NFL Week 4 Look-Ahead Lines: Chiefs Favored At Bucs

NFL Week 4 look-ahead lines have hit the board, and two marquee matchups highlight the slate. Both are rematches of 2020 NFL playoff games. Super Bowl LV participants Kansas City and Tampa Bay return to Tampa, where the “home” team claimed the Lombardi Trophy to end the season. And the Bills visit the Ravens two years after ending their season in Buffalo, 17-3, in the Divisional Round.

Every week, usually on Friday, TheLines will post look-ahead lines from FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook. These look aheads give an early snapshot of the current market opinions of teams absent the week-to-week bias that can take hold following weekend results.

NFL Week 4 Look-Ahead Lines

Compare NFL Week 4 odds below and click to bet now.

Week 4 NFL Primetime Games

Thursday Night Football Odds

Two teams making headlines for very different reasons match up on Thursday Night Football. One of the early-season surprises has been the Miami Dolphins, beat the market in strong fashion each of the first two weeks. On the other hand, the Cincinnati Bengals have been a crushing disappointment, 0-2 despite being heavily favored in each game.

Yet, the market favors the Bengals slightly early. Week 3 could move the needle here quite a bit in Miami’s case, though. They have a whale of a test hosting Buffalo. The Bills DBs figure to do a better job than the Ravens of keeping the Miami receivers in front of them. Buffalo’s offense has also been unstoppable so far. If Miami can pull one out at home, and the Bengals so much as struggle with the Jets, expect this line to flip come next week.

Sunday Night Football Odds

Patrick Mahomes endured the worst game of his professional career on that February night in 2021, playing behind a patchwork offensive line simply unequipped to deal with the top-tier Tampa Bay pass rush. The Chiefs had showed what they could do to this defense when healthier earlier in the season, winning on the road, but Tyreek Hill did a ton of damage in that game and now plays for Miami.

For now, the market favors the Chiefs, but a lot of pieces remain in flux for Tampa Bay. They could be a significantly stronger team with not only Mike Evans (returning from suspension), but getting Chris Godwin and LT Donovan Smith back in the mix. Not to mention the resurgent Julio Jones and defensive stalwart Akiem Hicks. How many of those pieces return either in Week 3 or 4, and how they look if they play in Week 3, could inform where this line moves. As high as Chiefs -3 wouldn’t shock if the Bucs remain short-handed and things go poorly against Green Bay.

Monday Night Football Odds

For a couple of the final four teams remaining in 2021, these two have some serious questions looming.

In the Rams‘ case, the performance thus far has not lived up to the status of a defending champion. They’ve had one of the league’s worst offenses by EPA/play and Matt Stafford ranking just a hair above Daniel Jones in the QB metrics doesn’t inspire any confidence in his ailing elbow. The full-strength Rams had a difficult enough time squeaking by the 49ers at home last year to advance to the Super Bowl.

Will the 49ers be a better team reintegrating old signal-caller Jimmy Garoppolo in the aftermath of Trey Lance’s injury? The market seems ambivalent thus far. Jimmy G will potentially miss his old favorite target George Kittle, his go-to look when needing a third-down conversion.

This line seems unlikely to move much either way.

MORE POTENTIAL WEEK 3 IMPACT ON WEEK 4 LOOK-AHEAD LINES

Bills At Ravens

No team has made a stronger statement early in 2022 than the Bills, winner of two straight by a combined 55 points against two 2021 playoff teams. One wonders if they could possibly sway the market any further than -4 here, as that’s already a rather huge number on the road against a second-tier contender coming into the year. It seems tough to imagine this line growing any further.

Again, health looms. The Ravens defense looked like a shell of itself in allowing the stunning Week 2 comeback to Miami. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey landed on the injury report with a DNP to begin Week 3 practices. The team can’t afford to miss him against a Bills team that relies pretty heavily on Stefon Diggs, especially if Gabe Davis remains less than 100%.

Titans At Colts

The two teams expected to contend for the AFC South have begun the season with a collective three losses and a tie to the lowly Texans. Both teams face at least fairly significant tests in Week 3, with the Colts hosting top contenders Kansas City while the Titans are home underdogs against the Raiders.

Given the Colts are sizable underdogs and have looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL through two weeks, there’s a chance this market comes off the key number of -3. Matt Ryan must play significantly better and must get some of his weapons healthy. Staying competitive with the Chiefs would at least pause the market’s plummeting opinion of this team.

If the Titans can bounce back and get a home win here, expect a flat Colts -3 across the board, if not shorter.

HOW TO USE NFL LOOK-AHEAD LINES

The look-ahead lines allow you a sneak peek at the projected lines for the following week’s games. This information from a leading online sportsbook will help provide lessons in understanding lines and projections before the current week’s games are played.

Many bettors tend to overreact to the previous week’s scores and results. The NFL Week 4 look-ahead lines provide a sense of stability from the oddsmaker. They sometimes offer a clear, unbiased snapshot of perceived team strength

Bettors can also gain an edge or find value in the lines once the weekend results take hold. See if you can find any over- or under-reactions by the market.

Of course, always take note of key injuries, travel and scheduling situations, and NFL power rankings. Making adjustments is part of the process, along with accounting for teams’ strengths, weaknesses, against-the-spread angles and personnel matchups.