From September 16: Week 2 – Happy Birthday, Patrick

Sunday, the Chiefs play play the Jaguars in Jacksonville and four important issues come into play.

Chris Jones is back on defense after getting his raise. Travis Kelce is expected to play, and Patrick Mahomes turns 28 this Sunday. Throw in the extra three days Andy Reid had to prepare, and this team will be ready to roll. The Chiefs are favored by 3. We are going with KC and buying 1/2 a point to be -2 1/2. With the real team on the field and looking for their first win on Mahomes’ birthday, this could be a high scoring game.

In other games, we like the Bills to rebound against the Raiders at their home opener. Last week, Garoppolo went 20/26 against the Broncos with Jakobi Myers catching 9 of those 20 completions. This week, things will tighten up for the Raiders with Myers out and playing against an angry Buffalo team. Las Vegas says the Bills are favored by -8. We like them even more at -6 1/2. Buy the game down. Buffalo is the better team.

Our third game of the day is Chicago at Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers beat the Vikings last week on the road and now play the Bears who lost their home opener 38 – 20 to the Packers. The forecast for Tampa Bay is a very hot 89 that feels like 96. The humidity is supposed to be in the 70s. Chicago can play in the cold, snow, and rain. Not the heat.

The Chicago Bears have lost their last 10 regular season games. The last time Chicago won a regular season game was October 24, 2022. That was Week 7 in New England where they won 33 – 24, 326 days ago. The line is Tampa Bay -2 1/2. We like the Buccaneers to go 2 – 0 this week.