NFL Week 3 Betting Lines: Titans and Chargers Among Best Bets
The first two weeks of the 2023 NFL campaign have been pure chaos. In Week 1, there were a number of surprising upsets. In Week 2, the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos both blew 18-point leads or larger. The Cardinals and Green Bay Packers both blew double-digit fourth quarter leads. And the week technical still isn’t over, with two Monday Night Football matchups on tap for this evening!
Nevertheless, the market moves extremely quickly in the NFL, which necessitates early look-aheads at the upcoming week of action, even before the Monday matchups unfold. Each week this season, we will be taking an early look at betting lines, offering a few leans for the community to consider tailing before odds move!
NFL Week 3 Betting Lines
- New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers -10, O/U 44.5
- Tennessee Titans at Cleveland Browns -4, O/U 41
- Los Angeles Chargers at Minnesota Vikings +1.5, O/U 51.5
- New England Patriots at New York Jets +2.5, O/U 37.5
- Houston Texans at Jacksonville Jaguars -9.5, O/U 45.5
- Buffalo Bills at Washington Commanders +6.5, O/U 51
- Indianapolis Colts at Baltimore Ravens -8.5, O/U 44.5
- Atlanta Falcons at Detroit Lions -4.5, O/U 46.5
- New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers -1.5, O/U 43.5
- Denver Broncos at Miami Dolphins -6.5, O/U 46.5
- Carolina Panthers at Seattle Seahawks -4.5, O/U 42.5
- Chicago Bears at Kansas City Chiefs -12.5, O/U 49.5
- Dallas Cowboys at Arizona Cardinals +12.5, O/U 43.5
- Pittsburgh Steelers at Las Vegas Raiders +1.5, O/U 43.5
- Philadelphia Eagles at Tampa Bay Buccaneers +6.5, O/U 45
- Los Angeles Rams at Cincinnati Bengals -5.5, O/U 46.5
NFL Week 3 lines last updated 9:42 AM ET Monday, September 18th.
Tennessee Titans (+4) at Cleveland Browns
The Tennessee Titans seemingly get written-off every preseason, only for the community to realize by the end of September that they are too well-coached to ever be terrible. In Week 1, the Titans sacked Derek Carr four times and held the New Orleans Saints to 2.6 yards per carry. In Week 2, the Titans sacked Justin Herbert three times and held the Los Angeles Chargers to 2.9 yards per carry. In Week 3, the Cleveland Browns will be playing on a short week and will have some potential vulnerabilities on the offensive line. Since Mike Vrabel took over as head coach in 2018, the Titans are 25-16-2 ATS as an underdog, including 15-10-1 on the road. At this point, we would be naive to think Tennessee gets blown out here.
Los Angeles Chargers (-1.5) at Minnesota Vikings
Is there an “elite” starting quarterback who has consistently failed to get the job done late in games as often as Justin Herbert? In back-to-back weeks, Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers have had an opportunity to drive downfield and win a football game, but neither drive has produced even a single first down. All of this is to say – if the Chargers were 2-0 instead of 0-2 right now, there is no chance that this line would be a virtual pick’em against the Minnesota Vikings. The Chargers deserve every bit of their 0-2 start to the campaign, but they simply have too much talent to fall to 0-3, especially against a team that has made no serious attempts to field a respectable defense in 2023. Minnesota allowed 259 rushing yards in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Chargers have no more excuses.
Atlanta Falcons (+4.5) at Detroit Lions
If there is one major takeaway from Week 2, it is that the Detroit Lions are still not ready to take the reins in a relatively weak NFC North division. Despite having an extra three days of rest and preparation for their Week 2 matchup against the injury-depleted Seattle Seahawks, Jared Goff and company found themselves on the losing end of an overtime battle on their home field. The Atlanta Falcons are consistently derided for their poor quarterback play, but they have only two losses by more than one score since the beginning of last year. The Falcons have an extremely high floor on a week-to-week basis and are better defensively than their reputation suggests. It would not be surprising to see this line move in favor of the Falcons throughout the week.
Los Angeles Rams (+5.5) at Cincinnati Bengals
If bettors like the Los Angeles Rams in this matchup, there is likely no incentive to jump on this line early, as the public will be expecting the Cincinnati Bengals to rebound after an underwhelming 0-2 start to the year. However, the Los Angeles Rams have proved that they are far from a pushover despite their preseason expectations. Perhaps it is time that we (myself included) rethink our preseason thoughts on the Rams, who still have a Super Bowl winning quarterback and head coach at the helm. The Rams have out-gained their opponent in both of their games to start 2023 – they are nowhere near as bad as this line is implying.