NFL Preseason Week 3 Predictions

Last Updated on agosto 21, 2026 1:54 pm by Erwin Noguera

Aaron Rodgers is not playing. Again.

For weeks, Mike McCarthy was saying he wanted his 42-year-old quarterback on the field this preseason. Rodgers indicated he was on board. He watched the Green Bay game in street clothes, and everything pointed to a debut against the Jets on Friday night. Pittsburgh has now confirmed that neither Rodgers nor Mason Rudolph will play.

Will Howard takes the first half. Rookie Drew Allar takes the second. Whatever Pittsburgh is protecting, it is not sharing.

Elsewhere, there is a genuine storyline with a genuine line move behind it: A.J. Brown faces Philadelphia for the first time since the trade, and the market has swung three full points in the Eagles’ favour since the game opened.

En Gambyl, you can follow every step of the road to Week 3. Check out all the latest NFL news, predictions, and betting odds while enjoying a complete Online Casino experience at Casino Gambyl, with fast action and intuitive gameplay.

Here are the four games worth your weekend.

New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers

The game everyone circled, and the one both quarterback rooms have been rearranged around.

Rodgers and Rudolph are out. That means Pittsburgh’s evaluation runs entirely through Will Howard in the first half and Drew Allar in the second; the two young arms McCarthy called “very poised” after the Green Bay win. For a team whose starter turns 43 this season, that is not a wasted evening.

New York goes the other way. Geno Smith is expected to make his preseason debut and work roughly a quarter, having spent last week managing an ankle problem picked up in a joint practice with Tampa Bay. Behind him, rookie Cade Klubnik gets an extended run, with Brady Cook and Bailey Zappe splitting the final evaluation snaps.

What to watch: the Jets’ backup competition is the most consequential thing on the field. Aaron Glenn is in his second season, taking over defensive play-calling, and the margins around him are thin. Klubnik’s snaps matter more than anything Pittsburgh does.

Prediction: Jets 20, Steelers 13. New York plays a starting quarterback for a quarter. Pittsburgh does not play one at all.

The bet:Jets -1.5. The market has this near a coin flip, which feels generous to a Steelers side sitting both veterans. Taking the team with the only established starter on the field at a point-and-a-half is the straightforward play.

Green Bay Packers at Denver Broncos

The biggest spread on the slate by a distance, and there is a reason the number is that wide.

Denver put up 359 total yards in their last outing with 162 on the ground and a thirteen-minute edge in time of possession. They already had the third-best scoring defence in the league last season. Add Bo Nix healthy and Jaylen Waddle arriving, and this is a team that looks like a contender rather than a preseason curiosity.

They are also close to unbeatable at home in August: 7-0 straight up and 6-1 against the spread in preseason home games since 2020.

Green Bay arrives in the opposite condition. They lost 28-9 to Pittsburgh; they are without Micah Parsons until at least Week 6 after his ACL tear, and Josh Jacobs has been dealing with a groin problem. The Packers are evaluating; Denver is building.

What to watch: Denver’s centre position. Luke Wattenberg only returned to practice this week after going down on August 5; Alex Forsyth is out, and third-stringer Michael Deiter is gone for the season with a torn quadriceps. Sean Payton is down to the studs at the one spot you cannot fake.

Prediction: Broncos 24, Packers 13. The gap in both roster health and purpose is real.

The bet: Under 40.5. Denver’s defence is legitimate, and Green Bay’s offence has not scored in volume all preseason. A six-point spread usually invites the over; this matchup does not.

Philadelphia Eagles at New England Patriots

The line move is the story.

This game opened with New England as 1.5-point home favourites. It is now Philadelphia -1.5, a full three-point swing, and the total has come down from 37.5 to 36.5. Money has moved decisively in one direction all week.

The occasion is A.J. Brown facing his former team for the first time. Four years in Philadelphia, more than thirty touchdowns, a Super Bowl ring, and now reunited in New England with Mike Vrabel, who coached him in Tennessee. Whether he plays meaningful snaps is doubtful, but the reason to watch is whether Drake Maye and Brown get any reps together at all.

Philadelphia’s side of it is thinner than it looks. Makai Lemon, the first-round rookie signed to absorb Brown’s role, is still dealing with recurring hamstring problems. DeVonta Smith returned to practice on Monday. Cooper DeJean remains out with a groin injury. Sean Mannion is trying to rebuild an offence without Brown and without his first-round receiver available.

What to watch: any Maye-to-Brown connection, however brief. It is the only evidence available before Week 1 of how New England intends to use him.

Prediction: Eagles 20, Patriots 16. Philadelphia has more to settle and more players who need the reps.

The bet: Under 36.5. Two teams with depleted receiver rooms, a total already trimmed a point by the market, and neither offence likely to show anything. The side has moved too far to chase.

Dallas Cowboys at Arizona Cardinals

The best individual storyline of the weekend belongs to a third-round rookie.

Carson Beck was the best player on the field in the Hall of Fame Game (15 of 19 for 188 yards and a touchdown), then missed the following week with a rib injury. This is his chance to prove the first performance was not a fluke, and Arizona’s rebuild timeline shifts if it was not.

Around him, the Cardinals are thin. Third overall pick Jeremiyah Love is out with a high ankle sprain and unlikely to play again this preseason, having gone down on his fourteenth touch against the Raiders. Second-round guard Chase Bisontis is on injured reserve for the year.

Dallas arrives in better shape than the record suggests. They opened with a 17-7 win over Seattle, and the underlying numbers were strong: 338 total yards, 11 of 15 on third down, and seven points allowed.

What to watch: Beck’s ball placement on short timing routes. It was the consistent knock through camp, and he answered it emphatically in Canton before the ribs intervened.

Prediction: Cardinals 23, Cowboys 20. Arizona at home with their most in-form player back on the field.

The bet:Cowboys +1.5. Dallas were efficient in their opener, converting third downs at a rate nobody else on this slate managed, and getting points with a team that has looked organised is better value than laying them with one missing its best rookie.

What This Weekend Actually Decides

Preseason games do not count. Four things from this slate carry into September.

Rodgers has now missed the entire preseason. He sat against Green Bay, and he sits against the Jets. McCarthy wanted him to play, and he has not. That is either careful managing of a 42-year-old or something Pittsburgh has chosen not to discuss, and either way, the Steelers open the season with a quarterback who has taken no live snaps.

Beck’s second act. One outstanding half in Canton, one missed game, and now the last real opportunity before cuts. Arizona drafted him to develop behind a veteran. Another performance like the first and the timeline changes.

Denver’s centre room. Wattenberg back this week, Forsyth out, Deiter gone for the year. Watch who takes the snaps and how the line holds, because this is the position most likely to undo an optimistic season plan.

The Eagles’ receiver group. Brown is in New England. Lemon cannot stay healthy. Smith has just returned. Philadelphia is priced as a contender and is currently short at the position that matters most to that price.

A note on preseason numbers. Sportsbooks post low totals because starters do not play deep, but the two totals on this slate have moved in opposite directions; Philadelphia-New England trimmed to 36.5, Denver-Green Bay sitting at 40.5. Check the quarterback rotations before committing to either.

Cutdown day is August 30. The regular season opens September 9.