NFL Predictions Week 1: Odds Guide, Vegas Spreads and Picks for All Matchups

Another offseason full of negative stories continues to dent the NFL shield, leaving fans to wonder how they can still support the league.

Then the season starts, and everyone sees football on their TV screen.

Anyone who plays a drinking game for every Deflategate mention on Thursday night won't live to see the opening weekend. Instead, let's drown all that silliness out and enjoy watching one of the best quarterbacks of all time play football. 

That love of a flawed game will rope many conflicted souls back once the 2015 season commences with an intriguing Week 1 schedule.

Date	Away	Score Prediction	Home	Spread*
Sept. 10	Pittsburgh Steelers	24-30	New England Patriots	NE -7.5
Sept. 13	Indianapolis Colts	20-13	Buffalo Bills	IND -2.5
Sept. 13	Cleveland Browns	10-9	New York Jets	NYJ -3
Sept. 13	Carolina Panthers	16-13	Jacksonville Jaguars	CAR -3
Sept. 13	Green Bay Packers	31-23	Chicago Bears	GB -7
Sept. 13	Kansas City Chiefs	20-13	Houston Texans	Even
Sept. 13	Miami Dolphins	27-7	Washington Redskins	MIA -3.5
Sept. 13	Seattle Seahawks	17-9	St. Louis Rams	SEA -4
Sept. 13	Detroit Lions	23-24	San Diego Chargers	SD -2.5
Sept. 13	New Orleans Saints	28-27	Arizona Cardinals	ARI -1
Sept. 13	Cincinnati Bengals	24-13	Oakland Raiders	CIN -3
Sept. 13	Baltimore Ravens	28-31	Denver Broncos	DEN -4.5
Sept. 13	Tennessee Titans	24-20	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	TB -3
Sept. 13	New York Giants	30-34	Dallas Cowboys	DAL -7
Sept. 14	Philadelphia Eagles	38-35	Atlanta Falcons	PHI -2.5
Sept. 14	Minnesota Vikings	17-12	San Francisco 49ers	MIN -2.5

Note: All odds, updated as of Thursday morning, are courtesy of Odds Shark. 

Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos

Joe Mahoney/Associated Press

For the first time since obtaining Peyton Manning in 2012, the Denver Broncos will not begin the season on Thursday or Sunday night. Their afternoon clash with the Baltimore Ravens, however, looks like Week 1's top offering.

After the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers open the season, two of their AFC foes will mark the week's only remaining tilt between two defending playoff squads. Along with earning playoff bids, they also represented two of the six squads with a point differential above 100 last year:

Rank	Team	+/-
1	New England Patriots	155
2	Seattle Seahawks	140
3	Green Bay Packers	138
4	Denver Broncos	128
5	Dallas Cowboys	115
6	Baltimore Ravens	107

When these two behemoths kicked off the 2013 season, Manning began a historic year with 462 passing yards and seven touchdowns. Don't expect such prolific scoring on either side. Last season, Pro Football Focus graded Denver and Baltimore as the NFL's top two defenses, respectively. 

Baltimore lost Pernell McPhee to the Chicago Bears but still have Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs to make life miserable on quarterbacks. Manning acknowledged the carnage they're capable of inflicting to the Denver Post's Cameron Wolfe. 

"Those guys can change a game. They can cause disruption," Manning said. "Everybody has to do their part to help with those guys."

Nick Wass/Associated Press

After Denver's playoff stinker against the Indianapolis Colts, skeptics are ready to throw in the towel on Manning. Go ahead and dismiss a passer for only competing 66.2 percent of his passes for 4,727 yards. And while they're at it, have fun ignoring a top-10 defense against the run and pass.

Before hanging with Pittsburgh and New England during the postseason, Baltimore went 1-6 against teams with winning records last season. The Ravens won't go down without a fight and can slide below the spread, but the Broncos will show why they're still top Super Bowl contenders.

Seattle Seahawks at St. Louis Rams

Searching for an upset, the St. Louis Rams have become a semi-popular choice to shock the Seattle Seahawks. Along with starting their season on the road, the Seahawks will also play their NFC West foe without Kam Chancellor.

On Wednesday afternoon, head coach Pete Carroll admitted that his team is proceeding without its star safety due to contract disputes, per NFL's Twitter page: 

According to Pro Football Focus, no safety was responsible for more run stops than the 27-year-old holdout. If it's any consolation, St. Louis won't be able to fully capitalize due to a missing piece of its own, per NFL.com's Ian Rapoport:

A Rams upset pick seems too driven by, "Well, they did it last year." They did, but they needed a trick punt return to squeak out a two-point win despite gaining 5.7 yards per play to Seattle's 6.8. Nothing about that game supports a duplicate outcome.

As noted by the News Tribune's Gregg Bell, Seattle had plenty of time to learn from past mistakes:

Next week against the Green Bay Packers is the time to start worrying about Seattle's secondary without Chancellor. Everybody keeps predicting a breakout season for the Rams, but they haven't won more than eight games since 2003. Also, Nick Foles is their starting quarterback, so let's temper expectations.

The team with two Super Bowl trips that added Jimmy Graham? Those guys still seem pretty good.

Minnesota Vikings at San Francisco 49ers

The radically shifting odds speak volumes to preseason perception of the Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers. Initially a 4.5-point favorite at home, the 49ers have evaporated into 2.5-point underdogs.

Vegas initially put too much emphasis on San Francisco's past pedigree, but bettors pounced on the chance to exploit the current product. In what Yahoo Sports' Frank Schwab labeled the worst NFL offseason ever, the club suffered a devastating exodus of significant contributors:

POS	Player	Reason/New Team
RB	Frank Gore	FA (Colts)
OG	Mike Iupati	FA (Cardinals)
OT	Anthony Davis	Retired
DE	Justin Smith	Retired
OLB	Aldon Smith	Released
ILB	Patrick Willis	Retired
ILB	Chris Borland	Retired
HC	Jim Harbaugh	Mutually parted ways/Michigan

These aren't the 49ers who made three consecutive NFC Championship Game appearances from 2011-13. Heck, these aren't even the same 49ers who limped to 8-8 last year. With several stars gone, they placed 28th in a consensus of power rankings from eight Bleacher Report NFL analysts.

Although not one of the two to list them last, Mike Freeman said the former NFC West powerhouse will give Washington "some competition" for the No. 1 pick. 

According to ESPN's Jim Trotter, morale isn't any better in house:

Meanwhile, things are looking up in Minnesota. Teddy Bridgewater made major strides to close out his rookie season, going 101-of-140 (72.1 percent) for 1,230 yards and eight touchdowns over his last five games. He'll now operate with Adrian Peterson occupying the opposing defense's attention.

Formerly a defense to fear, San Francisco now needs a returning NaVorro Bowman to carry its dismantled front seven. Rookie cornerback Trae Waynes will maintain Minnesota's placement as a top-10 passing defense, which is bad news for Colin Kaepernick and Co.