Updated: September 27, 2025
Here we go with our NFL picks week 3 2016. Good luck everyone.
23rd – 27th September 2016 – NFL Picks Week 3
Washington at NY Giants (-4.5)
The Redskins are in the midst of trying to put Kirk Cousins back together, after he's struggled through the first two games of 2016. The problem is, MetLife Stadium might be the absolute worst NFL venue for Cousins to try and regain his mojo, considering it's been nothing short of a house of horrors for Kirk Cousins (and the Redskins in general). The Redskins are 2-7 when playing the Giants on the road, over the last nine games. The last time the Redskins won at MetLife Stadium was 2011, when Kirk Cousins was still at Michigan State. The
odds don't look good.
Pick: NY Giants
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Denver at Cincinnati (-3)
It's too early to start calling games “must-win” contests in week three. But, the the Bengals really need to win this game, unless they want to be looking up at the Pittsburgh Steelers (especially if the Steelers end up beating the Eagles this weekend). A loss would drop the Bengals to 1-2 after three weeks. Denver certainly won't make it easy on Cincinnati. The Broncos defense appears to have picked up right where it left off last postseason. Through two games, Von Miller has four sacks. Not surprisingly, he leads the NFL in this category.
Pick: Denver
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Oakland at Tennessee (-1.5)
Here's a little secret that nobody outside of a 50 mile radius of Nashville realizes: the Titans defense is actually pretty good. Entering this week, they ranked 14th in overall defense, 14th in rushing defense, and tied for 13th against the pass. They only allowed teams to convert 50% of their third down attempts, which ranked tied for sixth. ” They've allowed six possessions inside their 20-yard line and just one touchdown. In the team's 57-year history, this marks only the 5th time the defense has allowed no more than one touchdown through the first two games of the season.
Pick: Oakland
Arizona (-4) at Buffalo
The first domino already fell in Buffalo, with Rex Ryan firing his longtime colleague, offensive coordinator Greg Roman. But, given the mandate for Ryan to make the playoffs, or else lose his job, it just feels inevitable that Ryan will be updating his own resume in a few months.
Pick: Arizona
Baltimore (-1) at Jacksonville
Speaking of head coaches that could potentially get fired: Jacksonville is one more loss away from officially having a “Gus Bradley watch.” They've never held the lead in either of their games this season. The Jaguars allowed 150 rushing yards and four passing touchdowns to the Chargers; at one point, they were down 35-0. The offense was supposed to be the Jaguars strength this season, and through two games, it has badly underperformed. The young offensive talent was supposed to help keep the team in games, but they've badly underperformed as well. Through two weeks, Allen Robinson has 126 yards receiving and zero touchdowns; last year, he had 155 yards receiving and two touchdowns in week two alone. Blake Bortles led the team with 34 yards rushing last week. TJ Yeldon led the team with 39 yards rushing the week before, but it took him 21 carries to get those 39 yards.
Pick: Baltimore
Cleveland at Miami (-9.5)
Cody Kessler becomes the third quarterback to start for the Cleveland Browns in a matter of three weeks. That's sadly par for the course in Cleveland, as he's the 26th different starting quarterback for the Browns since the team returned to the NFL in 1999. It's also the ninth time the Browns will have started at least three different quarterbacks in a season.
Pick: Cleveland
Detroit at Green Bay (-7.5)
What happened to the Packers offense? They've got the fourth most drives that ended up going three-and-out. Green Bay ranks last in first-down efficiency, which is the percentage of first down plays that go for four yards or more. They rank just 28th in the number of plays over 10 yards or more.
Aaron Rodgers has already been sacked six times in two games. With Darius “big play” Slay likely shadowing wide receiver Jordy Nelson on Sunday, hopefully that leads to Eddie Lacy — ranked 7th in the NFL in yards per rushing attempt among running backs (4.3) — getting more opportunities.
Pick: Detroit
Minnesota at Carolina (-7)
First it Teddy Bridgewater's gruesome injury. Now, Adrian Peterson is out for 3-4 months, effectively ending his regular season. Sure, Sam Bradford looked great last week, but let's pump the brakes a bit. It's really difficult for a team like the Packers to devise a game plan when they have absolutely zero film of a quarterback playing in a given offense, as Bradford was in Minnesota. Even with one week's worth of footage, a team like Carolina will be better prepared. So before we start anointing Sam Bradford as the savior of the Vikings, let's see how things play out.
Pick: Carolina
San Francisco at Seattle (-9.5)
The Seahawks are another team with a broken offense. Seattle has scored a grand total of 15 points this year, a franchise low for the first two games of the season. Their wretched offensive line has allowed nine hits in each of the last two games. It's the worst group in the league, and it's not particularly close. You can have all the toys at running back and wide receiver you want, but it won't matter if you're getting your quarterback killed. Although now, Thomas Rawls, Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett have joined Russell Wilson on the injury report.
Pick: Seattle
Los Angeles at Tampa Bay (-5.5)
The Rams are 1-1, meaning they've won a game, without having scored a single touchdown this season. If that isn't the most Jeff Fisher-est thing ever, then I don't know what is.
Pick: Los Angeles
Pittsburgh (-3.5) at Philadelphia
What's lost in the “Wentz-lvania”-mania is the fact that Philadelphia's defensive line spent most of Monday evening performing acts of criminal assault on Jay Cutler.
Jim Schwartz has fully unleashed the hounds on opposing offenses. Five different players have comprised the six sacks the Eagles have had this season.
Pick: Pittsburgh
NY Jets at Kansas City (-3)
Raise your hand if you thought Quincy Enunwa, a sixth round
pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, would be leading the Jets in catches through two weeks of this season. Now, if you've got your hand raised, put it down, because you're lying. The Jets skill position players, in general, have been very impressive so far. Brandon Marshall has been his usual self, and Eric Decker has also looked great. Matt Forte looks like he spent the offseason bathing in the fountain of youth. If Ryan Fitzpatrick can not get in the offenses way, they could do very good things this year.
Pick: NY Jets
San Diego at Indianapolis (-3)
Chargers cornerback Jason Verrett is quickly emerging into one of the very best in the league (who most football fans have never heard of). In week one, he shadowed Jacksonville Jaguars star receiver Allen Robinson and held him without a reception until the 2:45 mark of the third quarter. It'll be very interesting to see how he matches up against the Colts' duo of T.Y. Hilton and Phillip Dorsett.
Pick: Indianapolis
Chicago at Dallas (-7)
Chicago flat out mailed-in that performance last Monday evening. It was an embarrassing performance for a home opener. Adding injury to insult, the Cowboys get a Bears team that lost three of its most important players to injury last week: quarterback
Jay Cutler, nose tackle Eddie Goldman, and inside linebacker Danny Trevathan. I'm sure the schedule-makers are thrilled that this Sunday night game will feature Dak Prescott going up against Brian Hoyer.
Pick: Dallas
Atlanta at New Orleans (-3)
So, through two weeks, Matt Ryan leads the league in quarterback rating (121.4), completion percentage (72.6%), and yards per attempt (10.0), and ranks second in passing yards (730) and touchdowns (five). You know, just like we all expected.
Pick: New Orleans
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That's the wrap for our free
NFL picks week 3. Be sure to come back and visit our site for more
free picks for week 4.
