NFL Preseason Week 2 Betting Odds, Lines & Picks

We went below .500 in Week 1, but the results weren’t terrible: A 6-8-1 record, with one of the losses owing at least in part to Ryan Mallett making a surprise start under center for the Patriots as Tom Brady sat.

Week 2 gets started with the Bears and Jaguars Thursday night on ESPN, and there’s football every day until Monday, with eight games on national TV.

Here are Heavy’s Week 2 preseason picks. (All lines are via Bovada.)

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 14

Jacksonville Jaguars (+4) at Chicago Bears, 8 p.m., ESPN

Both teams won their preseason openers both outright and against the spread. Jacksonville beat Tampa Bay 16-10 and the Bears beat the Eagles 34-28.

Rookie Blake Bortles was impressive his NFL debut for the Jags and figures to get plenty of action Thursday in relief of Chad Henne, who remains atop the depth chart despite a push from Bortles.

We like Bortles and were impressed with Jacksonville’s defense last week, but we like Chicago at home enough to take the Bears and give the points.

Heavy’s Pick: Bears 24, Jaguars 16

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FRIDAY, AUGUST 15

Philadelphia Eagles (+1 1/2) at New England Patriots, 7:30 p.m., NFL Network

Both teams lost outright and against the spread in week 1 — the Eagles 34-28 at Chicago as 1 1/2-point underdogs, and the Pats 23-6 at Washington as 2 1/2-point dogs. Neither starting QB figures to play a lot, but with Brady under center for at least a series or 2, we’ll take the Pats as only modest home favorites.

Heavy’s Pick: Patriots 23, Eagles 20

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Tennesse Titans (+3) at New Orleans Saints, 8 p.m.

The Saints covered and won outright in St. Louis last week despite starting Luke McCown over an injured Drew Brees under center. (They got help in winning outright 28-26 from a bizarre botched spiking that led to a missed 59-yard field goal attempt.)

Tennessee, meanwhile, edged Green Bay 20-16 and covered on a rainy night in Nashville in which Matt Flynn started for the visitors.

We liked Tennessee’s defensive effort last week, but with Brees back under center, we’ll take the home team in their dome opener.

Heavy’s Pick: Saints 34, Titans 27

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Detroit Lions (+3) at Oakland Raiders, 10 p.m.

The Lions slogged their way through a 13-12 win last week at Ford Field in a game dominated by talk about Johnny Manziel. The offense was anything but impressive: Detroit scored only one touchdown — a 21-yard strike from Kellen Moore to Corey Fuller with 1:05 left in the game that put the Lions on top. But that was with Calvin Johnson on the bench and Matthew Stafford playing only one series.

Things were even uglier last week for the Raiders, who came in as 3 1/2-point underdogs and lost 10-6 — barely missing the cover — at Minnesota.

It’s unclear whether Johnson, who’s recovering from offseason finger surgery, will play. Either way, though, we like the Lions. This won’t be a bloodbath, but Detroit will have enough to cover.

Heavy’s Pick: Lions 22, Raiders 17

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San Diego Chargers (+6) at Seattle Seahawks, 10 p.m.

It’s unlikely San Diego will be as impressive this week as it was last week, when the Bolts covered with ample room to spare in a 27-7 thrashing of the Cowboys that featured a breakout performance by undrafted rookie Branden Oliver.

Winning in Seattle won’t be easy, but this is a big line — 2 points bigger than any other game. With that in mind, we’ll take the champs to win but the Bolts to cover.

Heavy’s Pick: Seahawks 24, Chargers 20

SATURDAY, AUGUST 16

Green Bay Packers (+3) at St. Louis Rams, 4 p.m., NFL Network

Both teams are coming off of strange Week 1 losses both outright and against the spread. The Packers blew a fourth-quarter lead in the rain against the Titans, while the Rams lost at home to the Saints when they failed to properly spike the ball before a game-winning field goal attempt.

Green Bay has plenty of question marks, but with Aaron Rodgers expected to start and get the majority of the work under center, we like the Pack to win outright as a slight underdog.

Heavy’s Pick: Packers 27, Rams 24

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New York Jets (+3) at Cincinnati Bengals, 7 p.m.

The Bengals offense was clicking last week against the Chiefs, and we expect it to click again against a Jets team with a depleted secondary. Give us the home team to cover with room to spare.

