NFL Confidence Pool Picks Week 1: Expert Ranked Predictions with no Point Spread

NFL is here as the season starts Thursday with the Opening Kickoff game that features Kansas City at New England. As we did all last season we will provide NFL Confidence Pool picks every week of the NFL regular season through Week 17 right here on SurvivorPoolPicks.com.

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This weekly article will not only help you with your NFL Confidence Pool, but this can also be helpful for your NFL Survivor Pool picks since two expert NFL handicappers will give their top picks each week with a prediction (no point spread) for every game that week, and the picks will be ranked from strongest to weakest, just like in a normal confidence pool. But this ranking will also show what we think are the strongest and weakest Survivor Pool picks for that week, with No. 1 being the strongest and so on.

We always recommend from staying away from too many upset picks for NFL Confidence Pools. If you really think a team will be upset, then by all means go for it. That is the name of the game, to make selections you are confident in. However, in order to have a serious chance to win your NFL Confidence Pool you should be very careful when picking your upsets. If you pick too many upsets and all the favorites win then that will put you far behind the rest of the competition very quickly. We do pick our fair share of upsets in this weekly feature, but when we do we normally rate them lower unless we feel super strong about the upset.

Check back next week for NFL Confidence Pool picks for Week 2.

NFL Confidence Pool picks Week 1 from Expert Pro Football Handicappers

 Jeremy Martin

1. New England over Kansas City
   2. Pittsburgh over Cleveland
   3. Carolina over San Francisco
   4. Houston over Jacksonville
   5. Atlanta over Chicago
   6. Buffalo over New York Jets
   7. Green Bay over Seattle
   8. Denver over LA Chargers
   9. Tampa Bay over Miami
   10. LA Rams over Indianapolis
   11. Dallas over New York Giants
   12. Oakland over Tennessee
   13. New Orleans over Minnesota
   14. Cincinnati over Baltimore
   15. Arizona over Detroit
   16. Washington over Philadelphia

Analysis: Just like last season the Patriots will be one of my top picks each week unless something crazy happens. They are my top Survivor Pool pick this week and there are some strong historical trends backing them this week. I am actually a die-hard Chiefs fan and I don’t see any way that Kansas City pulls the upset here. Maybe if it was a mid-season game it could go another way, but this is one of the biggest games of the season for the Pats and with both teams at their best New England has a big edge. I do think that the Browns will be better this season but they are a long way from mediocre and they are in tough against the Steelers Week 1. I did pick a few minor upsets but those were lower down in my rankings. I think this week looks pretty straightforward unlike some Week 1s the last couple years where it seemed there was a lot more uncertainty.

Kyle McCarthy

1. Pittsburgh over Cleveland
2. Atlanta over Chicago
3. Arizona over Detroit
4. New England over Kansas City
5. Houston over Jacksonville
6. New Orleans over Minnesota
7. NY Giants over Dallas
8. LA Rams over Indianapolis
9. Tennessee over Oakland
10. Cincinnati over Baltimore
11. Miami over Tampa Bay
12. Philadelphia over Washington
13. San Francisco over Carolina
14. Denver over LA Chargers
15. Buffalo over NY Jets
16. Green Bay over Seattle

Analysis: My top pick this week is the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers have a top-ranked offensive unit that will put up a ton of points and will put pressure on the Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Deshone Kizer. The Steelers have a very fast defense, and it will make Kizer look like a rookie. My upset pick this week is the SF 49ers over the Carolina Panthers. This is a long trip across the country for the Panthers to open their season, and 49ers Head Coach Kyle Shanahan is very familiar with the Panthers team from his time in Atlanta. 49ers QB Brian Hoyer is a veteran and will not be overwhelmed. Carolina Quarterback Cam Newton has not played much this preseason and could be shaking off some rust.