NFL Week 3 Picks: Final Overview of Consensus Picks

How much do we really know about each NFL team after just two weeks of action? After all, some teams looked spectacular in Week 1 only to struggle in Week 2—and vice versa. Which versions of these squads will show up on Sunday? These are the questions that can give us nightmares when picking the winner of each impending contest.

Luckily we can rely on current trends, team injuries and positional matchups to formulate a hypothesis for Week 3 of the 2014 NFL season. The upcoming slate of games features some highly contested games that can't be considered consensus picks—debates surrounding the eventual winner will continue to rage on until the clock reaches zero. However, a few contests appear to be highly predictable.

Let's take a look at the remaining 15 Week 3 games, predict the final score of each one and highlight a few that will be considered this week's consensus picks.

Home	Home Odds	Away	Prediction
Buffalo Bills	-1	San Diego Chargers	SD, 23-20
New England Patriots	-14.5	Oakland Raiders	NE, 31-10
New Orleans Saints	-10.5	Minnesota Vikings	NO, 38-17
Cincinnati Bengals	-7	Tennessee Titans	CIN, 27-17
New York Giants	+1	Houston Texans	HOU, 17-13
Cleveland Browns	+2	Baltimore Ravens	BAL, 27-23
Philadelphia Eagles	-6.5	Washington Redskins	PHI, 34-30
Detroit Lions	-1	Green Bay Packers	GB, 33-27
St. Louis Rams	+2	Dallas Cowboys	DAL, 22-13
Jacksonville Jaguars	+7	Indianapolis Colts	IND, 27-10
Arizona Cardinals	+3	San Francisco 49ers	SF, 24-16
Miami Dolphins	-4	Kansas City Chiefs	KC, 23-20
Seattle Seahawks	-5.5	Denver Broncos	SEA, 27-24
Carolina Panthers	-3	Pittsburgh Steelers	CAR, 24-13
New York Jets	-3	Chicago Bears	CHI, 23-17

All game odds courtesy of OddsShark.com and current as of September 20.

Consensus Picks

New England Patriots vs. Oakland Raiders

Ann Heisenfelt/Associated Press

This is an instance of one team's most glaring weakness playing into another team's strength. Heading into Sunday, the Raiders are ranked dead last in the league against the run, allowing an average of 200 yards per game. Conversely, New England's Stevan Ridley was in top from in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings, rushing 25 times for 101 yards and a score—the Patriots totaled 150 yards as a team.

Elliott Harrison of NFL.com tweeted his take during Ridley's Week 2 performance:

On the other hand, Raiders rookie quarterback Derek Carr is still experiencing some growing pains. He was picked twice by the Houston Texans in Week 2 and is now set to face a Patriots secondary that tallied four interceptions against Matt Cassel one week ago.

Oakland simply doesn't have a defense with the capability of slowing down the Patriots, nor does it have an offense able to keep up with the likes of Tom Brady and Co. Expect New England to win in another rout.

New Orleans Saints vs. Minnesota Vikings

David Richard/Associated Press

The Saints began the season with high expectations but two weeks later find themselves with a disappointing 0-2 record after losing to the Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns. Well, luckily for New Orleans, it has a very favorable matchup against a reeling Vikings team in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in Week 3.

Minnesota's defense doesn't look terrible on paper, statistically speaking. The Vikings own the league's 16th-ranked run defense, eighth-ranked pass defense and eighth-ranked scoring defense. Expect that to change drastically after Sunday.

ESPN Fantasy Sports is expecting big things from Drew Brees on Sunday:

In Week 1, the Vikings played a hapless St. Louis Rams team with issues at quarterback. In Week 2, Minnesota came back down to earth, getting trounced by a run-heavy New England team. Now, for the first time this season, the Vikings secondary will be highly tested by a pass-happy offense featuring the likes of Brees and Jimmy Graham.

Expect Brees to come out firing, maintaining a solid lead while Minnesota's offense struggles to keep pace without Adrian Peterson in the fold once again.

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Indianapolis Colts

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Don't look now, but the Colts are 0-2 after quarterback Andrew Luck lost his first consecutive games in his young NFL career. Needless to say, Luck and Co. are looking for a big win on Sunday, and they'll get it against a terrible Jaguars team.

After looking legitimate for the first two quarters of the season, Jacksonville quickly returned to previous form, allowing 75 points while scoring just 10 over the next six quarters. After two consecutive drubbings, the Jaguars are now ranked 28th in total defense and dead last in scoring defense heading into Week 3.

While the Colts are also winless, both losses came against two very good teams: the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles. Luck struggled a bit to begin the season while waiting for running back Trent Richardson to become a complementary asset on offense. That didn't happen, but Ahmad Bradshaw stepped up in a big way in Week 2, rushing 13 times for 70 yards and adding five receptions for 26 yards and two touchdowns.

Colts reporter Mike Chappell tweeted head coach Chuck Pagano's reaction to Bradshaw's performance:

Indianapolis finally appears to have a balanced offensive attack with Bradshaw in the backfield, and the team shouldn't have any trouble putting up some big points on the Jaguars' porous defense.