You’ll see the same comment later in this article, but I cannot believe we are already through the first-quarter of the regular season. This is normally the time when we start to watch teams find their identities and play their preferred types of games.
That’s a good sign because there are definitely a few squads that have no idea how they want to proceed. They are preparing for a game, of course, but they aren’t able to formulate a winning plan, let alone execute it.
Some of this has been due to injuries — but this is nothing new — and I would argue that the new kickoff rules are having an effect on starting field position — and, thus, the numbers where we could look at points scored or allowed as opposed to yards in the same categories.
The best way to approach this is to delay the reaction from what we’ve seen — that is almost always the case, anyway, but it’s more important this year because of what I just wrote — and let the teams settle in before we make any decision on them. After all, the more we can have the football-watching world rely on short-term performances, the better it will be for us in the long run.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. Spread is listed as advertised number and odds at either DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, or Fanatics Sportsbook (formerly PointsBet). All efforts were made to provide picks at -110 or better, with some stretching to a -125 if no reasonable advertised spread was found.
*Confidence Picks – 2025 Season: 13-11 (Last Week: 3-3)
(2024 Season: 65-57) (2023 Season: 63-61-4) (2022 Season: 54-54-5) (2021 Season: 55-50) (2020 Season: 53-42-3) (2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (11-Year Total: 646-561-30)
All Picks Against Spread – 2025 Season: 31-33 (Last Week: 9-7)
(2024 Season: 148-136-1) (2023 Season: 142-135-8) (2022 Season: 143-132-9) (2021 Season: 158-126-2) (2020 Season: 132-128-7) (2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (11-Year Total: 1554-1379-76)
San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams
I don’t like the move.
I try to always pay attention to the spread throughout the week — at least, from the time it opens until I need to publish this article — but there are generally a few reasons why a number should shift as much or as little as it does in that relatively short timeframe. What makes me uncomfortable is when there is no distinct reason for such a drastic shift.
With that being said, I do think it’s important to focus on the numbers, themselves. For the game between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, the spread opened by