Week 2 of the NFL season starts with a historic moment, as the Buffalo Bills host the Detroit Lions on Thursday Night Football for the first regular-season game in the new Highmark Stadium. That should kick off a stellar slate of games, and we’ll analyze them all here in ClutchPoints’ NFL Week 2 picks, predictions, and odds column.

In Week 1, we learned a lot that can be informative for wagering on games in Week 2. We now know that the Miami Dolphins, Tennessee Titans, and Cleveland Browns are just bad, and that teams like the Bills and the Chicago Bears may both score and allow 45 points per game this season.

Some opening weekend games left more questions than answers, though. Are the Arizona Cardinals kind of good, or are the Los Angeles Chargers just kind of bad? Are the New York Giants playoff-bound, or did they just get the infamous Dallas Cowboys’ defense bump? And what is wrong with the Green Bay Packers?

Over the course of 16 games on the NFL Week 2 schedule, we’ll get more data points that will go toward answering these questions and more, and hopefully win some bets along the way.

For the NFL Week 2 slate, we start with a Thursday nighter, followed up by eight early-window Sunday games, five late-window showdowns, a Sunday night tilt, and a standalone Monday night affair.

We started off the 2026 NFL season pretty well here at the ClutchPoints’ NFL picks, predictions, and odds column. We went 13-3 (81.3%) straight up and 8-7-1 (53.3%) against the spread to give us a winning week overall.

Previous weeks: Week 1 

So, let’s get right into the NFL Week 1 picks, predictions, and odds.

Courtesy of DraftKings, here are the NFL odds.

Detroit Lions at Buffalo Bills (-4.5)

The last time these two teams got together, it was a 48-42 instant classic. Both these offenses still have a lot of talent, and both defenses can struggle at times. The big differentiator here is that the Bills look in midseason form after beating the Texans, while the Lions struggled against the Saints.

In the end, the Bills are going to have a ton of motivation opening their new stadium and should start fast on a short week. This game will likely be close throughout, but Buffalo should take the win in the end while doing enough to cover.

Pick: Bills 38-30

Carolina Panthers (-2.5) at Atlanta Falcons

This is such a hard game to handicap, as we have no idea who the Falcons quarterback will be. As of Thursday, Michael Penix Jr., Tua Tagovailoa, Cooper Rush, and even Jack Strand could all take snaps on Sunday. That’s why 72% of the public is on the Panthers.

The thing about this game is that it may not matter who hands off to Bijan Robinson against a defense that allowed 291 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns against the Bears. Plus, this is an NFC South showdown, which means every week will look completely different than the week before. We’ll take the Falcons for the upset here.

Pick: Falcons 17-16

New Orleans Saints at Baltimore Ravens (-8.5)

The Saints may have started slow in Week 1, but they found their mojo in the second half as they completed a 21-point comeback and lost on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime. That was the seventh-straight time they covered, going back to last season.

All good things must come to an end, though, and traveling to Baltimore to face a hot Ravens team is not what a squad coming off an overtime game needs. The Ravens are trying to make a statement early in the season under Jesse Minter, and they will with a double-digit win here.

Pick: Ravens 30-20

Green Bay Packers (-4.5) at New York Jets

The Vikings gave the league the defensive blueprint to beat the ackers last week, and the Jets’ coaching staff surely took notice. Something is intrinsically wrong with Green Bay under Matt LaFleur right now, and the ClutchPoints NFL picks, predictions, and odds column doesn’t believe the coach can fix it right now.

This isn’t exactly hopping on the Jets’ bandwagon, but they look like a professional NFL team now, even if that first look came against the lowly Tennessee Titans. For this matchup, we’ll take the Jets straight up, because we do believe they can win, but either way, it will be a closer game than the spread suggests.

Pick: Jets 21-19

Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears (-4.5)

This NFC North contest is the irresistible force (Bears O) vs. the immovable object (Vikings D). It’s Ben Johnson vs. Brian Flores in a matchup that will play a big part in determining the division champ at the end of the year.

We saw in nearly every Week 1 game that offenses seem like they are ahead of defenses early in the season, and we may get at least one more week of that situation. Plus, as good as Flores is, Johnson just seems 100% in his bag right now, so we’ll take Chicago by a tuddy.

Pick: Bears 35-28

Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans (-2.5)

Joe Burrow has a lot of nicknames, and “Joey Underdog” could be a new one. The Bengals QB is 19-4 against the spread when he’s a three-point or more underdog. This game is a 2.5-point spread now, but the ClutchPoints’ NFL picks, predictions, and odds column thinks the trend still applies.

Plus, CJ Stroud has not been good at covering the first two games of the season, so we think this game will play out a lot like last week against the Bills. It will be a close one, but look for the Bengals to pull off the upset late.

Pick: Bengals 28-27

Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots (-5.5)

The Patriots have their fair share of problems right now, especially with A.J. Brown being out with an injury, but they have a spry young QB on the upswing who will learn from his mistakes and has already been good coming off of losses in his career.

