Rivals highlight Week 3 action
Tirades face off with Packers in ST Division battle; winless WTNE and Spread Beaters clash will assure that one of those teams will get a victory
We have survived the first two weeks of the JSFL season and a few surprises have jumped up and bit us in the ass.
The first big surprise is the two early-season stunning teams of the 2026 season — Who Dey and the Rangers. Are they as good as they have shown over the first two weeks? And, secondly, are WTNE and the Recliners — both winless and lacking scoring punch — as bad as they seem to indicate? It sure has the Swami stumped.
As Week 3 dawns, rivals from both divisions — the unbeaten Pack and the one-win Tirades square off in one battle while WTNE and the Spreadbeaters, both looking for their first win, will meet in the other — will highlight action while the other six teams continue the romp through the other division’s backyard of horrors. The Tirades, sitting at .500, come in as a 13-point favorite in this one and the Swami would not be surprised to see both teams top 100 points by the time the curtain falls Monday night in Chicago.
The Silent Division scrape between WTNE and the Spreadbeaters is projected for a dead heat, and is one of three “coin-flip” games on the slate this week. (That does not bode well for the Swami). The other two tight games feature the unbeaten Who Dey taking on the 1-1 Invaiders, and the unbeaten Band Aids taking on those aforementioned Chandler Rangers.
NFL Schedule
The woeful Atlanta Falcons will hope injured QB Michael Pennix Jr. can jump-start the offense as they visit the Green Bay Packers tonight (Thursday). The Sunday action will conclude with the Los Angeles Rams traveling to Denver to take on the Broncos, and the Monday Night game features the Philadelphia Eagles traveling to take on the Chicago Bears.
The five most promising games for scoring opportunities start with the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas Cowboys traveling to Rio de Janeiro and the combined 52.5-point total (as of Wednesday morning) is the highest on the board this week. The San Francisco 49ers carry a 28-point implied total and are 8 ½-point favorites against the visiting Arizona Cardinals. The Buffalo Bills, who have scored 77 points in their first two games, have an implied team total of 28.75 points at home against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Detroit Lions will carry an implied 27-point total and is favored by 6 ½ points over the New York Jets. And, finally, the Kansas City Chiefs carry an implied 28-point total at the Miami Dolphins. The Chiefs are favored by 10 ½ points.
Swami update
It continues to be tough sledding for Swami in 2026. After going 2-3 in the opening week (even his own team faltered as a favorite), he repeated with a 2-3 effort in Week 2 as he was disappointed by the Tirades, Beaters and Gerbils. He's 4-6 for the season and hoping to right the ship and get back to .500 this weekend.
This week's games
Tirades (1-1) vs. Pack (2-0), Tirades favored by 13: On paper, it looks like Ron is going to hand the defending champ Pack its first loss of the season. The Tirades have an advantage in a whopping six head-to-head matchups with the Pack. After fumbling with QB last week, the Tirades turn the reins over to Brock Purdy in a tasty matchup at home against the upstart Cardinals while the Pack will ask Jalen Hurts of Philadelphia to torch the cottage cheese defense Chicago has been putting up. The Tirades also have positional advantages at both RB positions (Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry), one of the WR positions (Christian Watson tonight at home to Atlanta), flex RB Ashton Jeanty and tight end Dalton Kinkaid in an expected shootout at home against the Chargers. The Pack gets a positional nods only at wide receiver (DaVonta Smith) and kicker (Cameron Dicker). The Swami hates betting against the Pack (because he usually loses his lunch on that bet every time), but says, “Bite the bullet and take the Tirades and 5.” (But, don’t bet the house).
WTNE (0-2) vs. Spreadbeaters (0-2), pick ‘em: Both teams are begging for a win this week. Matt Pringle had two wins within his grasp and has been generating a whole heck of a lot more offense than Jordan’s boys have. The ESPN bean counters give the Beaters a 1-point edge Thursday morning, but the line likely will move in several directions because of injuries before kickoff of the main slate of games Sunday morning. Foremost on the “watch” list is the “questionable” tag still applied to WTNE RB Saquon Barkley. He missed portions of last week’s game and the injury tag this morning anticipates he will be a go Sunday. Despite having the more prolific offense the first two weeks of the season, Jordan comes into this game with positional advantages in three spots (the Beaters have advantages in two starting spots). WTNE is favored at both wide receiver starting spots (Justin Jefferson at Tampa Bay and Drake London tonight at Green Bay). If Penix flops tonight and takes the Atlanta offense with him, this game could be over before Friday morning. No pressure. Jordan also gets an advantage at flex with RB Quinshon Judkins at home to Carolina. The Beaters get positional edges at RB with Jonathan Taylor at home to Houston (but he faces some tough sledding against that once-vaunted defense)) and at defense with Kansas City visiting Miami.
