Turf Show Times
The 2025 NFL season will kick off tonight when the Dallas Cowboys travel to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football. Rams fans will have to wait another three days for their Sunday afternoon matchup against the Houston Texans. I wanted to bring a new weekly thread to TurfShowTimes; predicting each NFL game (most importantly the Rams) across the 18 week season…and you can too!
Week 1 Matchups
(Thursday) Dallas Cowboys @ Philadelphia Eagles, 8:20 PM EST
The Cowboys offseason centered on the Micah Parsons saga. This last week, they traded their star pass rusher for two first round picks and Kenny Clark. This will be the first year under head coach Brian Schottenheimer who has typically operated with a pretty vanilla offense. The Philadelphia Eagles return the majority of their offense and boast a young defense guided by defensive guru Vic Fangio. It’s hard to see the defending champions losing on opening night.
Pick: Eagles win 34-13
(Friday) Kansas City Chiefs @ Los Angeles Chargers, 8:00 PM EST (located in Sao Paulo, Brazil)
The Chiefs weren’t able to complete their three-peat and may carry a chip on their shoulder entering the 2025 season. However, they have a number of question marks. Is the Patrick Mahomes-Travis Kelce connection still lethal? Does Mahomes have enough of a supporting cast? Will the offensive line be able to protect Patrick Mahomes? It does seem like a number of AFC teams have caught up to the Chiefs…and maybe even surpassed them…
Pick: Chargers win 26-20 (OT)
Arizona Cardinals @ New Orleans Saints, 1:00 PM EST
The Arizona Cardinals will enter year three with Jonathan Gannon and appeared to look stronger as the 2024 season came to an end, even giving the Rams a tough game at SoFi Stadium in Week 17. The Saints meanwhile are still figuring out their quarterback situation. Saints fans will still make the environment tough on Arizona’s offense but I think the Cardinals have more balance on both sides of the ball.
Pick: Cardinals win 27-10
Miami Dolphins @ Indianapolis Colts, 1:00 PM EST
The Miami Dolphins enter a critical year with Mike McDaniel at the helm. Rumors continue to spread that he has lost the locker room there. For this game though, I think the Dolphins speed on offense with Hill and Waddle makes life too difficult for the Colts on their home turf.
Pick: Dolphins win 30-20
Las Vegas Raiders @ New England Patriots, 1:00 PM EST
Two “new” head coaches that are not so new. Pete Carroll and Mike Vrabel have been tabbed to lead their franchises from the bottom back to relevancy. Only one is winning this one and I’m going with New England who has more potential with Drake Maye and rookie running back Tre’Veyon Henderson.
Pick: Patriots win 23-14
Pittsburgh Steelers @ New York Jets, 1:00 PM EST
Aaron Rodgers returns to MetLife Stadium where he spent the past two seasons. The Steelers will have a lot of veteran presence...
