
| Bleacher Report | Colts | 31-13 |
Starting the season in an 0-2 hole is not recommended for a team that will be vying for a playoff spot. They are already down a game to the Titans, who will play host to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2. It’s still early, but the Colts have to come out of this game with a win.
Against a poor Vikings defense, the Colts offense shouldn’t have any trouble moving the ball down the field. They are likely to lean on the run a little more with Jonathan Taylor taking over the lead duties.
But the defense has to bounce back and make plays after allowing Gardner Minshew to complete 95% of his passes in Week 1.
It should be an interesting battle between these two teams, and the picks are nearly split by the experts around the league.
The New Orleans Saints received 90% of NFL expert game picks in their favor for Week 2’s road contest against the Las Vegas Raiders.
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With superstar wide receiver Michael Thomas expected to miss several weeks due to an ankle injury, it would be understandable if NFL experts weren’t riding too high on the New Orleans Saints in their upcoming game with the Las Vegas Raiders.
But that’s not the case. With or without Thomas, 90% of experts surveyed by NFL Pickwatch are picking the Saints to win again in Week 2. Just 10% of those in the know are siding with the Raiders on Friday. So that could be a good confidence boost for Saints fans.
And the experts are off to a hot start. 70% of them picked the Cleveland Browns to defeat the visiting Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night, and Baker Mayfield’s team came through for them.
The Saints are hardly the most heavily-favored squad this week, though, with nine different teams drawing 91% of expert picks or greater. That group includes NFC rivals like the San Francisco 49ers (98% over the New York Jets), Green Bay Packers (96% versus the Detroit Lions), Arizona Cardinals (95% over Washington), and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (92% over the Carolina Panthers). While the Saints are on top of the NFC South standings right now, they must remain in the win column to hold their place in the playoff picture.
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For the second straight week, NFL experts are picking heavily against Washington as they travel to Arizona to take on a hot Cardinals team.
The Washington Football Team was the talk of the town last weekend after a fun opening weekend of football, upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles 27-17 after coming back from a 17-0 first-half deficit. It’s a tough act to follow, but Washington will have a chance to take its show on the road now and try to follow it up with what would be another impressive victory over the Arizona Cardinals, who are themselves coming off of a huge victory in Week 1.
Arizona upset the defending NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers on the road, relying on a dynamic performance from QB Kyler Murray, and a nice Arizona debut from WR DeAndre Hopkins.
The experts last week were all over the Eagles going into the divisional matchup with Washington, but that didn’t stop the Burgundy & Gold from showing up and showing out. So can we expect much of the same this week?
According to NFL Pick Watch, 94% of NFL experts are taking the Cardinals. NFL Pick Watch aggregates picks from all over the internet to make it easy to see which way the experts are leaning.
Washington has won the last two meetings between these two teams, beating Arizona 24-6 in 2018. In fact, Washington has won 12 of the last 15 games in this current matchup, and they hold a 76-46-2 all-time record over Arizona. Will that trend hold true this weekend? According to popular opinion, it’s unlikely, but we saw what Washington could do as the underdog last week at home. so who knows what could happen.
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Experts are feeling confident the Lions will come victorious against the Chicago Bears in Week 1 of the 2020 NFL season
With no preseason games and minimal information coming out camps, it is hard to figure out how the teams have been progressing during the offseason. Likely that doesn’t stop the experts from blessing us with their best guesses on which teams will come out victorious in Week 1.
The Detroit Lions will be kicking off their season against division foe Chicago Bears at home in hopes of bucking their four-game losing streak to the Bears over the last two seasons.
At the time of this writing, 68% of experts feel confident the Lions will reign supreme against the Bears, according to NFL Pickwatch. The Lions have been getting some national recognition as a sleeper team who can make a run this season, so it is nice to see the trend continue to start the season.
Last year, the Matthew Stafford-less Lions lost both games against the Bears by a combination of 11 points, so they weren’t too far off the mark. With a healthy Stafford slinging the ball and a potentially improved defense, you have to think the outcome will be different than last year.
Unfortunately, for the Lions, they will look to be shorthanded with right tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai already ruled out, wide receiver Kenny Golladay doubtful for the contest, and Jeff Okudah reportedly out for the matchup. Expect Marvin Hall to get a healthy dose of Golladay’s snaps, Tyrell Crosby should be next in line to fill Vaitai’s spot, while Amani Oruwariye was likely already a likely start at corner.