Until the injury status on Barkley clears up, the Swami says "bet big (8 points) on the Beaters notching their first win."
Who Dey (2-0) vs. Invaiders (1-1), pick ‘em: What the heck am I supposed to do with this line? My heart says bet the Invaiders but seeing what Matty from the Natty has been putting up on the scoreboard through the first two weeks, I would be stupid to take that approach. Let’s just say as goes Cincinnati, so goes Who Dey. Matty has a stockpile of Bengals who have been playing well above expections. If that trend continues, the Invaiders (and me) are toast. The ESPN bean counters give the Invaiders a 1-point edge Thursday morning but this one could be a Who Dey blowout of epic proportions. The Bengals quad of QB Joe Burrow, RB Chase Brown, the Bengals defense and kicker (Evan McPherson) are all on the road against their bitter rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers. If the Bengals run up the score on the road, this one is over early. Matty gets the positional nod at three positions — both WRs (Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the road in a tasty matchup with the Commanders and Chris Olave at home to Las Vegas) and at flex with WR Tetairoa McMillan at Cleveland). The Invaiders have the advantage at four positions — both RBs in Bijan Robinson tonight at Green Bay, DeVon Achane at home to Kansas City, tight end Trey McBride on the road in San Francisco (go 9ers!) and kicker Jason Myers on the road against the Commanders.
The Swami’s heart wants to lean the Invaiders, but will say, “Take Who Dey and 5.”
Band Aids (2-0) vs. Rangers (1-1), Band Aids favored by 2: The final “pick ‘em” option on the platter this week (can you say, Swami goes 0-3 on these close ones) is the unbeaten Band Aids taking on John’s Rangers. Could there be a little leftover “juice” from the draft that John wants to exact some revenge on Bob for taking QB Josh Allen (the leading scorer through two weeks) right in front of him? We don’t care who is pissed at whom in this one, just as long as John finds some way to take down Bob and his Band Aids one way or another.
On paper, Bob looks ripe for an upset. The Rangers come into this one with positional advantages in four starting spots, while the Band Aids get the nod in four others — but Bob has got injury concerns looming at two starting spots. “Questionable” tags still sit on WR Puka Nacua (and the Rams have that 5:25 p.m. kickoff Sunday at Denver) and RB Tony Pollard on the road against the New York Giants. Nakua looks to be headed for another missed game after coach Sean McVay said Thursday "he's not making great progress." Bob gets the nod, obviously, with QB Josh Allen at home (and potentially hanging another 30+ game on the board) against the woeful Chargers, tight end Tucker Kraft at home tonight against the Falcons, flex WR Puka Nacua (if he goes) and kicker Brandon Aubrey kicking in the expected mud in Brazil. John gets the positional nods at both RBs with Breece Hall at Detroit and Bucky Irving at home to the tough Minnesota defense, and both wide receivers with Amon-Ra St. Brown at home to the Jets and CeeDee Lamb in Brazil against Baltimore.
The Swami thinks Bob has got some of that “magic” dust surrounding him and will win, but my gut says back the Silent Brother and will flush a win by saying, “Take the Rangers and 1 in an upset.”
Gerbils (1-1) vs. Recliners (0-2), Gerbils favored by 6: The only game looking like a blowout, other than the Pack and Tirades, is this one. The line on this one moved substantially overnight as it is now just a 6-point edge for the Gerbils but the injury-plagued Recliners still have three starters — tight end Brock Bowers, RB Aaron Jones Sr. and WR Zay Flowers — carrying “questionable” tags heading into the weekend. Bowers is expected to be a go this weekend but the status of Flowers is still in limbo. Both teams have positional edges at four starting spots each. The Recliners get the nod at QB with Lamar Jackson in Brazil, both wide receiver spots with Ja’Marr Chase at Pittsburgh and Flowers in the mud of Brazil and the Philadelphia Eagles defense on the road in Chicago. The Gerbils get the nod at both RBs with Jahmyr Gibbs at home to the Jets and Kenneth Walker III on the road in Miami, tight end George Kittle (Kittle ranked higher than Bowers? Go Niners!) at home to the Cardinals and kicker Eddy Pinero (Go Niners!) also at home. This one smells like an upset but the Swami says, “Take the Gerbils and 5.”
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