Andrew Wilsher
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We’re into Week 3 of the 2024 NFL season and things already got started with a dominant victory for the Jets over the Patriots. How will the rest of the games go, and will we see even more upsets after what happened in Week 2? Let’s dive into the action with our Pickswise experts’ 3-star NFL best bets for Week 3, which if you tailed last season would have been good for +45 units if you tailed every play! On top of that, we finished up +65.3 units on our side and total NFL picks for every matchup in 2023, while our NFL parlays profited +38.54 units. We’re going for even more success in 2024, so let’s dive into our NFL best bets for Week 3.
NFL Week 3 best bet: Steelers -1.5 over Chargers (-110)
Odds widely available at time of publishing. Playable to -2.5.
John Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers will play another game on the East Coast in NFL Week 3, as they travel north to take on Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s slightly surprising that these teams are both 2-0, as there wasn’t too much hype around either roster entering the season. However, both defenses have played extremely well through 2 weeks. The Chargers took down the Raiders and Panthers, allowing 13 combined points in the process, while the Steelers have 2 road wins over the Atlanta Falcons (18-10) and Denver Broncos (13-6). Now, I don’t expect any of those 4 teams to be Super Bowl contenders, but the Raiders just upset the Ravens on the road, while the Falcons mounted a 4th-quarter comeback against the Eagles on Monday Night Football. This game is the Steelers’ home opener, and while I expect it to come down to the wire, Pittsburgh should pull away in the end.
While the Chargers’ offensive line has done well so far this year, this Steelers front seven is playing on another level. They’re giving up just 3.7 rushing yards per attempt (7th in the NFL), and opposing QBs have just a 56.8 passer rating through 2 games (1st in the NFL). J.K. Dobbins has been a big reason for the Chargers’ success this season (9.9 yards per carry), but running backs have tallied more than 5.0 yards per carry against Pittsburgh in just 3 of their previous 19 regular-season games. Additionally, the Pittsburgh crowd should be rocking for the home opener, and this is more of a road test than the Chargers had last week when they beat the lowly Panthers in Carolina. The Steelers have won 21 games in the regular season since Ben Roethlisberger retired, and every victory was by 2+ points. I don’t believe there’s any need to pay the extra juice on the money line, so my first Chargers vs Steelers prediction will be to back Pittsburgh on the spread.
Read our full LA Chargers vs Pittsburgh Steelers prediction
NFL Week 3 best bet: Buccaneers -6.5 over Broncos (-115)
Odds widely available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be trying to remain undefeated when they host the Denver Broncos on Sunday afternoon in Week 3, and I’m ready to deliver my Broncos vs Buccaneers prediction. Tampa Bay has been one of the most surprising teams in the NFL so far — if not the most surprising. Baker Mayfield and company embarrassed the Washington Commanders 37-20 and then went into Detroit to take down the highly touted Lions 20-16. Mayfield is completing 73.5 percent of his passes for 474 yards with 5 touchdowns and 1 interception. Both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin have 2 touchdown receptions and Godwin has already reached the 200-yard mark.
At the other end of the spectrum is Denver, which is off to a winless start through 2 weeks. Bo Nix has been inept, which probably shouldn’t come as a surprise in the early stages of his rookie season. Nix’s completion percentage is below 60 and he has zero TD passes while having been picked off 4 times. As if that isn’t bad enough, the Broncos have no semblance of a running game. Nobody other than Nix has more than an anemic 40 yards on the ground. I feel good about Tampa Bay winning this one by at least a touchdown, which is why the first of my Broncos vs Buccaneers picks is on the home team -6.5.
Read our full Denver Broncos vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers prediction
NFL Week 3 best bet: Dolphins vs Seahawks Under 42 (-110)
Odds widely available at time of publishing. Playable down to 41.5.
We’ve seen a decline in passing so far this season, and I’m not banking on that reversing in this matchup, not with Skylar Thompson at quarterback for the Dolphins. He was dreadful in his only 2 career regular-season starts, and was just as bad in his one playoff start when he completed only 40 percent of his passes while throwing 2 interceptions and taking 4 sacks. Even Tyreek Hill has shown he’s not immune to bad QB play, as he had just 3 catches for 24 yards last week and that was with Tua Tagovailoa playing most of the game.
Even with Tua at the helm, the Dolphins have still produced just 30 total points through 2 games. Miami’s defense on the other hand has been pretty solid, and the 31 points the Bills scored last week is very misleading. They actually held Buffalo to just 247 yards of total offense, the week after they held the Jaguars to 267. Seattle’s defense looks improved from last year under new defensive mind Mike Macdonald, and I think they’ll be a bit conservative on offense knowing that they’re going up against a backup quarterback and just need to have a low variance game-plan. I’m going with the Under as my Dolphins vs Seahawks best bet.
Read our full Miami Dolphins vs Seattle Seahawks prediction
