NFL Picks 2008 – Week 8
Oakland Raiders +8 at Baltimore Ravens: The Raiders humbled me last week by beating the Jets in what I thought was going to be an epic blowout, ancient QB or no. I have to assume the Raiders come back to earth this week. Ravens cover.
San Diego Chargers -3.5 vs. New Orleans Saints (London): Last year the Giants barely held-off a winless Dolphin team on a field that was much more used to having 150 lb dudes frolic around and kick a ball for 90 minutes than 300 lb dudes bashing into each other for 60 minutes. If it’s anything similar this year (and I’ll take a flyer on it raining Saturday or Sunday in London) much of the scoring will again be muted. Either way I’m not picking this game to be separated by more than 3 points in either direction which means the spread pick will be the Saints. That said, without Reggie Bush, I have a hard time betting a win on a guy named Pierre. Saints +3.5.
Kansas City Chiefs +12 at New York Jets: I think if I pick against the Chiefs and the spread I’ll be good 12 to 14 times out of 16 this year. I’ll go with that. Jets cover.
Buffalo Bills -1.5 at Miami Dolphins: I can’t figure out if the Bills are really this good or if they are starting to border on “overrated”. I’m used to at least being able to catch a couple of Bills’ games per season because they would at least air the games in Albany. In the city, you only get Jets/Giants because they apparently can’t even air anything on the other channel when one of the local teams is playing. Regardless, divisional matchup and the Bills should come out the better team here. Bills cover.
Tampa Bay Bucs +3.5 at Dallas Cowboys: I feel like the only reason the Bucs are getting points here are because of the Cowboy’s mystique. We here at The Blog I Really Need To Find A Name For find mystique overrated. The ONLY reason I’d think about taking the Cowboys is their crazy offense… but the offense doesn’t help you tackle. Bucs outright.
Atlanta Falcons +7.5 at Philadelphia Eagles: Westbrook should get a half in before re-injuring something. Is one half of Westbrook good enough to beat Matt Ryan on the road? Probably. Eagles cover.
St. Louis Rams +7 at New England Patriots: While I won’t go so far as to say the Patriots are “back” I can, at least, say they have now at least shown the ability to beat up on a bad team and, regardless of what happened last week, the Rams are still a bad team. Patriots cover.
Arizona Cardinals +4.5 at Carolina Panthers: The Cards have had two weeks to sit on their huge win over the Cowboys. Now, coming off their bye week they go to Carolina who still can’t really figure out if they’re a good or a bad team. Carolina has become one of the new teams that I just can’t pick. They’re home now and I’m not buying the Kurt Warner resurrection train. Panthers cover.
Washington Redskins -8.5 at Detroit Lions: Pretty sure this week for the Redskins is going to be similar to the Giants week following the Browns — they’ll find it much easier to score against only 11 players. The only question is really “what week are the Lions going to go balls out and actually win a game?” I’m thinking not this week. Redskins cover.
Cleveland Browns +7 at Jacksonville Jaguars: The Jags have not been really stellar on offense and the Browns have gotten away with playing 36 guys on defense for the last two weeks. Let’s just say they’ll keep it close at the very least. Browns +7.
New York Giants +2 at Pittsburgh Steelers: If you had told me the Giants were going to get to this part of their schedule at 4-2 I would have been happy. 5-1 with a half game lead — I’ll take it. That said, it’s very possible, if not likely, that the Giants won’t play another under .500 team until week 17 in Minnesota (or, God willing, week 15 in Dallas). I take the Giants primarily because the Steelers’ offensive line is nothing if not suspect and the Giants’ pass rush, while hurting, should be able to get to Roethlisberger all day long. All that said, I’d like someone to make a commercial where Roethlisberger and Eli make fun of Phil Rivers for being the QB out of that draft to not having a Super Bowl win. Giants outright.
Cincinnati Bengals +10 at Houston Texans: My “don’t take double digit spreads against mediocre teams” comes in to play here. Bengals +10… potential for upset of the week.
Seattle Seahawks +2.5 at San Francisco 49ers: One thing I discovered from watching the Niners: they’re really not horrible. They don’t scratch the surface of “good” yet, but mediocre seems like it’ll get you quite a way in the NFC West. Niners cover.
Monday
Indianapolis Colts +3.5 at Tennessee Titans: Yoof. Glad they waited until the end to drop this one on me. Let’s see… the Colts are showing flashes of brilliance coupled with weeks of terrible. The Titans are still undefeated. This seems like a perfect situation for a divisional upset. Colts outright.
Five Good Spreads
5 points – Bills -1.5 over Dolphins
4 points – Redskins -8.5 over Lions
3 points – Bucs +3.5 over Dallas
2 points – Browns +7 over Jags
1 point – Patriots -8 over Rams
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