NFL Picks - Week 8

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I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow, some way, we have reached the midway point of the NFL season. It's been a pretty solid seven weeks, but at this point there are our surprises, disappointments and to this point, no team really stands above the rest even with one team being undefeated up to this point. Luckily for all of us, there's still eight more weeks of football to be played after this and the playoffs. Anyways, we have a pretty solid week of football lined up even if there are some less-than-stellar matchups on the marquee. How do I think things will shake out? Let me give it a try.

Thursday

vs.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Minnesota Vikings

NFL Network | 8:20 PM ET

Commentators: Brad Nessler, Mike Mayock, Alex Flanagan

The Vikings are shocking the league week in and week out with their performances. Adrian Peterson, somehow, someway is looking about as impressive as you could look after tearing your Achilles tendon. Their defense has been lights out and Antonie Winfield is playing at an extremely high level. They welcome the Bucs for this Thursday night matchup and it will be interesting to see how Tampa's run defense plays against Peterson and the Vikings. They're the 3rd best run defense in the NFL (76 YPG allowed). I do think this will be a close game, like all of the TNF matchups have been aside from Week 3, and I see Minnesota coming out on top . It will be interesting to see where Minnesota ends up because after this week their schedule gets a lot tougher.
Tampa Bay 13 Minnesota 17

Sunday

vs.

Carolina Panthers vs. Chicago Bears

FOX | 1:00 PM ET

Commentators: Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa

The Bears really have something going with this defense, and I think they might do something historic when the dust settles. While Chicago's offense has been struggling, with al due respect they have played some pretty good defenses as of late. Detroit's not as much of a slouch as people believe and they showed why on Monday night. Carolina, though, is looking totally out of place, and at 1-5 and their GM axed, they may be heading down an abyss-like slope. I really love what I've seen from Chicago this season and frankly, I don't see this one being very close. Give me the team from Chi-Town.

Carolina 9 Chicago 27

vs.

San Diego Chargers vs. Cleveland Browns

CBS | 1:00 PM ET

Commentators: Spero Dedes, Rich Gannon

The last time we saw the San Diego Chargers, they had a historic collapse on Monday Night Football, letting the Denver Broncos score 35 unanswered points on them and thereby losing first place in the AFC West. I still do like what their defense has going for them and luckily for them, the Cleveland Browns don't really have anybody that can exploit their weaknesses on their offensive line. I do not think this will be much of a blowout by all means, but I see a pretty comfortable win for San Diego. If it means anything, Brandon Weeden has been improving by the week and I think he continues that progression in this game, but he won't do enough to put them in position to win.

San Diego 20 Cleveland 7

vs.

Seattle Seahawks vs. Detroit Lions

FOX | 1:00 PM ET

Commentators: Chris Myers, Tim Ryan

Here, my friends, is a battle of two teams that are going in opposite directions. The Seahawks boast one of the top defenses in the league, one of its best cornerbacks in Richard Sherman, and Marshawn Lynch is playing up to Pro Bowl/All-Pro level this season. Meanwhile, the Lions are possibly the season's biggest disappointment, and Matthew Stafford, after his 40 TD season last year, only has 5 TD through seven weeks. The Lions will have the home crowd to their favor, but it hasn't done them any favors to be quite honest. Thus far they've played two games there and only have one win, and it came back in Week 1. I like the Seahawks in this matchup and I think Richard Sherman handles Calvin Johnson pretty well in this game.

Seattle 16 Detroit 13

vs. 

New England Patriots vs. St. Louis Rams

CBS | 1:00 PM ET | In London, England

Commentators: Jim Nantz, Phil Simms

Boy, what is up with the New England Patriots this year? Even though they scraped out an overtime win against the New York Jets in Foxboro last week, the fashion in which they did it was hardly stellar. They've looked strangely unimpressive this season and the offense as a whole hasn't looked like what it's used to be. Not to mention Kyle Arrington has been a disaster so far, giving up 451 yards through the first seven weeks. They travel overseas to London to play the Rams, who have been a bit of a surprise with how they've played this season. A much-improved defense gives this team a puncher's chance against New England I think. However, it just wouldn't seem right, so I'll take New England this week. Then again, the Patriots are 0-2 against the NFC West, so who knows what will happen?

New England 20 St. Louis 17

vs. 

Miami Dolphins vs. New York Jets

CBS | 1:00 PM ET

Commentators: Ian Eagle, Dan Fouts

A few weeks ago these two teams played in one of the worst NFL games I have ever had the misfortune to watch. Since that point, nothing has really changed with these teams, aside from the improvement of Ryan Tannehill and Cameron Wake playing at a beastly level. I can definitely see him providing a big impact in this one. Something I will look for in this game is whether or not Shonn Greene can keep up his good play on the ground. The last two weeks he's looked good, but Miami is 4th in the league against the run (76.8 YPG allowed) so he'll have a test. I thought this series would split at the beginning of the year and through seven weeks, I can't say that opinion's changed. I like the Dolphins in the Meadowlands to pull out a squeaker that will surely aggravate fans of Gang Green.

Miami 17 New York 14

vs. 

