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| Friday, September 8, 2023 |
| Welcome to the Friday edition of the Pick Six newsletter! |
| Ladies and gentlemen, I have some big news: The Lions are officially the champions of the NFL. At least, I think that's how this works. If you beat the reigning Super Bowl champions, you get to take their Lombardi Trophy home, right? OK, so I just Googled that and it turns out I'm wrong. The Lions don't get to take home the Lombardi Trophy but after last night's win, they probably feel like they just won one. |
| The Lions beat the defending champs 21-20 in a wild game that went down to the wire. The Chiefs got no help from Kadarius Toney, who forgot how to catch a football. I won't go into too much detail about what happened because we'll be covering it today. |
| Although we now have one game down, we still have 15 more to go in Week 1 and we'll be giving our picks on those games in today's newsletter. |
| As always, here's your daily reminder to tell all your friends to sign up for the newsletter. It's the perfect gift to get for your favorite football-loving friend at the start of the season. To get them signed up, all you have to do is click here. |
| 1. Today's Show: Best bets for Week 1 |
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| If you listen to every episode of the Pick Six Podcast, then you know that we love to make picks and with the first Sunday of the season right around the corner, we decided to make a lot of picks for today's show. |
| For Friday's episode, Katie Mox was joined by Will Brinson along with R.J. White and Alex "PropStarz" Selelnick, who just happen to be two of our gambling gurus over at SportsLine. |
| The four of them spent an entire hour handing out picks and we're going to go over a few of their best bets here: |
Will Brinson
Panthers (+3.5) to cover against Falcons
Steelers (+2.5) to cover against 49ers
Titans (+3) to cover against Saints |
R.J. White
Seahawks (-5.5) to cover against Rams
Eagles (-4) to cover against Patriots
Giants (+3.5) to cover against Cowboys |
Katie Mox
Bengals (-2.5) to cover against Browns
49ers at Steelers UNDER 40.5 points
Commanders (-7) to cover against Cardinals |
| As for PropStarz, he handed out a few of his favorite props for the weekend, because when your nickname is PropStarz, that's what the people expect. |
| San Francisco at Pittsburgh: 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk OVER 46.5 Receiving Yards (-118)Houston at Baltimore: Ravens RB JK Dobbins OVER 56.5 Rushing Yards (-122)Cardinals at Commanders: Sam Howell OVER 208.5 Passing Yards (-114) |
| To hear what the rest of the best bets are for Week 1 -- and there are quite a few -- be sure to click here so you can listen to the entire episode of the podcast. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here. |
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| 2. Recapping the Lions' wild win over the Chiefs |
| The Detroit Lions might actually be for real. No team has been more hyped this offseason than the Lions and they actually lived up to the hype during their wild 21-20 win over the Chiefs on Thursday night. The victory wasn't sealed until the Lions converted a third-and-2 with just 1:42 left to play. |
| If you missed the game, here's a quick rehash of the key moments: |
| Dan Campbell makes bold call in first quarter. On the Lions' second possession of the game, Campbell made the boldest call of the night: The Lions coach called for a FAKE punt from his OWN 17-yard line. Not only did the fourth-and-2 play end up working, but the Lions ended up getting a touchdown on the drive, thanks to a nine-yard pass from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown. If you want to see a replay of the fake punt, just head here. Kadarius Toney might have cost Kansas City the win. When the 2023 season ends, there's a good chance that Toney's night will go down as the worst game played by any receiver this season. Not only did Toney drop multiple key passes, but one of those drops turned into a pick-six for Detroit. A third-down pass from Patrick Mahomes went STRAIGHT THROUGH Toney's hands (You can see a picture here). The tipped pass landed in the hands of Brian Branch, who returned it for a touchdown (You can see the pick-six here). Toney dropped another third-down pass in the third quarter that would have given the Chiefs a first down. Oh, and he also dropped a potential 20-yard gain on Kansas City's final possession (You can see that play here). If Andy Reid has a doghouse, Toney is definitely going to be in it this week. Patrick Mahomes almost willed the Chiefs to a win. If Toney didn't drop multiple passes in this game, Mahomes likely would have thrown for nearly 300 yards and the Chiefs probably would have one. Instead, Mahomes ended up throwing for 226 yards and two touchdowns while also adding a team-high 45 yards on the ground. Lions rookies looked solid on offense. The Lions drafted Jahmyr Gibbs because of his electrifying running style and he showed some of that off in this game. Although Gibbs only touched the ball nine times, he did total 60 yards, which means he averaged just over 6.6 yards per touch. Sam LaPorta also got in on the action as the rookie tight end caught five passes for 39 yards. With 99 yards combined, the two rookies accounted for more than 25% of Detroit's offensive total (368). Goff continues impressive streak. The Lions quarterback didn't put up eye-popping numbers against the Chiefs, but he was efficient and he came up with several big plays on a night where he finished 22 of 35 for 253 yards and a touchdown. One thing Goff didn't do was throw an interception, which means he has now gone 359 pass attempts without a pick. That streak is now the third longest in NFL history and if you want to know how close he is to breaking the record, you can see our full story here. |
