NFL Picks: Week 1

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Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. Time for some NFL picks right here on the Zach Gilb show. I believe we're going to bring on a guest picker each and every week. I'll give my picks with whoever the guest picker is and then we will get hot take hickeys picks. And there's a lot on the line between hot take hickey and yours truly. Hot take hickey refuses to try escargot. So if he loses picks, he will be eating escargot when we're at the Super Bowl this year in Las Vegas.

If I lose, I will have to eat this scorpion lollipop that hickey got me when he did make his bachelor party trip for a friend of his out to the desert in Arizona. But hickey, as Coach Prime would say, give me my theme music. And let's bring on a man that fills in on this show a bunch.

You can hear him on the weekends right here on CBS Sports Radio. A dear, dear, dear, dear, dear friend, the great Bart Winkler. Bart, how are you? Good. I'm prepping.

I got the 12-5 Eastern shift tomorrow on many of these fine stations. So I'm going to do these picks with you, get a great night of sleep, and then pretty much just do live play-by-play of Colorado, Nebraska tomorrow. And remember, you gotta say, I can't do play-by-play, I'm not doing play-by-play, but here's what's going on with the game. Yeah, I know. I got all the tricks bound. You're a veteran, obviously. I don't need to tell you anything.

You know everything. Who do you like in that game, by the way? I know this is not part of the picks, but do you like Nebraska or do you like Colorado? I don't know why anybody would like Colorado.

First of all, if it was anybody else, I get the argument for being the contrarian and too much hype after one game. But Nebraska sucks. Nebraska's like the worst one-score team in college football in the last five years. They blow leads constantly. They found a new way to lose against Minnesota.

Maybe if it was any other legitimate team. But I'm taking the Buffalo's. I'm riding with Deion till the very end. Do you have a cowboy hat, just wondering? Because Deion's been rocking that cowboy hat a lot. I got the cowboy hat. I'm gonna buy a Coach Prime shirt, for sure. I love this guy. One more thing I'll ask you, then we'll get to your picks. And by the way, just so everyone knows, we make three picks each. One has to be an underdog, so we try to challenge everyone on this show.

And usually it comes back to bite us in the you-know-what because we're not that good at picking games. Have you ever tried Escargot, just wondering? Because Hickey is so scared to even try it. No, I haven't. I'm not even totally sure what it is, but I will try anything once. It's snail basically covered in oil and butter. It actually tastes delicious.

That actually sounds very good, yeah. You're not very convincing with that, but I've had meals before with Bart Winkler. Well, if it's a lot of oil and butter, then at some point you're not eating snail. You're just eating oil and butter. Exactly.

I don't get why Hickey is so afraid of this. Alrighty, I'll let you go first since you're the guest. Give me your first pick here against the spread. I like the Vikings as a five-point favorite at home against Tampa Bay. I think there's an argument to be made for Tampa Bay coming in there and maybe being the team that everybody's dissing.

I know you had Ryan Horvat on earlier, the great prognosticator himself. He said there could be a case to make for Tampa Bay being this year's Seahawks with a veteran quarterback. No one believes in some good weapons, but I think that Minnesota at home is going to get a convincing win. This NFC North is totally up for grabs, and I think the Vikings are going to kind of match what Detroit did, get that opening week win.

And I think there's going to be a lot of excitement in Minnesota. It will all be false hope because they won't be that good this season. But they will get the week one win, so I like the Vikings over Tampa by the five.

So Bart takes the Vikings laying the five points. I'm going to actually pick against my team this week. I don't think the Patriots have really much of a shot against the Eagles. Maybe they could play a good first half leading into the buzz of the Brady halftime ceremony. But the Eagles are just the more talented team. The Eagles have a ton of skilled position players, and they have the better quarterback. Eagles minus four. Maybe that's Vegas just respecting Bill Belichick, but I believe the Eagles are the second or third best team in football. Give me the Eagles minus four points. Okay, you know, I hate to do this because it's the biggest number of the week, and that's scary in week one, but I love everything about Baltimore this season.

Oh, wow. I love when Lamar Jackson says I'm going to throw for 6,000 yards. I believe him, and I think he's like undervaluing himself. I have drafted this guy in every league I could fantasy wise.

I will ride or die with him in all the dailies. I think that Baltimore at home riding that incredible preseason streak, that got taken away from them. They need a new start. It's a first year coach, a first time quarterback coming in there with Houston. I like Baltimore to cover the massive double digit number. So Bart goes with the Ravens laying the ten points.

My next pick, I'm taking the Jaguars, and I'm taking the Jaguars laying the four and a half points. The Colts on offense got like nothing. I know Anthony Richardson could be good, but there's no Jonathan Taylor. Michael Pittman has proven that he's not a number one wide receiver in this league, and I was optimistic about him coming out of USC. I don't love Shane Steichen as a head coach.

I just think he was a really good offense coordinator, and sometimes guys have trouble adjusting and adapting to being the head honcho. But this Jaguars team, there's not many flaws. Offensively, they're loaded with Trevor Lawrence, with Calvin Ridley, with Christian Kirk, Travis Aten.

You go out there and you draft the running back Tank Bigsby. There is a lot of names here for the Jaguars. And then defensively, if they're going to be a great team this year, and not just be a team that wins that division and maybe wins a playoff game, they're going to need Trayvon Walker and then also Josh Allen to have monster seasons. I think the Jaguars are in position to be maybe the two seed in the AFC because that division is not that good, and they'll win a lot of games this year.

Peterson's a great coach. I like Jacksonville getting the season off to the right start with a blowout victory against the Colts. Give me the Jags, minus four and a half.

