National Football League

2023 NFL Week 2 odds: Best bets, including Niners, Bengals to cover

Updated Sep. 15, 2023 12:51 p.m. ET

Co-Host of THE HERD and FOX Sports Betting Analyst

NFL Week 1 is in the books, and what a monster week it was!

If you follow us in this space, you know I went 6-3.

This week's theme is don't overreact to what you saw last week. There's plenty of value on a couple of squads that should bounce back this Sunday.

Let's dive into my best bets for NFL Week 2.

All times ET

Bears at Buccaneers (1 p.m., FOX and FOX Sports App)

One of the bigger overreactions to Week 1. This game was a pick’em last week, then one-way action on Tampa came in after its win over the Vikings, pushing the line to a field goal for most of the week.

I took the Bears +3 on Wednesday. We hit the Bucs in this space last week, and we’re going to fade them this week. The Vikings moved the ball consistently, but self-inflicted wounds by Kirk Cousins did them in.

Justin Fields should have plenty of success against a blitz-happy Bucs defense, both through the air and with his legs. Tampa Bay blitzed the second-most last week, and that could open up Fields for a big day on the ground, as his rushing prop is 61.5 yards. The Bears won’t want to lose two in a row, and Fields won’t be patient enough to try and win from the pocket.

I like backing Baker Mayfield as an underdog, but as a favorite, he’s just 11-23 against the spread (ATS) in his career, including eight losses in a row.

PICK: Bears (+3) to lose by fewer than 3 points (or win outright)
PICK: Justin Fields Over 61.5 rushing yards

Trevor Lawrence, Jags look to dethrone Patrick Mahomes & Chiefs in Week 2

It's a face off between the King of quarterbacks.

Raiders at Bills (1 p.m., CBS)

Las Vegas was pegged to be one of the worst teams in the league this season, while Buffalo was projected to be a Super Bowl contender. And yet, after one game, suddenly, people want to bet the Raiders in this spot?

After escaping the altitude in Denver with a win, they now travel to face an angry Buffalo team that wasted a 13-3 second-half lead to the Jets.

Last year, the Bills faced 11 teams that missed the playoffs. If you remove the two games they struggled against the Jets’ elite defense, you’re left with nine games. They won seven of those by 12 points or more and four games by 20 points or more.

The Bills blew out teams they were supposed to blow out. The other two games? Wonky travel for back-to-back games in one week in Detroit.

This could be the Bills dropping 40 against a Raiders defense type of game, and Vegas won't be able to keep up with the pace.

PICK: Bills (-8) to win by more than 8 points

49ers at Rams (4:05 p.m., FOX and FOX Sports App)

The 49ers looked like the most complete team in the league last week, and now they play a second-straight road game to start the season. Except, of course, SoFi might be 60/40 San Francisco fans Sunday.

Kyle Shanahan has dominated Sean McVay. He’s 10-3 ATS in their last 13 meetings, including 6-0 in the last three years in the regular season. Don’t read too much into the Rams racking up 400+ yards of offense against Seattle in Week 1. McVay has dominated Carroll head-to-head.

The 49ers win the trenches and will win handily.

PICK: 49ers (-7.5) to win by more than 7.5 points

Chiefs at Jaguars (1 p.m., CBS)

I grabbed the Chiefs at -3 earlier in the week because I was anticipating that Travis Kelce would play. The number started at -2.5 and probably will close at -3.5.

Kelce had 17 targets against the Jaguars in the playoff game, and with Jacksonville playing the two-high safety look to take away the big plays, he had 14 receptions.

I don’t think the Jaguars defense — which let 21-year-old rookie Anthony Richardson look good — will be able to slow the Chiefs offense, which will rebound with extra rest and will have their best weapon returning.

The real question is can the Jaguars keep up. I wouldn’t take it at -3.5, as a field goal is something of a magic number for Mahomes: He’s 19-6-1 ATS as a favorite of three or less.

So for me, it's Chiefs -3 or pass.

PICK: Chiefs (-3) to win by more than 3 points

Ravens at Bengals (1 p.m., CBS)

This was the first game I bet this week, as Sunday night, after the Ravens injuries from the opener were evident, I took the Bengals -3.

By Monday morning, it hit -3.5, and it has toggled between those two since then.

The Browns powerful defensive front was able to rattle Joe Burrow last week, and his calf injury seemed to slow down his mobility just a bit. Fortunately for Cincinnati, the Ravens don’t have anything near that pass rush to bother Burrow, so they’ll have to blitz, and historically, that’s bad news against Joe Burrow.

And when you toss in the significant injuries to the Ravens — who might be down six starters, including two on the offensive line — I like the Bengals in this spot.

PICK: Bengals (-3) to win by more than 3 points

Jason McIntyre is a FOX Sports betting analyst who also writes about the NFL and NBA Draft. Before arriving at FOX, he created the website The Big Lead. Follow him on Twitter @JasonRMcIntyre.