NFL Picks Week 3: Latest Vegas Lines, Odds and Predicting Winners, Final Scores

Week 2 in the NFL was a humbling time for oddsmakers and pundits.

The Vegas favorites won only seven games on the wild 16-game slate, which featured plenty of surprising results. Among them were the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeating the New Orleans Saints 26-19, the Washington Redskins blowing out the St. Louis Rams 24-10 and the New York Jets embarrassing the Indianapolis Colts 20-7.

If it wasn't obvious already, early-season games in the NFL are impossible to predict.

But let's give it a shot for Week 3. We'll look at some updated spreads heading into the week's schedule, project each game's final score and go more in-depth with three important divisional matchups.

Matchup	Spread	Prediction
Washington Redskins (1-1) at New York Giants (0-2)	NYG -4.5	Giants, 28-21
Oakland Raiders (1-1) at Cleveland Browns (1-1)	CLE -3.5	Browns, 24-16
Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) at Baltimore Ravens (0-2)	BAL -3	Bengals, 31-23
Jacksonville Jaguars (1-1) at New England Patriots (2-0)	NE -14	Patriots, 38-14
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1-1) at Houston Texans (0-2)	HOU -6.5	Texans, 26-21
Pittsburgh Steelers (1-1) at St. Louis Rams (1-1)	PIT -1	Rams, 30-28
Philadelphia Eagles (0-2) at New York Jets (2-0)	NYJ -2.5	Jets, 24-21
Indianapolis Colts (0-2) at Tennessee Titans (1-1)	IND -3	Colts, 27-24
San Diego Chargers (1-1) at Minnesota Vikings (1-1)	MIN -2.5	Vikings, 24-16
Atlanta Falcons (2-0) at Dallas Cowboys (2-0)	ATL -2	Falcons, 28-17
New Orleans Saints (0-2) at Carolina Panthers (2-0)	CAR -3	Saints, 28-17
San Francisco 49ers (1-1) at Arizona Cardinals (2-0)	ARI -6.5	Cardinals, 34-21
Buffalo Bills (1-1) at Miami Dolphins (1-1)	MIA -2.5	Bills, 26-17
Chicago Bears (0-2) at Seattle Seahawks (0-2)	SEA -14.5	Seahawks, 31-14
Denver Broncos (2-0) at Detroit Lions (0-2)	DEN -2.5	Broncos, 34-19
Kansas City Chiefs (1-1) at Green Bay Packers (2-0)	GB -6.5	Packers, 31-20

Key Divisional Matchups

Cincinnati Bengals (2-0) at Baltimore Ravens (0-2)

In one of the more confusing betting lines of the week, the Ravens are favored by three points over the Bengals despite Cincinnati's unbeaten record and Baltimore's winless mark. The Bengals also dominated the Oakland Raiders in Week 1 33-13, while the Ravens lost to Oakland 37-33 in Week 2. Both games were played on the Raiders' home field.

Of course, Baltimore is a feisty, veteran-laden squad at home in a divisional matchup, so it won't be an easy match for Cincinnati.

The Ravens' Joe Flacco is one of the league's better quarterbacks, and he started to find his rhythm with a mediocre receiving corps against Oakland. Justin Forsett leads a decent running attack that probably won't be anything special.

Tony Avelar/Associated Press/Associated Press

Defensively, the Ravens just need to find whatever magic they had in their Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos, a game in which they kept the Broncos offense out of the end zone. However, the team's defense, especially in the secondary, looked like a totally different unit from Week 1 in the loss to Oakland. Terrell Suggs' absence with a torn Achilles may have played a role.

Although it's only been two games, Cincinnati looks like the steadier team. The offensive balance has been exquisite, and the defense has bottled up two offenses that scored more than 30 points in their games that weren't against the Bengals.

In a close AFC North battle, I'm going with Cincinnati, the team that's proven significantly more on both sides of the ball.

Indianapolis Colts (0-2) at Tennessee Titans (1-1)

Guess which team is dead last in the NFL in points scored (21) through two games? If you guessed the Colts, you're right.

Without a doubt, Indianapolis has underachieved more than any other team in the NFL so far. The offensive line was an Achilles' heel for the Colts last year, but it's gotten even worse. Quarterback Andrew Luck and the rest of the skill-position players were supposed to supply fantasy points galore in spite of the poor blocking, but they've been shockingly terrible.

The Titans had a disappointing 28-14 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 2, struggling to contain Cleveland quarterback Johnny Manziel through the air and running backs Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson on the ground.

On the other side of the ball, Tennessee quarterback Marcus Mariota didn't play nearly as well as he did in his pristine debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He fumbled three times, losing two of them, and didn't make his mark in the passing game until the second half when the Titans were down 21 points.

The Colts, while on the road, have the talent and motivation to come away with the win here against an AFC South rival. Tennessee also looks much weaker on defense than the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, so that works in Indy's favor as well.

Buffalo Bills (1-1) at Miami Dolphins (1-1)

There's nothing like having the reigning Super Bowl champions knock you down a peg.

After the Bills showed their stuff in a 27-14 win over the Colts, they went into a Week 2 matchup against the New England Patriots brash and confident. The team's offense moved the ball well enough, but Tom Brady's 466 passing yards doomed the squad to a 40-32 loss at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

At least the Bills' loss was somewhat excusable.

Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press

The Dolphins fell 23-20 to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, letting second-year quarterback Blake Bortles play the best game of his young career. Miami's highly acclaimed defensive line failed to make much of an impact, as Bortles was not sacked and only got hit three times.

Instead, Jacksonville's defensive front set the tone for the game, holding the Dolphins to a measly 16 carries and 42 yards on the ground. Starting running back Lamar Miller ran the ball 10 times for just 14 yards.

Both teams are coming off disappointing losses but have the talent to make the playoffs. Because I like Buffalo's defense a lot more, I have the Bills taking a tight Week 3 win over their AFC East rival.

Note: All odds information comes from OddsShark.com.