Place Your Bets: Week 2

If you live in Nevada, Oregon, Montana or Delaware, you're in luck. Otherwise, go to Canada or Europe, or those rogues in New Jersey and get your bet on for the NFL weekend!

1. Houston (-7.5) at Jacksonville, Sunday, noon — The Texans are primed to be one of the few teams in the AFC who are Super Bowl contenders, and Jacksonville is not in that group despite a decent showing last week. The Texans defense will give Blaine Gabbert all kinds of fits, and Arian Foster should once again run wild on the Jags, something he's made a career of doing. This one's easy.

2. Detroit at San Francisco (-6.5), Sunday, 7 p.m. — The Green Bay Packers put a whuppin' on the Chicago Bears on Thursday night, fairly unexpectedly. The San Francisco 49ers put a whuppin' on the Packers at Lambeau last week. The Detroit Lions narrowly escaped the St. Louis Rams last week. 1+1+1=3, right? Seems like a logical bet that the Niners and their stacked defense, plus a serviceable Alex Smith, will have a pretty easy time with the Lions, especially at home on the slow track of Candlestick.

3. Washington at St. Louis (+3.5), Sunday, 3:25 p.m. — Remember what I just said about the Lions having a tough time with the Rams? Maybe the Rams aren't half bad under new head coach Jeff Fisher? The defense looked good against Matthew Stafford & Co. I'm sensing a Robert Griffin III hangover and a somewhat surprising Rams win, straight up, inside the dome.

4. New Orleans at Carolina (+3), Sunday, noon — Carolina looked pretty good going into last week against Tampa Bay, before they were defeated. The Panthers never got their running game going and Cam Newton was very pedestrian. Against the Saints' porous defense, that'll change. And the Saints have traditionally had trouble playing in Carolina. Give me the Panthers not only to cover, but to win straight up.

5. Dallas (-3) at Seattle, Sunday, 3:20 p.m. — The Seahawks are no easy team, especially not in Seattle. As a team that routine plays around .500, that pretty much tells you what you need to know about the Seahawks — they defend their home turf. The Seahawks are good on defense, particularly in the secondary, where Dallas' offense likes to attack the most. DeMarco Murray will have a good game, but not one like he had against the Giants in Week 1. The Cowboys defense should have a field day with rookie quarterback Russell Wilson. Even still, expect a close Dallas victory here, somewhere in the 7-10 point range with a late score to get it that way.

Last week: 2-3, 2012 season: 2-3

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