NFL Week 3 Picks Against the Spread

Every week, our far-from-professional "handicappers" at The Weekly Blitz pick three games against the spread (ATS) each. Of course, the picks are for entertainment purposes only, but we've generally found it be more "entertaining" to win than lose.

Through two weeks, I've had one push. In my other five picks, three have covered and two have not.

Ready to put my 60-percent cover rate on the line; here are my Week 3 picks:

Steelers -3 (over Bucs): The Battle of the Unbeatens? Through two weeks, these two teams make up one-quarter of all unbeaten teams. Pittsburgh beat two quality opponents (Atlanta and Tennessee) while the Bucs beat two teams with horrible quarterback play (Cleveland and Carolina). Granted, the Steelers have issues at quarterback as they're down to their fourth option with Charlie Batch. But the Steelers can run the ball (and Tampa ranked 32nd of 32 teams in rushing defense last year). In addition, the Steelers can stop the run -- they held Atlanta's Michael Turner in Week 1 and Tennessee's Chris Johnson in Week 2 to less than 100 yards. That's combined. The duo carried it a total of 35 times for only 76 yards. It could be a very long day for Cadillac Williams, who ranks second in rushing attempts (49) but only has a 2.6 yards-per-carry average. And while second-year quarterback Josh Freeman is developing, he had only two completions to wide receivers -- technically, wide receiver since both catches were by rookie Mike Williams -- last week. Give three points? No problema.

Ravens -11 (over Browns): Last week, Joe Flacco had arguably the worst game of his career as he had his first (and hopefully last) four-interception game. Against the Browns, however, Flacco has played well and the Ravens have won all four of their matchups with him under center. In fact, only one of those four victories was "narrow" enough to not cover an 11-point spread. On Nov. 2, 2008, the Ravens won by only ten points, 37-27, on the road in Cleveland. The combined score of those four victories was 115-40. The Ravens scored less than 28 points in only one of those four games while the Browns scored more than ten points in only one of those games. Baltimore is the only team not to give up a touchdown this season (even if they have allowed eight field goals) so the Browns should find it difficult to move the ball. Although Ray Rice had 117 yards from scrimmage against the Bengals, I have a feeling he's poised for a breakout game against the Browns. (Since I'm facing him in my most important fantasy league, hopefully he does just enough to help the Ravens win by 12.)

Lions +11.5 (over Vikings): Despite being 0-2, the Lions have looked better than I expected them to be, especially after losing their starting quarterback at the end of the first half of their first game. Although it'll be another week of Shaun Hill, the Lions nearly won both of their games (and you could argue that they really won the Chicago game after the Calvin Johnson non-touchdown). And the Lions were getting beaten pretty badly by the Eagles last week, but they nearly overcame a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter. On the other side, Vikings quarterback Brett Favre has looked horrible, throwing for less than 200 yards per game, only one touchdown and four interceptions. While he should bounce back this week, my gut instinct is to have a lack of confidence in Favre's ability to do that at this point. I expect the Vikings to get the win provided they pound the ball with Adrian Peterson, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Lions keep it close.

To see the picks by the other two "handicappers" at The Weekly Blitz for Week 3, click here.

FYI: You can follow me on Twitter @EDSFootball or "like" us on Facebook.