NFL Week 1 Predictions: Projections for the Early Lines, Spreads and Odds

The opening of the NFL season is days away. The grind begins—not the grind for the players, as that began in late July and included four preseason games and grueling practice sessions in the summer heat.  

It's the grind for those who are inclined to battle the line and attempt to handicap games.

They say it's a fool's game and that by the end of the season, all of us—yes, all of us—will come out on the short end. But still, we persist. And we do it gleefully, joyfully and, most of all, hopefully.

Our battle begins anew when the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots open up at home against the rugged Pittsburgh Steelers. We offer a detailed look at that game and two others as we begin the season. 

We also offer predictions for all 16 games in this opening week of the 2015 season.

Game	Line	Prediction
Pittsburgh at New England	NE (-7)	New England
Indianapolis at Buffalo	Ind. (-2.5)	Buffalo
Green Bay at Chicago	GB (-7)	Green Bay
Kansas City at Houston	Even	Kansas City
Carolina at Jacksonville	Car. (-3)	Carolina
Cleveland at NY Jets	NYJ (-2.5)	New York Jets
Seattle at St. Louis	Sea. (-4)	St. Louis
Miami at Washington	Mia. (-4)	Miami
New Orleans at Arizona	Ariz. (-2.5)	New Orleans
Detroit at San Diego	SD (-2.5)	San Diego
Baltimore at Denver	Den. (-5)	Baltimore
Cincinnati at Oakland	Cin. (-3)	Oakland
Tennessee at Tampa Bay	TB (-3)	Tennessee
NY Giants at Dallas	Dal. (-5.5)	Dallas
Philadelphia at Atlanta	Phil. (-3)	Philadelphia
Minnesota at San Francisco	Min. (-2.5)	San Francisco

Patriots will raise the banner with a bang

Hasn't this game already been decided? The minute Judge Richard Berman smacked down Commissioner Roger Goodell and erased the four-game suspension the league had handed to Tom Brady, wasn't Pittsburgh's fate in this game sealed?

The Super Bowl champions are home in front of their beloved and roaring fans with a chance to watch their Patriots raise their fourth banner with their beloved quarterback under center. Additionally, the Patriots have the best and most explosive tight end in the league in Rob Gronkowski as well as a pair of receivers in Julian Edelmanand Danny Amendola who can move the chains and make the tough catches.

The Steelers are going to try to slow down the Patriots with a new-look defense. Veteran defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is gone, and so is hard-hitting defensive back Troy Polamalu. Instead, new defensive coordinator Keith Butler is going to attempt to give this unit new life. However, it's difficult to see the Steelers playing cohesively on defense in this game.

But the Steelers have weapons on offense. While quarterback Ben Roethlisberger won't have Le'Veon Bell (suspension) in the backfield, he will have Antonio Brown on the outside. If Brown isn't the best receiver in the NFL, he's no worse than No. 2.

The Patriots defense doesn't have Darrelle Revis or Vince Wilfork any longer, so Brown will do some damage. But head coach Bill Belichick's team will show the NFL that the Patriot Way is not ready to fade away. The Patriots have too many weapons and too much momentum, and they will roll to a double-digit win.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Packers will be ready to show Bears who's boss once again

Look carefully at the line in Chicago and behold. The linemakers are providing something that handicappers may not see many more times for the rest of the season: a gift.

The Packers are in Chicago against their longtime rivals, and they have only seven points to cover to bring their backers a victory.

The Packers have dominated this series since the midway point of the 1992 season, recording a 34-10 record against Chicago since that time. More recently, the Packers have won nine of the last 10 games played between the two teams, and last year's series included a 38-17 Green Bay win in Chicago and a 55-14 demolition in Cheesehead Land.

Give the Bears full marks for bringing in a professional coaching staff led by John Fox this time around, which makes a huge difference in preparation. But the Packers have Aaron Rodgers, Eddie Lacy and Randall Cobb, while the Bears have Jay Cutler under center, a productive running back in Matt Forte and a crew of receivers who are not healthy.

It will take a while for Vic Fangio to fix a Chicago defense that has been one of the worst in the NFL for the last two years.

The Bears will come into this game filled with false hope. The Packers will beat it out of them before the end of the third quarter.

Hannah Foslien/Getty Images

Raiders will no longer play the role of doormat

The Raiders were once pro football's best organization.

When Al Davis was barking orders to coaches like John Madden and Tom Flores, the Raiders would go out onto the field and do whatever it took to get the W after 60 minutes.

There was a time when the Silver and Black invoked fear and respect around the NFL. Those days are long gone. The Raiders' last winning season came in 2002, which culminated in a Super Bowl appearance. They have had double-digit losses in 10 of the following 12 seasons.

But there is a feeling that the Raiders may no longer be doormats. Head coach Jack Del Rio may not have a playoff team on his hands, but the Raiders found a real quarterback in rookie Derek Carr last year. He had a 21-12 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and that's an excellent jumping-off point. 

The Raiders have a powerful running back in Latavius Murray, who flashed his talent in Week 12 against Kansas City, when he had four carries for 112 yards and two touchdowns. This year, the Raiders added wide receiver Amari Cooper in the draft. While he hasn't proved a thing, Cooper has the physical tools to give the Raiders a tremendous upgrade to their passing game.

Defensively, the Raiders have linebacker Khalil Mack, who was outstanding in his rookie year with 77 tackles and four sacks.

These are not the same old Raiders, and Del Rio will fire his team up for its first game. Meanwhile, the Bengals will say they respect their opponents, but they won't until they find themselves trailing by two touchdowns in the second quarter.

Mack will live in the Cincinnati backfield and punish Andy Dalton. 

The Silver and Black may not be back, but they are home underdogs and will start out 1-0.