There are numerous divisional games on Sunday in the opener for the rest of the league as the Minnesota Vikings will host the Green Bay Packers in an NFC North tilt. The Pittsburgh Steelers face the Bengals in Cincinnati, where the defending AFC North champions will be looking to make a return trip to the Super Bowl this year. In recent years, teams that lost the Super Bowl usually have a tough go of things the following season.
Meanwhile in the AFC East, the Miami Dolphins will host the New England Patriots while in the NFC South, the New Orleans Saints will travel to face the Atlanta Falcons. Indianapolis travels to face the Houston Texans in an AFC South game and the Colts want to atone for blowing their chance to make the playoffs last season. The Los Angeles Chargers face the visiting Las Vegas Raiders in the loaded AFC West division to open the season. These two teams met in Vegas in the final regular season game last January and the Raiders were able to pull out the win on a field goal as time expired to make the post-season and keep the 'Bolts out of the playoffs.
The Sunday night game features Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers playing in Dallas against the Cowboys in what could be a high scoring game. These two teams exited the NFC playoffs sooner than expected last season and would like to get things going in the right direction in Week One. The Monday night game will be interesting for sure as the Seattle Seahawks host the Denver Broncos and none other than quarterback Russell Wilson will be the focus as he faces his former Seahawks team and the vaunted "12th Man" crowd in the Great Northwest.
The first week of the season is usually the most difficult to predict because there's really no concrete sample of the team yet. In recent years, most teams keep the key players on their team off the field in the pre-season games, so it's hard to gauge what might happen in that first game of the regular season.
Now it's on to the previews (in capsule style format) for the first games this weekend and of course, the Heftyinfo picks for Week One will follow up.
THURSDAY NIGHT OPENING GAME
Buffalo Bills at Los Angeles Rams - The Bills and the Rams . . . pick 'em game in this season opener.
SUNDAY GAMES
New Orleans Saints at Atlanta Falcons - The Saints looking to rebound with top players returning from major injuries last year. Falcons looking to be in rebuild mode.
Cleveland Browns at Carolina Panthers - Carolina quarterback Baker Mayfield had this one circled on his calendar seconds after he was traded from the Browns.
San Francisco 49ers at Chicago Bears - The Bears could give San Francisco a battle in this one.
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals - Joe Burrow and the Bengals should roll in this one.
Philadelphia Eagles at Detroit Lions - All the hype surrounding the Eagles heading into the new season, but beware the Lions.
Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans - C-O-L-T-S . . . Colts !
New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins - Take the Dolphins.
Baltimore Ravens at New York Jets - The Ravens have a lot to prove after their crash landing in 2021 regular season. Jets are just looking to get off the field healthy after already losing their starting QB in pre-season.
Jacksonville Jaguars at Washington Commanders - This one could go down to the wire. Take the Commanders at home.
Kansas City Chiefs at Arizona Cardinals - Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs should get this one against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals.
Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Chargers - Unlike the 2021 season finale in January, there is no tie game effect on this one. Look for a high scoring affair with the Raiders pulling off the mild upset late in the game.
Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings - If not now, when Minnesota Vikings?
New York Giants at Tennessee Titans - The Titans should roll in this season opener.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Dallas Cowboys - The Sunday night "prime time" game. Will this be the year that Tom Brady (and the Bucs) sees Father Time catch them? The Cowboys could start that trend in this one.
MONDAY NIGHT GAME
Denver Broncos at Seattle Seahawks - Broncos QB Russell Wilson returns to where he played for the past ten seasons. This game should be a good one as the Seahawks have a lot to prove without Russ cooking at the quarterback position.
The Heftyinfo picks for Week One . . . . . . . (Home teams are listed in bold; Lock of the Week is listed in BOLD CAPS)
Buffalo over L.A. Rams
New Orleans over Atlanta
Carolina over Cleveland
San Francisco over Chicago
Cincinnati over Pittsburgh
Philadelphia over Detroit
Indianapolis over Houston
Miami over New England
Baltimore over N.Y. Jets
Washington over Jacksonville
Kansas City over Arizona
Las Vegas over L.A. Chargers
Minnesota over Green Bay
TENNESSEE over N.Y. Giants
Dallas over Tampa Bay
Denver over Seattle
Last Year's Record - 168-103-1
Last Year's Lock of the Week Record - 12-6-0
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