Atlanta Falcons vs. Philadelphia Eagles

FOX | 1:00 PM ET 

Commentators: Dick Stockton, John Lynch

Seems like an easy choice here. The Falcons never win in Philadelphia. The Eagles never lose off of a bye. However, I think this one could honestly go either way. This Falcons team, while it might not be totally respected, is doing things that they haven't done under the Mike Smith-Matt Ryan regime. They're winning close, they're fending teams off, they won in primetime, so it wouldn't shock me if Atlanta went into Philadelphia and pulled out a victory. Truly wouldn't. However, I'm going to stick with my convictions and say that Philadelphia gives the Falcons their first loss of the season. If not though, this might be the true beginning of the end for Andy Reid. 

Atlanta 17 Philadelphia 27

vs.

Washington Redskins vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

FOX | 1:00 PM ET

Commentators: Sam Rosen, Brian Billick

If you want a really intriguing matchup this week, I honestly wouldn't look any further than this one. RGIII is taking the league by storm and is comfortably leading the Offensive Rookie of the Year race, I think, and the Redskins seem to be playing really inspired football with him under center. On the other hand, the Steelers have been brutally inconsistent all season, playing down to their competition a lot and have taken some bad losses. The key here I think is secondary play. The Redskins have just been awful against the pass, and the Steelers have been really underperforming. Ike Taylor played really well last week against A.J. Green but his performances have been very poor. I like Pittsburgh at home but I wouldn't be terribly shocked if they took a loss, either.

Washington 27 Pittsburgh 35

vs. 

Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Green Bay Packers

CBS | 1:00 PM ET

Commentators: Greg Gumbel, Dan Dierdorf

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, since seemingly being left for dead after their collapse against the Indianapolis Colts, seemed to have righted the ship. Despite a flurry of injuries to impact players, Rodgers and the Pack have been about as dominant as dominant can get on offense in their last two affairs and Aaron is showing why he was the MVP of the league last year. So what exactly is going to occur when Green Bay heads back to Lambeau for the first time since Week 4? A lot of decimation. The Jacksonville Jaguars, in my opinion, don't stand a chance so this is my Lock of the Week, and probably the Lock of the Century too.

Jacksonville 14 Green Bay 41

vs.

Indianapolis Colts vs. Tennessee Titans

CBS | 1:00 PM ET

Commentators: Bill Macatee, Steve Tasker

The AFC South isn't really anything special aside from Houston, but I think what we'll see from Tennessee and Indianapolis is that these two teams definitely sport some potential. ALthough both defenses have been far from stellar they've put together some pretty solid wins over the last few weeks. I think that after two wins in a row, the money would be better served towards Tennessee, but I think Andrew Luck will have a spectacular performance against a porous Titans defense, and the Colts come away with a victory by ten points. One other thing: I think Chris Johnson goes off again, but the Titans defense won't do enough to keep them in it.

Indianapolis 31 Tennessee 21

vs.

Oakland Raiders vs. Kansas City Chiefs

CBS | 4:05 PM ET

Commentators: Kevin Harlan, Solomon Wilcots

I didn't think that the combined record of these two teams would be 2-9 when this matchup came up in the season, but that unfortunately is where we stand with these two teams. Both of them have been hugely disappointing, especially Kansas City. Their fans have had enough with how the team has run, but the play hasn't been very great either. Justin Houston and Jamaal Charles have really led the way but aside from that, the team at this point is a disaster. Oakland isn't much better, as Darren McFadden hasn't played very well this year and they may have the worst cornerback combination in the league. Honestly, this might be an ugly game and I see the Raiders coming out victorious. KC will come to play in a division contest but I think that straight up, Oakland is better than Kansas City right now and that will show.

Oakland 24 Kansas City 20

vs.

New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys

FOX | 4:25 PM ET

Commentators: Thom Brennamen, Troy Aikman

Ah, NFC East rivalry games. Aren't they just the bee's knees? This matchup kicked off the season and provided one of the biggest upsets of the year. Since that point though these two teams have gone in opposite directions. The Giants look like one of the best teams in football, and the Cowboys are looking to be incredibly inconsistent. It seems to be the same old story with the Cowboys in not making the plays when they need to, while the Giants have been a well-oiled machine on both offense and defense (2nd in YPG, T-3rd in PPG, 9th in PPG allowed). This rivalry has been incredibly weird over the last few years, and the Giants have owned Cowboys Stadium since its opening. To me though, I think that the Cowboys, despite the loss of Sean Lee, will pull something out of their you-know-what, and win this game. I'm confident in saying that, because for as good as the Giants have been, I think the Cowboys will come to play against their division rivals. It'll be a classic encounter.

New York 31 Dallas 34

vs.

New Orleans Saints vs. Denver Broncos

NBC | 8:20 PM ET

Commentators: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya

If it were non-Bountygate, I'd say this was a premier matchup on the schedule. Now? It's a matchup of a team that's greatly underachieving (Saints) against a team that I'm not sure what to make of (Broncos). While the Saints offense seems to be back in flux, their defense has been downright abhorrent. The Broncos, meanwhile, have been very good on offense, and also pretty darn good on defense too. What I want to see is how well the defense of the Broncos can matchup with the Saints' offense. Can they create enough pressure on Brees to force him into bad situations? Or will Brees do what he does best and pick them apart? When it comes down to it though, the Broncos are greatly helped by the home factor, and with it scheduled to be in the 30's on Sunday night, that might spell doom for the dome-happy Saints. I think the Broncos get themselves a victory to start a run towards an AFC West title.

New Orleans 21 Denver 35