| There was also a small controversy involving new Chiefs tackle Jawaan Taylor, who probably could have been flagged on nearly every play for the way he was lining up (You can read more about it here). |
| Anyway, if you want to check out more of our takeaways from the game, be sure to click here. |
| 3. Joe Burrow gets new deal: Details on QB's record-setting contract with Bengals |
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| Joe Burrow is officially the highest-paid player in NFL history. There had been speculation all week that a deal would get done before the start of the season and that finally happened on Thursday night. The Bengals clearly did not care that the NFL opener was taking place because they announced it in the middle of the first quarter. |
| Here's everything you need to know about Burrow's deal: |
| Burrow gets record deal. Burrow's five-year extension is worth a total of $275 million, which means he'll be making $55 million per year. That number pushes him past Justin Herbert as the highest-paid player in NFL history. Herbert received a deal earlier this offseason worth $52.5 million per year. Burrow's deal also includes $219.01 million in guaranteed money, which is the second-highest number in NFL history (Only Deshaun Watson's fully guaranteed $230 million contract is higher). The extension means that Burrow is now under contract with the Bengals through the 2029 season. Burrow caps off wild offseason for quarterbacks. The title of highest-paid player in the NFL has changed hands multiple times this offseason. Jalen Hurts originally earned it in April when he signed a deal worth $51 million per year. Lamar Jackson topped the Hurts deal a few days later with a deal worth $52 million per year that also came in April . Herbert then topped both Jackson and Hurts with a deal worth $52.5 million per year that he signed in late July. Burrow's deal could put pressure on a team like the Cowboys, who will soon have to decide if they want to sign Dak Prescott to another big extension. Bosa and Burrow have the same agent. As noted by CBSSports.com's Joel Corry , Burrow and Nick Bosa have the same agent: Brian Ayrault of WME Sports. The Burrow and Bosa contracts are worth a combined $445 million, which means Ayrault is probably going to be getting a nice agent's fee in the near future. |
| This contract was a no-brainer for the Bengals. After watching Burrow lead them to two straight AFC title games and a Super Bowl, it was pretty clear that he was going to be able to command top dollar, and although the Bengals have a reputation for being stingy, they've never been stingy when it comes to the NFL's most important position. The Bengals are now set for the future and they should be a Super Bowl contender as long as their 26-year-old franchise quarterback is on the roster. |
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| 4. NFL Week 1 picks: We have five underdogs covering in a wild opening week |
| Everyone loves reading picks, at least I think everyone loves reading picks, which is why we're going to unveil a few more today. |
| Not only did we unveil some picks on the podcast, but we've got five more Week 1 picks coming your way right now and those will be coming from NFL senior writer Pete Prisco, along with Will Brinson, Jordan Dajani, Tyler Sullivan and myself. |
| Here's how things are going to work: I'm going to give you one pick from each guy and then direct you to the rest of their picks. That way, if you like their pick, you'll be able to read the rest of them, but if they pick against your favorite team, you can ignore the rest of their picks and move on. |
| Pete Prisco -- Browns (+2) 29-26 over Bengals. From Prisco: "The Browns have to hope Deshaun Watson is back to his form from his Texans days. If so, they have talent. This is a tough first game for the Bengals on the road against an in-state rival. Look for the Browns to pull this one out late as live underdog." For the rest of Prisco's Week 1 picks, be sure to click here. Tyler Sullivan -- Packers (+1) 23-21 over Bears. From Sullivan: "Green Bay could be sneaky good this year with Jordan Love. I thought he flashed enough this preseason to give me confidence in them legitimately contending within the division in 2023. And that kicks off with an upset over the Bears in Chicago in Week 1." For the rest of Sullivan's Week 1 picks, be sure to click here.Will Brinson -- Titans (+3) upset Saints. From Brinson: "This sure feels likes a massive coaching mismatch. Mike Vrabel is the most underrated coach in the NFL, a guy who gets the absolute most out of a minimal Tennessee roster. Everyone's been touting the reunion of Dennis Allen and Derek Carr as the logic for New Orleans being the consensus favorite in the NFC South and yet no one's mentioning their 0-4 record together." For the rest of Brinson's Week 1 best bets, be sure to click here.Jordan Dajani -- Giants (+3.5) 20-17 over Cowboys. From Dajani: "The Giants were good in 2022 and I'm expecting them to be better in 2023. They added Parris Campbell and Jalin Hyatt at wideout, and then Darren Waller at tight end. Look for Daniel Jones to go to Waller early and often on offense, and for defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to make Dak Prescott as uncomfortable as possible on defense. Give me the home dog." For the rest of Dajani's Week 1 best bets, be sure to click here. John Breech -- Broncos 23-20 over Raiders (+3.5). When your head coach and your general manager are in a spat with one of your key defensive players just days before your first game, I can't pick your team to win and that's what's going on with the Raiders and Chandler Jones. Sean Payton gets to make his Broncos' debut at home and I think he's going to send everyone home happy from this game. For the rest of my Week 1 picks, be sure to click here. |
