Stampede Blue’s NFL Week 3 staff picks

The Week 3 slate gives us a solid mix of games that look to at least be competitive. Most importantly, the Indianapolis Colts travel to take on Frank Reich’s former squad, the Philadelphia Eagles who will be starting Carson Wentz for the first time this year.

You could make the argument that the Colts should be 2-0 and that the Eagles should be 0-2. However, that’s not the case as both teams look to gain some traction by improving to 2-1 on the season. Andrew Luck will be relied upon to keep the Colts consistent against another top pass rushing defense in very hostile territory, and the defense will get a true test if Wentz is truly 100% regardless of the apparent lack of playmakers available.

We’ll only see three divisional games which makes this week especially interesting. The Texans will try to fend off the Giants, the Packers and Redskins will be an interesting watch, and the matchup between the 49ers and Chiefs will feature two of the hottest young quarterbacks in the league. We also get Drew Brees versus Matt Ryan, the Bengals traveling to play the Panthers and a possible defensive matchup pitting the Broncos against the Ravens.

One of the games that may fly under the radar in Week 3 is Philip Rivers taking on the Rams’ defense — the battle of Los Angeles I suppose. Another actually might be tonight’s matchup between the Browns and Jets.... How about that.

This week we have nine staff members picking the games, and most of us are still hovering around .500 and could use a good week’s worth of picks.

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Matt Danely: 17-14 | Chris Shepherd: 18-13 | Chris Blystone: 16-15 | Stephen Reed: 18-13 | Brett Mock: 18-13 | Jared Malott: 14-17 | Elliot Denton: 18-13 | Andrew Aziz: 15-16 | Zach Hicks 0-0

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Thursday 8:20 pm ET

Jets @ Browns (6) | Contrarians: Jared Malott, Elliot Denton, Zach Hicks

Sunday 1:00 pm ET

Giants @ Texans (5) | Contrarians: Chris Shepherd, Chris Blystone, Denton, Aziz

Bills @ Vikings

Packers (7) @ Redskins | Contrarians: Matt Danely, Chris Blystone

49ers @ Chiefs (8) | Contrarian: Danely

Colts (6) @ Eagles | Contrarians: Stephen Reed, Brett Mock, Danely

Raiders @ Dolphins (7) | Contrarians: Andrew Aziz, Hicks

Titans @ Jaguars

Bengals (6) @ Panthers | Contrarians: Aziz, Malott, Hicks

Broncos @ Ravens (6) | Contrarians: Malott, Hicks, Mock

Saints @ Falcons (7) | Contrarian: Reed, Mock

Sunday 4:05 pm ET

Chargers @ Rams (8) | Contrarian: Hicks

Sunday 4:25 pm ET

Bears @ Cardinals

Cowboys (6) @ Seahawks | Contrarians: Shepherd, Danely, Malott

Sunday 8:20 pm ET

Patriots @ Lions

Monday 8:15 pm ET

Steelers @ Buccaneers (8) | Contrarians: Aziz

Who do you got in these Week 3 matchups?