Ravens-Chiefs Lead A Fun Slate Of Week 3 NFL Games

So far, the 2019 NFL season could go down as the Year of the Quarterback Injury and/or Retirement. In the preseason, Andrew Luck retires. In week one, Jacksonville Jaguars QB Nick Foles was lost indefinitely. Then last weekend, we saw some big names at the qb position go down. Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, and Cam Newton--all three were bitten by the injury bug to varying degrees. Newton will miss at least his week three game, while Brees (six weeks) and Roethlisberger (out for season) will miss significant time. These injuries all have huge impacts not only on their respective teams’ outlooks, but even more so an immediate impact on sports wagering.

Let’s take a look at two games that are affected by these injuries, and one marquee matchup.

Baltimore Ravens (+205) @ Kansas City Chiefs (-250), o/u 52
It seems like every NFL season there’s a much-hyped September game between two unbeaten teams, and the 2-0 Ravens vs the 2-0 Chiefs fits that bill. You can’t switch on the television without seeing pundits on all of the networks calling this the game of the week, or that Lamar Jackson vs Patrick Mahomes is the rivalry of the future, that this a litmus test for the Ravens yada yada yada. There’s truth in much of that, but it is only week 3 and there’s a lot of football left this season. These two teams last met in December, also in Kansas City. The Chiefs won 27-24 in what was a fantastic game that took a virtual Hail Mary by Mahomes on 4th and long to put the Chiefs in position for the victory. The Chiefs come into this game pretty banged up on offense, missing key offensive lineman Eric Fisher, as well as game-breaking wide receiver Tyreek Hill and starting running back Damien Williams. However, reigning MVP Mahomes hasn’t missed a beat and with their offensive scheme, they have players in place to make up for those losses; Mahomes has been on an absolute tear and it will take a Herculean effort by the Ravens defense to slow him down. On the other side of the ball, QB Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense has been just as good, if not better. They’ve put up 82 points over their first two games, and the offense has been racking up yards like a well-oiled machine. The point spread started at Chiefs -7 to begin the week, but is now at Chiefs -5.5; lots of action on the Ravens bringing that down. This should be a close game and both offenses should be able to move the ball, so the o/u comes into play here, and ​over 52 points (-110)​ is the value play.

Pittsburgh Steelers (+240) @ San Francisco 49ers (-305), o/u 44
The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming into San Francisco with two straight losses to begin the season, a road loss to New England and a home loss last week to the Seattle Seahawks. To make things worse, they no longer have the services of the aforementioned Ben Roethlisberger for the rest of the season, and they’re making the long trip out West to take on the undefeated 49ers in their home opener. It will be up to second-year backup quarterback Mason Rudolph in his first career start to keep the Steelers from going 0-3 for the first time since 2013. He played well in relief last week after the Roethlisberger injury, but it wasn’t quite enough. Will a full week practicing with the starters help? We will soon find out. The 49ers have come out of the gates impressively, with two fairly easy road wins in which they were underdogs in both. The hardest thing to do in the NFL is win on the road, so these early results bode well for the Niners chances of competing for the NFC West crown as most prognostications had them winning somewhere between five and seven games this season. Last week they dominated the Cincinnati Bengals with a three-headed monster of a rushing attack led by Matt Breida, Raheem Mostert, and Jeff Wilson, Jr. All three combined for almost 240 yards on the ground. Quarterback Jimmy “Jimmy G” Garoppolo was highly efficient as he threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns, while completing 17 of 25 passes. This should be a close game early as both teams will be determined to establish the run, especially Pittsburgh as they won’t want to give Rudolph too much to do in his first start, and on the road at that. The favorite value plays here are threefold: S.F. 49ers (-6.5), Total Points under 44 (-110), and Home Team -6.5 and Under 44.5 Total Points (+265).

New Orleans Saints (+185) @ Seattle Seahawks (-230), o/u 45
New Orleans heads into Seattle coming off of not only a loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but with added injury to insult as they lost their all-pro quarterback Drew Brees for an indefinite period with a thumb injury. It will be several weeks at least until Brees makes it back, so until then Teddy Bridgewater will have to keep the Saints’ heads above water, with a little bit of Taysom Hill sprinkled in. The Saints still have elite offensive weapons in running back Alvin Kamara and wide receiver Michael Thomas, but the question will be if Bridgewater can get them the ball. Expect Seattle (and future opponents) to make him win the game for New Orleans. It will be extremely loud at “The Link” as the Seahawks faithful look to help keep head coach Pete Carroll’s perfect September home record (15-0 since he took over the reins in 2010--the only team perfect at home in September during that timespan) intact. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is in MVP-caliber form right now, completing 78 percent of his passes, with five touchdowns to zero interceptions while leading Seattle to a 2-0 start. As he goes, so go the Seahawks. Running back Chris Carson leads the way on the ground while rookie wide receiver DK Metcalf (and surprisingly not veteran Tyler Lockett) has been impressive making plays in the air. This game will be too much for Bridgewater and the Saints, and Seattle should win this one easily. The value play here is ​Seattle Seahawks -4.5 (-114). ​Also, a value player prop play here is ​Russell Wilson over 235.5 passing yards (-118)​--absolutely love that one.

It should be a fantastic day of NFL football, enjoy watching and good luck!

*Credit to the main photo of this article belongs to Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press