Check out my prediction for Week 1 ‘s Jets vs 49ers match up
Even though the Carolina Panthers 2024 season feels like it is already over, there is still technically one game left in Week 1. That’s right, other teams still feel hope and joy around football. Other teams didn’t lose 47-10 to the New Orleans Saints. Other teams didn’t lose their most talented player for the season today. Other teams include the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Jets, who face each other in the concluding game of Week 1, featuring such star power as Aaron Rodgers, other Jets players, Christian McCaffrey, and Brock Purdy.
Tonight’s west coast kick off, at 8:15 ET, features last season’s NFC Champions against one of the larger question marks in the AFC. That question mark for the Jets isn’t the same as the one for the Panthers. The talent and reputations on their team are relatively unimpeachable. They are carrying the question of how much gas does Rodgers have left in the tank. They will field a talented and well coached defense under head coach Robert Saleh. But can a 40-year-old Rodgers keep up his formerly elite level of play a year after tearing his left achilles tendon?
As always in our brave new world of expansive sports gambling, it is now easier to bet on games than to watch them. You can catch current odds on all NFL games for Week 1 here on FanDuel.
I’m a fan of everything that the 49ers have been doing for the past few years and I always delight in seeing McCaffrey having success in greener pastures. I’m not sold on Saleh’s defense—or any for that matter—against 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense and I’m not sold on Rodgers return to form. I may eat those words, but an achilles is hard to come back from in your early 30s in this league. That’s why I am picking the San Francisco 49ers to win tonight.
I would change that prediction in the first quarter if Rodgers gets tackle by Alijah Vera-Tucker, his right guard, and Vera-Tucker drew a flag for roughing the passer. Shy of that Panthers-style scenario, I’m sticking with the 49ers in a high octane shoot out.
As always, use this space to talk about the action as it unfolds.
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