AI Predicts Every Preseason Week 2 Game
Coming off a correct call on the Hall of Fame Game, Touchdown Week's model picks every matchup from Thursday's six-game slate through Saturday's full Week 2 schedule.
The 2026 preseason shifts into full gear this week, with all 32 teams playing across a 16-game slate from Thursday through Saturday. Touchdown Week's prediction model, which correctly called the Panthers' 33-30 win over the Cardinals in the Hall of Fame Game, has now graded every matchup on the board. Picks for all 16 games are below, grouped by day.
Thursday, Aug 13
The storylines behind the biggest picks
The model's highest-confidence call of the week is New Orleans at 65% to beat Jacksonville, since the Jaguars are sitting every starter while the Saints play entrenched starter Tyler Shough. Houston (62%) and Kansas City (60%) are the next-strongest leans, both built on a proven backup quarterback, Davis Mills and Justin Fields respectively, getting real first-team reps. On the other side, Carolina is favored partly because Bryce Young is actually expected to play meaningful snaps against Bills backups, a rare case of a true starter suiting up this deep into preseason.
Where the model is least sure
Cleveland at Chicago is the closest call of the week, with the Bears only a 52% lean over the Browns, whose Deshaun Watson-Shedeur Sanders competition remains the league's most-watched camp storyline. Detroit-Cincinnati and New England-Indianapolis are similarly tight, reflecting how little separates two backup-heavy rosters once the presumed Week 1 starters sit out.
How confident is the model, really?
Every pick this week carries Low or Medium confidence, by design. Preseason football is driven by backups, rookies and roster-bubble players rather than the stars fans watch in the regular season, so even the model's most lopsided pick is far from a lock. The full breakdown for each game, including the storylines and factors behind every number, is available on each matchup's game page, with results tracked against the model's full record at Touchdown Week's predictions hub.