Heavy’s Pick: Bengals 31, Jets 20

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Baltimore Ravens (Pick ’em) at Dallas Cowboys, 7 p.m.

In terms of hype for Week 2 of the preseason, it’s hard to top this one: Dallas’ home opener and Tony Romo’s debut, coming off of offseason back surgery.

Dallas’ offense struggled last week with Brandon Weeden starting under center, but of bigger concern was Big D’s defense getting shredded by the Chargers’ rushing game.

Baltimore’s defense last week was as good as Dallas’ was bad in a 23-3 rout of the 49ers at home.

With that in mind, we’ll take the road team in a close one.

Heavy’s Pick: Ravens 20, Cowboys 17

New York Giants (+2) at Indianapolis Colts, 7 p.m.

The Giants have managed to eek out two close ones despite a depleted backfield and less-than-impressive (albeit brief) performances from Eli Manning. Indianapolis struggled in its opener, a 13-10 loss to the Jets, but we like the Indy defense to shut down Big Blue and come out with the win at home.

Heavy’s Pick: Colts 20, Giants 10

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Buffalo Bills (+1) at Pittsburgh Steelers, 7:30 p.m.

The Bills came away with a 20-18 win last week in Carolina after losing to the Giants in the Hall of Fame game. We’re high on the Bills to be one of the most improved teams in football, but Pittsburgh giving only one point at home is too good to pass up. Give us the Steelers.

Heavy’s Pick: Steelers 23, Bills 20

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Miami Dolphins (+2) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 7:30 p.m.

Both teams lost 16-10 last week: the Dolphins to the Falcons and the Bucs to the Jaguars. Miami’s performance was more encouraging than the score indicates, though: Ryan Tannehill led the Fins on a touchdown drive on the only series he and the first-team offense played.

Tampa Bay will get a boost when safety Dashon Goldson returns to the lineup after missing the opener, but we like the road team to win outright and hand Lovie Smith his second loss in as many games as Bucs head coach.

Heavy’s Pick: Dolphins 22, Buccaneers 19

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Atlanta Falcons (+3) at Houston Texans, 8 p.m.

The Texans were the worst team in the NFL last year, and if their preseason opener is any kind of indication, they might not be much better this year.

Houston was on the wrong end of a 32-0 thrashing at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals last week, while Atlanta won outright and against the spread against Tampa Bay. The Falcons are coming of a 4-12 season, but they’re far more talented than Houston and ought to be able to win outright, even if the Texans play a whole lot better than they did a week ago.

Heavy’s Pick: Falcons 24, Texans 22

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Arizona Cardinals (+3) at Minnesota Vikings, 8:30 p.m.

It would have been impossible for Arizona to have looked better last week than the Cards did in a 32-0 thrashing of the Texans. While Minnesota on the road will be a stiffer challenge in every way, we like the Cards to keep it close.

Heavy’s Pick: Vikings 23, Cardinals 22

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 17

Denver Broncos (+ 4 1/2) at San Francisco 49ers, 4 p.m., NFL Network

Denver is coming off a win in its Super Bowl rematch with the Seahawks, while San Francisco is coming off a blowout loss in its Super Bowl rematch from a year earlier against Baltimore.

The Niners’ offense is all but certain to perform better than it did in last week’s 23-3 rout, but 4 1/2 is actually one of the bigger spreads of the week, and we like Denver to cover.

Heavy’s Pick: 49ers 27, Broncos 23

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Kansas City Chiefs (+3) at Carolina Panthers, 8 p.m., Fox

Kansas City scored more points than any team in the league last week in a wild 41-39 win over Cincinnati, while the Panthers lost a close one, 20-18, to the Bills.

This one will be close, but we’ll take Carolina to cover by a hair.

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MONDAY, AUGUST 18

Cleveland Browns (+3) at Washington Redskins, 8 p.m., ESPN

All eyes will be on the Browns’ quarterback battle between Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel, with coach Mike Pettine expected to announce the team’s Week 1 starter Tuesday morning. But neither QB was all that impressive last week at Detroit, and we expect a similar outcome against a Washington defense that looked good in a win last week against New England.

We’ll take Washington to cover.

Heavy’s Pick: Redskins 27, Browns 21

Heavy’s Pick: Panthers 30, Chiefs 24