The New Orleans Saints appear evenly matched with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but NFL expert picks are overwhelmingly favoring the Saints.
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On paper, the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers appear evenly matched. Both teams feature Hall of Fame-bound quarterbacks in Drew Brees and Tom Brady, who are commanding impressive offenses stocked with top-shelf receiving duos (Michael Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, if healthy) and game-breaking pass catchers like Alvin Kamara and Rob Gronkowski. Fireworks are to be expected.
But experts around the NFL’s orbit forecast more of a one-sided beatdown. Expert picks surveyed by NFL Pickwatch overwhelmingly favor the Saints, with 86% of the football cognoscenti weighing in for the black and gold. Just 14% of experts are giving the Buccaneers a shot.
There are reasons to think the Saints run away with this one. They’ve returned rare continuity from the last few years, when they won 13 games in each of the last two seasons. Their coaching staff is unchanged, and many of their 22 starters remain in place. They won’t have to adjust to new teammates or a new scheme and quarterback. In such an unusual year marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, that might mean a world of difference.
But the experts have been wrong before. We saw it back in January when only 3% of the experts surveyed picked the Minnesota Vikings, who upset the Saints in the playoffs. So maybe don’t let this one sway your decision too far one way or the other.
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The New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings are ready for their wild-card round playoff game, but NFL experts picks don’t think it’s close.
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The biggest game in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs may be Sunday’s matchup between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings, but the latest NFL expert predictions don’t agree.
According to the expert picks surveyed over at NFL Pickwatch, the Saints have earned 97% certainty of beating the Vikings to advance into the divisional round, which would mean a trip to Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
This Saints-Vikings game is the only match during the wild-card round that experts appear to have real confidence in deciding. The next-best consensus came in for the New England Patriots (80% of picks choose them over the Tennessee Titans), while the Houston Texans (64% ahead of the Buffalo Bills) and the Seattle Seahawks (61% over the Philadelphia Eagles) round out the pack. Compared to that, the Saints are picks to win in a landslide.
It’s worth remembering that while these are educated guesses, they are just guesses. These same experts picked the Saints to beat the Atlanta Falcons with 100% certainty earlier this season; instead, the Saints got run off the Superdome field in a lopsided loss. It was a painful reminder that anything can happen in the NFL. Uneven as this matchup looks on paper, the Vikings are not a team the Saints can take lightly.
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The majority of experts are picking the Rams to win on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals will play their season finales on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum, which will be the last Rams game at the historic stadium. They opened as the favorites in the game and despite losing two in a row, they’ve been the better team throughout the season.
The last time they met, the Rams crushed Arizona 34-7 in Week 13. In fact, it’s their fifth straight win over the Cardinals by at least 16 points, continuing their dominance of Arizona.
Experts across the league view the Rams as the favorites in this matchup with an overwhelming number of them picking Los Angeles to win on Sunday. According to NFL Pick Watch, 86% of experts are taking the Rams to win straight-up in Week 17.
There are only six games this weekend with a team that’s a bigger favorite in terms of expert picks.
Experts make their Week 17 picks.
Entering the final game of the regular season, the Indianapolis Colts (7-8) and Jacksonville Jaguars (5-10) are preparing for a Week 17 matchup at TIAA Bank Field.
The Colts opened the week as 3.5-point road favorites over their division foe—a team they defeated 31-13 in Week 11. But now, the Colts will be facing rookie Gardner Minshew instead of Nick Foles.
As Vegas sees the Colts winning this season’s finale, here is how some of the experts around the league view the matchup:
| Expert | Pick | Score (if applicable) |
| Nate Davis (USA TODAY) | Colts | 23-20 |
| Mike Jones (USA TODAY) | Colts | 27-25 |
| Jarrett Bell (USA TODAY) | Colts | 23-17 |
| Mike Clay (ESPN) | Colts | N/A |
| Vinnie Iyer (Sporting News) | Colts | 27-17 |
| Pete Prisco (CBS Sports) | Colts | 26-20 |
| Jared Dubin (CBS Sports) | Colts | N/A |
| Todd Haislop (Sporting News) | Colts | 24-17 |
| NumberFire | Colts | N/A |
| Pro Football Focus | Colts | N/A |
| Bleacher Report | Colts | 28-17 |
Even with the Colts struggling over the last two months of the season, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they are still favored over the Jaguars—a team that has been struggling even more over that span.
The Colts round out their season on Sunday against the Jaguars and will be favorites entering the weekend.