And Hickey, what was the stat real quickly? The Colts haven't won an opening day game, is it since 2013 if memory serves me right there? That is correct. On the flip side, the Jaguars have won once in Lucas Oil Stadium since 2013. Wow, look at you. Conflicting streaks here at the precipice. Yeah, the Colts suck, so Jaguars minus four and a half, there's the analysis. Bart, what's your underdog of the week? I'm pretty sure you could guess it. Oh, I could guess it.

Ready? Go, Pac, go! One and a half point underdog. They did rule Christian Watson out, their wide receiver, second year guy, but nobody was looking at this game and thinking Christian Watson was going to be the difference. I think the Packers' defense is where we thought it was going to be a year ago. I think you've got to remember they still have a great running game.

I think Jordan Love is a capable, may I even say good, quarterback. Bears fans have been celebrating this victory for the entire summer even though it hasn't happened yet. They think the king is dead. They thought the king was dead when Favre left. They thought the king is dead when Rodgers left. Look, Jordan Love, he may not be a Hall of Famer. He may not be a Pro Bowler.

He may not be a top 20 quarterback. But one thing that is for sure is he will be a thorn in the Bears' side for however long he is the quarterback because that is the destiny of each of these squads. Packers go into Soldier Field, get the victory. I'm going to go with another team that not only will I plus them on the spread, but I think they win the game outright.

Give me the Steelers at home against the 49ers. We do not know if Kittle is going to play, but I'm looking at the Steelers' team this year. I think they could be good. I know I didn't pick them to make the playoffs, but I think they're going to be a pain in the ass for a lot of teams with that defense with Watt and Fitzpatrick and Hayward still even though he's getting up there in age. And offensively, I think that is going to be a dynamite connection this year between Kenny Pickett and George Pickens.

And I do believe Najee Harris is better than what people give him credit for. I like the Steelers plus the 2.5, and they win the game outright. So I go Eagles minus 4, Jaguars minus 4.5, Steelers plus 2.5.

Bart Winkler goes Vikings laying the 5, Ravens laying the 10, and then he takes the pack plus 1.5. 12-5 tomorrow, many the same CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Bart, right? That is correct, and I want to tell you if the Packers didn't play this weekend, I'm 100% with you with that Steelers pick. If it's mathematically possible, I think there is a chance every team in that division, the AFC North, could win double-digit games. That division is loaded, the Steelers are for real, the Browns, it's up to Deshaun. The Ravens are great, the Bengals are great. Watch out for the AFC North. Real quickly, out of the three games you gave us, what's the game that you feel the most confident about? Probably the Ravens.

I think they are going to destroy. Okay, and I will go with the Jaguars minus 4.5. We're going to build this up and do a little Zach Gelb show parlay after Hickey gives us his picks. But Bart, we appreciate it.

Thanks so much. Thanks as always, boys. You have a good one.

There you go, Bart Winkler. Alright, keep the music rolling, Hickey. Let's go with your picks.

Pick number one. Monday night, the big one. Bills will remind everybody who still runs the AFC East. They go into MetLife, spoil Aaron Rodgers' debut. Bills do cover the 2.5 point spread and leave 1-0.

They get the win. Now Marco Belletti is here. Marco, I want you to analyze Hickey's picks here. Bills minus 2.5. Would you also make that selection?

No. So Marco would go Jets plus 2.5. Maybe we could make this a little rivalry too. Hickey, next pick.

Alright, I got it back on my guy. I've been all in on Sean Payton and the Broncos this year. Taking on the worst head coach in the NFL, Josh McDaniels and the Raiders. You already have Chandler Jones out, one pass rusher. Not have to worry about if you're the Broncos. At home, 3.5 point favorites. They start the Payton era off in a positive way. They win the game and cover the 3.5 points.

They beat the Raiders. Marco, you've got to be with me here. I concur.

You do? I do concur on this one. I think the Raiders are a hot mess. I think they're a disaster zone and I think this is actually a nice soft landing spot for Sean Payton and Russell Wilson. I don't know if this is going to work long term for the year. But for game one, I think it's a nice soft spot for them to be able to land against Josh McDaniels.

And who the hell knows what game plan he's putting together. The hook scares me here. Yeah, you know what? The hook always scares me. And not for nothing. We start this with the preface of week one is a pain in the ass.

Oh yeah. Because we don't know who the hell is what. We don't know where we're going. We don't know who's playing who. It's a mess. You've got a lot of first year coordinators, head coaches.

Who's game playing it for this specific. You have no idea what's going on with a lot of these teams in week one. And the research department reminds me that I went 0-3 last year in picks in week one.

The worst. It's probably, it's more difficult in my mind to take week one. Everyone's excited.

You want to bet and then it's a disaster. I'd rather have week 18 when you don't, when you've got guys playing backups. I have a better feel for that than I do walking into it with new coaches all over the place. New players all over the place.

You're just not sure. Plus, no one's practiced. So this is not even preseason. This is almost like week one is like a practice for everybody with pads. Because no one practices with pads. No one does preseason. It's really, no one does special teams at all. Just the joint practices. That's it. Well, I mean even the special teams.

Nobody practices that on a daily basis or weekly basis anyway. So it's a mess right from the start. And Hickey, your underdog pick of the week? Joe Burrow is 1-4 against the Browns. The Bengals are a better team in week 16. They are in week number one. Browns home dog with Deshaun Watson making his, we'll say, true debut now. They're having a full offseason.

I'll take the Browns at home plus two. Walk the dogs, school drop off, meetings from 10 to 3, take kids to soccer, then no time left for a jog. When everyone else is relying on you, it's easy to put your needs last. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online so you can show up for yourself the way you do for others. Visit betterhelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

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