Zoltar is my NFL football prediction computer program. Here are Zoltar’s predictions for week 3 of the 2017 NFL season:

Zoltar:        rams  by    0  dog = fortyniners    Vegas:        rams  by  2.5
Zoltar:      ravens  by    3  dog =     jaguars    Vegas:      ravens  by    4
Zoltar:     broncos  by    0  dog =       bills    Vegas:     broncos  by    3
Zoltar:    dolphins  by    4  dog =        jets    Vegas:    dolphins  by    6
Zoltar:    patriots  by    7  dog =      texans    Vegas:    patriots  by   13
Zoltar:    steelers  by    6  dog =       bears    Vegas:    steelers  by  7.5
Zoltar:     falcons  by    0  dog =       lions    Vegas:     falcons  by    3
Zoltar:      giants  by    0  dog =      eagles    Vegas:      eagles  by  3.5
Zoltar:  buccaneers  by    0  dog =     vikings    Vegas:  buccaneers  by    0
Zoltar:    panthers  by    6  dog =      saints    Vegas:    panthers  by    6
Zoltar:       colts  by    9  dog =      browns    Vegas:      browns  by    1
Zoltar:      titans  by    1  dog =    seahawks    Vegas:      titans  by  2.5
Zoltar:     packers  by    7  dog =     bengals    Vegas:     packers  by    9
Zoltar:      chiefs  by    5  dog =    chargers    Vegas:      chiefs  by    3
Zoltar:     raiders  by    1  dog =    redskins    Vegas:     raiders  by    3
Zoltar:     cowboys  by    2  dog =   cardinals    Vegas:     cowboys  by    3

Zoltar theoretically suggests betting when the Vegas line is more than 3.0 points different from Zoltar’s prediction. For week 3 Zoltar has three hypothetical (and mildly questionable) suggestions.

1. Zoltar (sort of) likes the Vegas underdog Texans against the Patriots. Zoltar thinks the Patriots are 7 points better than the Texans, but Vegas has the Patriots listed as a huge favorite, by 13.0 points. So, Zoltar thinks the Patriots will win, but not by more than 13 points. Historically, Zoltar has done very poorly when predicting against the Patriots.

2. Zoltar likes the Vegas underdog Giants against the Eagles. Zoltar thinks the two teams are evenly matched, but Vegas has the Eagles as 3.5 point favorites. So, again, Zoltar believes the Vegas favorite won’t cover the spread.

3. Zoltar likes the Vegas favorite Colts against the Browns. Zoltar thinks the Colts are 9 points better than the Browns but Vegas has the Browns winning by 1.0 point. The Colts QB is injured, but Zoltar thinks Vegas has overestimated that impact.

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Week #2 was excellent for Zoltar, who went 5-0 against the Vegas point spread, correctly predicting three favorites to cover, and two favorites not to cover. For the season, Zoltar is 6-3 (67% accuracy) against the spread (which points out how badly Zoltar did in week #1).

I also track how well Zoltar does when just predicting which team will win. This isn’t really useful except for parlay betting. Zoltar was a very good 13-3 just predicting winners. For comparison purposes, I track how well Bing/Cortana does. Bing/Cortana uses a crowd consensus scheme, which makes sense for predicting winners but not for prediction against the point spread. In week 2, Bing/Cortana was a decent 11-5 just predicting winners. For the season, just predicting winners, Zoltar is 24-7 (77% accuracy) and Bing/Cortana is 19-12 (61% accuracy).

Zoltar first appeared in the 1988 movie “Big” starring Tom Hanks