NFL Week 1 Picks

It's that time of year! So far as I can tell, FiveThirtyEight isn't running their NFL Forecasting Game this year. In fact, they seem to have stopped covering sports entirely several months ago.

So, I've signed up with ESPN's "Pigskin Pick'em" (standard option, no spreads, etc.) for this season. I've also created a group for anyone who wants to match their picks with mine and see who does best.

My Week 1 Picks:

• Kansas City Chiefs beat Detroit Lions
• Carolina Panthers beat Atlanta Falcons*
• Cincinnati Bengals beat Cleveland Browns
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat Indianapolis Colts
• Minnesota Vikings beat Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• New Orleans Saints beat Tennessee Titans
• San Francisco 49ers beat Pittsburgh Steelers
• Washington Commanders beat Arizona Cardinals
• Baltimore Ravens beat Houston Texans
• Green Bay Packers beat Chicago Bears*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat Denver Broncos*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat New England Patriots
• Miami Dolphins beat Los Angeles Chargers*
• Seattle Seahawks beat Los Angeles Rams
• Dallas Cowboys beat New York Giants
• Buffalo Bills beat New York Jets

I suppose ESPN has a model, but I don't see picks for it on my Pick'em screen. What I do see is the percentage of people making picks who have picked each team to win. Asterisks above indicate where I disagree with the majority (said majority being the majority as of the time I made my picks). Any changes to my picks will be made prior to game time and mentioned in an update to this post.

The Chiefs-Lions kickoff is at 8:20pm Eastern tonight. I don't buy a lot of NFL merch because it's so pricy, but I did find a sub-$15 deal on a Chiefs light-up beanie, so I expect to top off my red shirt and red shorts with that when I sit down to watch tonight on Peacock.