Two of this weekend’s five suggested bets are for fancied teams to bounce back from defeat and cover the spread while the Cowboys also look good to cover against the Jets and points should be hard to come by in Monday's all-AFC North clash.
The five-time accumulator, if successful, returns 24/1.
- Jalen Hurts anytime touchdown scorer vs Vikings
- Kansas City -3
- Cincinnati -3.5
- Dallas -9.5
- Browns @ Steelers - Under 39.5 Total points
Vikings @ Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles will look to start their season with a 2-0 record for a second successive campaign when they host the Minnesota Vikings in front of a boisterous crowd at Lincoln Financial Field.
The reigning NFC champions were far from their best in last weekend's 25-20 win over the Patriots in New England as their offence struggled to turn good field position into points.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts believes a team that has undergone plenty of change in the off-season is yet to discover its true identity.
The Eagles are likely to go back to basics on Thursday and look to establish the ground game, although Hurts will be a major factor in that with the offence fed a steady diet of run-pass option plays.
Hurts, who recorded five rushing touchdowns during last season's playoffs, has managed to score 23 times in 30 regular-season starts over the past two seasons.
In Philadelphia's Week Two triumph against Minnesota last season, he scampered for two touchdowns and has the potential to be a threat to the Vikings once again.
Hurts to do more than throw a TD
Chiefs @ Jaguars
The team that beat the Eagles in February's Super Bowl also saw their season get off to an unsteady start with the Kansas City Chiefs experiencing the rare taste of defeat at Arrowhead Stadium.
Andy Reid's team are favoured to bounce back with a win against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday and, although the Jags are no longer the pushovers they once were, there are a couple of good reasons to believe the Chiefs will cover.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is 13-3 in the weeks following a loss and the Chiefs, who have had a nice mini-bye week to prepare for this, would have beaten the Detroit Lions but for a series of costly dropped catches.
The potential return of All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce should also make a huge difference to the Chiefs offense and it is worth noting that the Jags surrendered 1,066 yards to tight ends last year — the fourth most in the NFL — and were burned by Kelce for two scores in last season's playoffs.
Kelce return will boost Chiefs
Ravens @ Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are another elite team looking to rebound from a bad day and they can re-state their credentials against AFC North rivals the Baltimore Ravens.
Joe Burrow became the league's highest-paid player last week, agreeing to a five-year, $275 million contract extension. But he dropped a clunker of a performance in the Bengals' 24-3 loss to the Browns in the 100th 'Battle of Ohio'.
Burrow will be desperate to make amends and the Bengals can get their offence going against a Ravens team that are already seeing injury issues stack up.
Baltimore, who will be without DB Marcus Williams and RB J.K Dobbins, also look set to miss left tackle Ronnie Stanley with tight end Mark Andrews also a doubt.
Rodgers season already over
JETS @ COWBOYS
News of Aaron Rodgers' season-ending injury tilted the line further in Dallas' direction as the former Green Bay Packers star had been the Cowboys' nemesis in the past.
Mike McCarthy's men will be much less concerned about facing the New York Jets with Zach Wilson as their starting quarterback. Wilson got the win as New York's receiver on Monday, but the Jets would not have been within range had Josh Allen not coughed up four turnovers.
A Dallas defense that delivered a jarring 10 QB hits, eight tackles for a loss and six sacks in Sunday's 40-0 stuffing of the New York Giants are unlikely to be hindered by the Jets' wobbly offensive line.
Robert Saleh's team will lean on their two big-name rushers Dalvin Cook and Breece Hall to do the heavy lifting, but Dallas's run defence was stout against the Giants, holding their NFC East rivals to under 2.5 yards per carry for almost four quarters.
The likelihood is that they regularly put the Jets in third-and-long situations that usually lead to Wilson mistakes.
Diontae Johnson missing for the Steelers
Browns @ Steelers
This AFC North match should be as intense and brutal as usual with the Browns bidding to build on their blowout win over the Bengals and the Steelers eager to rebound from their Week 1 shellacking by the San Francisco 49ers.
Although victorious, Cleveland's offence did not appear very balanced with a heavy reliance on the run game.
The Steelers will be without leading wideout Diontae Johnson for this and are likely to emphasise the rush attack too, something they were forced out of early when trailing to the Niners.
Pittsburgh will be looking to extend their record of 20 consecutive home wins on Monday night while the Browns return to a city where they have not won a regular-season game in the last 19 attempts, so the Steelers will have a psychological edge.
However, the best bet here is surely to back under 39.5 points. Five of the Steelers' eight home games last season fell below that mark and five of Cleveland's last six regular-season games also failed to reach 40 points.