| For more Week 1 NFL picks, you can check out out our CBSSports.com picks page here. |
| 5. NFL coaches on the hot seat heading into 2023 |
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| The NFL season hasn't even started for 30 of the league's 32 teams, but believe it or not, there are definitely already some coaches on the hot seat. Before the meat of the Week 1 schedule kicks off this weekend, we thought we should unveil our initial hot seat rankings for 2023, so that's what we're going to do today. |
| Jeff Kerr handles the hot seat rankings around these parts and here are five coaches sitting on the hottest seat heading into Sunday: |
1. Ron Rivera (Commanders)
2. Dennis Allen (Saints)
3. Brandon Staley (Chargers)
4. Todd Bowles (Buccaneers)
5. Mike McCarthy (Cowboys) |
| If you want to know why McCarthy made the list after two straight 12-win seasons, you'll have to click here so you can read Kerr's full explanation for his rankings. If you click over, you'll also see Kerr's full list, which includes eight coaches. |
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| 6. Extra points: DeAndre Hopkins reveals the teams that rejected him |
| It's been a busy 24 hours in the NFL, and since it's nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you. |
Tennessee may not have been DeAndre Hopkins' first choice. After Hopkins became a free agent, only two teams really showed any interest, which is a big reason why he ended up signing with the Titans. Apparently, Hopkins had his eyes on FOUR other teams, but they all said no. Those teams were the Cowboys, 49ers, Lions and Giants. If you want to see his comments on the situation, you can check out our story here. Jimmy Graham won't face charges for August arrest. The Saints tight end got some good news on Thursday and that news is that he won't face any charges following his arrest in California last month. Graham was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence, but according to the Saints, he had "experienced a medical episode, which resulted in him becoming disoriented." Due to that fact, the Orange County District Attorney's Office decided not to press charges.
Joe Flacco wants to play this year. The former Ravens QB, who is still a free agent, made it clear this week that he definitely wants to play this year. Although he remains unsigned, Flacco is looking at the silver lining of the situation "I do think that at the point that my career is in, it is a positive thing in a lot of ways that I'm not anywhere right now, because if somebody does need somebody, at least I'm available," Flacco said. You can read more about Flacco here. Nyheim Hines to pursue legal action. The Bills running back is out for the season due to an injury caused in a jet ski accident. Hines tore his ACL after someone on a jet ski crashed into him. Hines was placed on the non-football injury list following the incident, which means the Bills don't have to pay him his salary this year. The running back has hired an attorney and is now going after the person who crashed into him and the operator who rented the jet ski to that person. For more details on the situation, be sure to head here. Patrick Peterson makes bold prediction for Sunday's game. The new Steelers corner is so sure of himself heading into this week's against the 49ers that he thinks he's definitely going to come away with at least one interception in the game. So why is Peterson so sure of himself? Apparently, he noticed something with Brock Purdy on film. "There is some tell signs out there that tells us what plays we're gonna get from those guys in certain situations," Peterson said on the latest edition of the All Things Covered podcast featuring himself and CBS Sports NFL analyst and former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden. Peterson's comments are definitely fascinating and you can read everything he had to say here. |
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| | | | | College Football on CBS | | NFL on CBS | Saturday, it's a double-dose of college football on CBS. First, at 3:30 PM ET we take our first trip of the season to The Big House for UNLV at #2 Michigan. Then at 7:30, UCLA meets San Diego State. It all begins at 2:30 PM ET in the studio with our College Football Kickoff crew, followed by College Football Today.
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| | Sunday, the NFL on CBS kicks off our Super Bowl season with a week 1 doubleheader. The early games feature the Bengals taking on the Browns, then Jalen Hurts leads the defending NFC Champion Eagles against the Patriots. It all begins at 12 PM ET with NFL Today.
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