Top 5 Games For Upcoming NFL Season

NFL training camps are right around the corner and the first game of the 2017 regular season is now less than two months away. It’s tough picking just five top games for the coming year, but here’s one writer’s opinion with early odds for 2017 season.Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers, Week 1The Pack are 3-point favorites in what could well be an NFC Championship Game preview. Don’t think games this early in the season are all that important? You would be wrong. In the 16-game NFL schedule, every game counts. Both these teams would kill to have home-field advantage in a potential playoff matchup and that could be decided in this game. Green Bay has reached the postseason seven years in a row, while Seattle has the past five years. It’s the fourth straight regular season they face off. Let’s go back to Week 1 of the 2014 season. Green Bay lost in Seattle that Thursday night, 36-16. It proved to be the tiebreaker between the teams for which hosted the NFC Championship Game as they finished with identical 12-4 regular-season records. Seattle got to host that title game and won 28-22 in overtime. It’s the last time the Seahawks made the Super Bowl. The Packers have won seven straight at home in the series, including 38-10 in Week 14 last year. Russell Wilson threw a career-high five interceptions.New York Jets at Cleveland Browns, Week 5OK, don’t laugh. Is this a top game for the coming season? Of course not, it’s the Toilet Bowl, but it could be vitally important because the loser could have the inside track and a tiebreaker for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft. That is expected to be rich at the top with quarterbacks such as USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Wyoming’s Josh Allen. Both these clubs have been looking for a franchise quarterback for years. At least we know neither the Jets nor Browns can finish 0-16 even though they likely have the two worst rosters on the NFL (49ers are in the mix too). The loser here is the big winner. This might be the only time one of these teams is favored in 2017, although it opened as a pick’em.Atlanta Falcons at New England Patriots, Week 7It’s a rematch of that terrific Super Bowl LI in Houston. Of course New England won that 34-28 in the first-ever Super Bowl overtime. The Falcons blew a 28-3 third-quarter lead. No Super Bowl loser has gotten back to the big game the next season since that Buffalo Bills squad made four in a row in the early 1990s. This will be a bit of a homecoming for Falcons quarterback and reigning NFL MVP Matt Ryan as he starred collegiately at Boston College. The Patriots, who somehow appeared to get better this offseason, are +525 Super Bowl favorites. Atlanta is +1000 to win the first title in franchise history. Early odds have New England as a 6.5-point favorite here. Intertops will have hundreds of NFL odds for 2017 season, so review them first.New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 15These two franchises have won 10 of the past 16 AFC titles. Home-field advantage in a possible playoff meeting could be on the line here. The Patriots were the No. 1 seed last year and easily handled visiting Pittsburgh 36-17 in the AFC title game as Tom Brady threw for best 384 yards and three touchdowns. The Patriots improved to 6-1 all-time in conference championship games played at home. With Brady set to turn 40 in August and Ben Roethlisberger threatening to retire this offseason, it’s hard to know how many more games between the future Hall of Famers that NFL fans will get to enjoy. This could be the only game this season the Pats are underdogs – but are currently 1.5-point favorites.Dallas Cowboys at Oakland Raiders, Week 15Could this be a Super Bowl LII preview between two young rising teams? This will be a TV ratings bonanza on a Sunday night as these are arguably the two most popular global franchises in the NFL. It will be the last time that Dallas visits Oakland with the Raiders franchise set to start play in Las Vegas in a few years. A big reason that the Raiders got permission to move there was because of the work behind the scenes of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. A Raiders-Cowboys Super Bowl exact matchup is priced at +5000. This opened as a pick’em.