NFL Week 3 predictions, best bets: Picks against the spread for every game

There are times in the NFL when a backup quarterback is thrust into action due to the injury of the starter and produces a strong performance.Then, the following week, you pick that team figuring, “They’re fine with this guy,” only to have him remind you why he’d been standing on the sidelines.I have a suspicion we will see the complete opposite with Jameis Winston when the Giants host the Titans at MetLife Stadium.Monday night in Los Angeles was a complete disaster for the Giants.

Jaxson Dart went down in a blaze of glory on a real-life “Malachi Crunch” between Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart.It looked bad at first, then some internet lip readers thought they saw a staff member tell John Harbaugh that Dart would miss four to six weeks, and a bit later Joe Schoen irresponsibly told ESPN that Dart was going to be “OK.”Well, Dart is OK compared to the alternative of being dead, I suppose, but we now know he will miss the rest of the regular season.

Winston was terrible in his place Monday, going 11-for-27 for 111 yards and an interception, with the SoFi Stadium turf and receivers’ ankles seemingly his favorite targets.But that doesn’t mean Winston won’t be able to give the Giants their $6.5 million worth over the next 15 games, if that’s the plan.Winston’s MO throughout his career has been to produce big-stat wins along with losses in which interceptions were the big stat.

He rarely gives you nothing, but possibly Monday was a no-win situation given that the injuries to Dart — and later Malik Nabers, Brian Burns and Andrew Thomas — joined forces with the locked-in focus of the Rams off an embarrassing loss to the 49ers.This week, Harbaugh and the Giants will get a chance to recalibrate their entire operation against the Titans.Tennessee got boat-raced by the Jets in the opener before nearly upsetting the sleepwalking Eagles last week.If anything, that result combined with the Giants’ 28-6 loss and injury report cut the spread for th...