Aaron Rodgers, on the other hand, looks like he should have retired two years ago. If not for an early Play of the Year candidate from T.J. Watt, the Steelers should probably be 0-1 right now. That’s why we’ll happily give the points and take the Pats at home.

Pick: Patriots 23-10

Cleveland Browns at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-8.5)

Have the Buccaneers failed to cover in 10 straight games now? Yes. Is 80% of the public on the Bucs despite the 8.5-point spreads? Also, yes. So, how do we justify taking Baker Mayfield and company while happily laying the points?

Deshaun Watson.

Pick: Buccaneers 28-6

Philadelphia Eagles (-7) at Tennessee Titans

The Eagles are a pretty good team, and the Titans are bad. That is easy to say, which means that Philly should win this game. The problem is the spread. Jalen Hurts and company tend to do just enough to win the past few years, regardless of who they are playing.

Given that fact and the realization that 88% of the public is on the Eagles to win by at least a touchdown, we’re going to fade the public and take the Titans ATS. This is not going to be pretty or fun, but we’ll take the Titans to get a late cover.

Pick: Eagles 20-16

Jacksonville Jaguars at Denver Broncos (-2.5)

The Broncos did not look good on Monday Night Football against Patrick Mahomes and the new ground-and-pound Chiefs. Bo Nix, new play-caller Davis Webb, and the entire Denver offense looked shaky. And even the world-beating defense from last season looked lesser without Jonathan Cooper.

Trevor Lawrence and his squad looked like the complete opposite last week, albeit against the NFL-worst Browns. This is a step up in class and a trip to a tough place to play. However, it looks like the Broncos are going to struggle early until they get a few things together, so we’ll take the upset here.

Pick: Jaguars 29-26

Las Vegas Raiders at Los Angeles Chargers (-7)

Did anything that happened with the Chargers last week make you feel good? From the loss of Ladd McConkey to the loss on the field to the Cardinals, the Chargers came out and laid an absolute egg in Week 1. The Raiders did get the W last Sunday, but it was against the Dolphins.

For a team without a home-field advantage—and SoFi will look like The Black Hole on Sunday—it’s hard to imagine why they are a touchdown favorite. It seems like the oddsmakers are relying on bettors’ muscle memory, betting against the Raiders in this matchup. But until the Chargers show us a little more, the ClutchPoints NFL picks, predictions, and odds column will take the dog to at least cover.

Pick: Chargers 24-23

Seattle Seahawks (-4.5) at Arizona Cardinals

This is an intriguing matchup because it’s hard to tell if the Cardinals are for real. They now face one of the best defenses in the league, which will offer a much tougher test than the Chargers.

The Seahawks can win this on defense and muscle memory alone, even though San Darnold is out for the game, and Drew Lock is fine in relief, but not a viable every-week starter. We’ll split the difference here and take the Seahawks by a field goal.

Pick: Seahawks 16-13

Miami Dolphins at San Francisco 49ers (-12.5)

As we move along in the ClutchPoints NFL picks, predictions, and odds column, its starting t become clear that we are picking a lot of underdogs here. That may be a bad thing, or it could be a sign that we got some ideas in Week 1, while Vegas is still working off of preseason assumptions.

For this game, we do think the 49ers will win, but the downside of going over to Australia so early—which helped them win in Week 1—is that they now have to come back and readjust to PST. That could make them sluggish in this game, so let’s take the Dolphins to cover.

Pick: 49ers 17-10

Washington Commanders at Dallas Cowboys (-3.5)

The Cowboys got embarrassed on national TV last week by the Giants, while the Commanders kept it close with the Eagles. This NFC showdown is set to go a different way, though.

Dallas won’t see that smashmouth New York team this week, and Washington doesn’t get the already-bored Philly squad. Dak Prescott and the offense have to look better in Week 2, so we’ll pick the ‘Boys to run away with this one (via the pass).

Pick: Cowboys 30-23

Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City Chiefs (-6.5)

The Chiefs are back! Or are they? A diving rushing touchdown from Patrick Mahomes, a 59-yard catch and run from Travis Kelce, and 26 touches from Kenneth Walker II just don’t seem sustainable week-to-week. However, the defense looked good, too, so at least for now, we’ll lean toward KC being back.

The Colts are not back. While they took the league by storm early last season, they look a lot more like the end-of-2025 Colts than the earlier version. The Ravens ran this team out of the building, and the ClutchPoints NFL picks, predictions, and odds column expects the Chiefs to do so, too.

Pick: Chiefs 27-17

New York Giants at Los Angeles Rams (-7)

This Monday Night matchup is tantalizing, with the Giants showing better than expected in Week 1 and the Rams performing worse. Big Blue Nation is fired up, though, and should be in full force at SoFi.

We’re not bailing on the Super Bowl favorites just yet, but they didn’t look ready for a team like the Giants smashing the ball down their throats. This could be another tough one, but we do expect the Rams to pull it out by a nose at the end.

Pick: Rams 27-26