{"id":996351,"date":"2026-09-09T19:54:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/996351\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T19:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T19:54:25","slug":"favorite-dogs-back-michigan-bounce-back-browns-cover-in-week-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/996351\/","title":{"rendered":"Favorite &#8216;Dogs: Back Michigan Bounce Back; Browns Cover In Week 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Michigan escaped a huge scare last Saturday, and now the books have responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Should the Wolverines be that big of an underdog and at home?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">And when it comes to NFL Week 1, should the Browns \u2014 who&#8217;ve been in shambles since forever \u2014 be expected to put up a fight against a solid Jaguars squad?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Here&#8217;s why I&#8217;m backing these underdogs this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/betting\/sports-betting-on-fox-sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sports Betting on FOX Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Behold, a battle of two 1-0 teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">OK, that does not nearly tell the story of what happened last week in Ann Arbor, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/college-football\/mac-appeals-michiganwestern-michigan-result-asks-ncaa-and-cfp-to-recognize-broncos-as-winner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Michigan escaped 13-12 over Western Michigan<\/a> in a controversial ending that will be remembered forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">As four-touchdown favorites, Michigan looked inept on offense and questions about who will play quarterback going forward have been asked all week. As bad as Michigan looked, however, it\u2019s important to keep in mind the look-ahead line for this week\u2019s game was Michigan -2.5.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Michigan certainly deserves to be downgraded after a poor showing in the opener, but the line for this week\u2019s game now has Oklahoma laying 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">An 8.5-point adjustment based on one game is perhaps an over-adjustment. The Wolverines still appear to have a very solid defense and will hear all week how they didn\u2019t deserve to win, about how poorly they played. They should be able to adopt an &#8220;Us vs. The World&#8221; mentality \u2014 especially as a home \u2018dog.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">I expect Michigan to bounce back and have a much better showing in Week 2.<\/p>\n<p><a style=\"color:inherit;font-family:inherit;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/personalities\/will-hill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"flex-shrink:0;height:60px;object-fit:contain;width:60px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Will-Hill-727x727-1.png\" alt=\"Will Hill\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\"\/><\/a>Hill&#8217;s Pick: Michigan +6<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Last year, the Raiders went into Foxborough and beat the New England Patriots on the road in Week 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">The Patriots went 14-3 and won the AFC title; the Raiders went 3-14 and won the right to pick first overall in the NFL Draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Weird things happen in the opening week, and with starters playing so sparingly in the preseason these days, upsets are bound to happen. While the Browns have been in the news a lot this summer for their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/nfl\/deshaun-watson-apologizes-comments-about-browns-fans-after-being-named-qb1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">quarterback controversy<\/a> between Deshaun Watson and Shedeur Sanders, the rest of the roster shows some promise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Rookie wide receivers KJ Concepci\u00f3n and Denzel Boston have drawn rave reviews in training camp, and the aforementioned Watson is 7-1 in his career against the Jaguars.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">With an Over\/Under set at 40.5, oddsmakers are expecting a low-scoring game, and in a game where points are perhaps hard to come by, an upset becomes more possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a style=\"color:inherit;font-family:inherit;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/personalities\/will-hill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"flex-shrink:0;height:60px;object-fit:contain;width:60px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Will-Hill-727x727-1.png\" alt=\"Will Hill\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\"\/><\/a>Hill&#8217;s Pick: Browns +8.5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michigan escaped a huge scare last Saturday, and now the books have responded.\u00a0 Should the Wolverines be that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":996352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[1107,54,331,7,6124,212,125,2401,213,71,122,6,1787],"class_list":["post-996351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-betting","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-gambling","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-jacksonvillejaguars","tag-jaguars","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-national-football-league","tag-nfl","tag-oklahoma-sooners"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117242840405374061","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/996352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}