The NFL season continues to roll along, as Week 8 is already underway after the Chargers bounced back from a thrashing with one of their own against the Vikings on Thursday Night Football. Now our focus is fully on the loaded Sunday slate, led by Jets vs. Bengals, Buccaneers vs. Saints, Giants vs. Eagles, 49ers vs. Texas, and Packers vs. Steelers.
Here at Pickswise, we have you covered on EVERY GAME on the Week 8 card! You can find our NFL picks for EVERY side and total, and tail our expert handicappers – who collectively boast a 120-97-1 record so far this season! But for now, let’s break down our NFL best bets from our top experts.
NFL best bet: New York Jets vs Cincinnati Bengals Over 44.5 (-110)
Odds widely available at the time of publishing.
New York has not been able to score the last 2 weeks, putting up 17 points after 3 straight games of scoring 20+ points. The Jets are figuring out if Tyrod Taylor or Justin Fields will be the starting quarterback, while star WR Garrett Wilson is day-to-day with a knee injury. The Bengals have easily cashed the over in all 3 home games, combining for 58 points or more each time.
Cincinnati’s defense has allowed 27 or more points in 6 consecutive games since giving up 16 points to Joe Flacco and the Browns. Now that Flacco is with the Bengals, the offense has exploded since being shut out in the first half at Green Bay in Week 6. Cincinnati has scored 61 points in the past 6 quarters, capped off by the 33-31 last-second victory in Week 7 against Pittsburgh.
The Jets have played 2 true road games, hitting the over in losses to the Buccaneers and Dolphins, while allowing an average of 28.0 points per game. In Taylor’s lone start at Tampa Bay, he failed to get the Jets in the end zone in the first 3 quarters before New York scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. Granted, one of those TDs came on a blocked field goal returned for a score, but the Jets finally busted out late before losing to the Bucs.
New York has done a solid job limiting opponents to an average of 197.1 passing yards, ranking 9th in the NFL. Star CB Sauce Gardner is questionable for Sunday’s game in concussion protocol, as he looks to play in Cincinnati for the first time in his career, where he played college football for the Bearcats.
The Jets have plenty of questions regarding injuries to key players in this game and don’t even know who the starting quarterback is. However, this total is at 44.5 and we can see some points here with Cincinnati’s resurgence offensively and struggles on the defensive side.
Read our full Jets vs Bengals prediction
NFL best bet: Buffalo Bills -7 over Carolina Panthers (-112)
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook at the time of publishing.
Buffalo is back from the bye week, looking to get on track following consecutive losses to New England and Atlanta. The Bills, who started the season at 4-0, are now sitting in 2nd place of the AFC East behind the 5-2 Patriots. Buffalo heads to Carolina to face the Panthers, who are set to start veteran Andy Dalton at QB in place of the injured Bryce Young. The Panthers began the season with road defeats at Jacksonville and Arizona, but Carolina stormed back with 4 wins in their last 5 games. Carolina owns a perfect 3-0 home record this season and held off the winless Jets, 13-6 at Met Life Stadium last Sunday. Young sustained a right ankle injury in the 3rd quarter and was replaced by Dalton, who threw for 60 yards in relief.
The Bills are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games, coming off the 24-14 Monday night loss to the Falcons in Week 6. QB Josh Allen has thrown multiple TD passes in 4 consecutive games, but last season’s MVP has been intercepted 3 times in the past 2 losses. In both road games, Allen has completed 56.9% of his passes, compared to 73.2% of his attempts at home.
Buffalo has lost 4 of its past 6 away games since last December, while Carolina is 4-0 in its previous 4 home contests. Dalton won his first start with the Panthers last season, but proceeded to drop his next 4 games before Young returned to the lineup. Buffalo ranks 3rd in the NFL in yards per game at 378.3, while Carolina is 7th defensively in yards allowed at 295.7 per game. Carolina has been an underdog in all 3 home games and were close to losing twice to Miami and Dallas. Buffalo will be a public play here, but it’s hard to think the Bills won’t be ready off the bye week trying to snap a 2-game slide against a veteran backup at quarterback for Carolina.
We have picks on the side and total in our Bills vs Panthers prediction
NFL best bet: Miami Dolphins vs Atlanta Falcons Over 44.5 (-110)
Odds courtesy of Fanatics Sportsbook at the time of publishing.
This is a dreadful matchup for Miami’s defense. The Fins are dead-last in run defense in the entire NFL, giving up 159.3 such yards per contest on 5.2 yards per carry (fourth worst in the league). Robinson was bottled up at San Francisco last weekend, but both he and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. have fared far better at home than they have on the road.
Atlanta’s defensive numbers are outstanding, but that is largely due to playing against a string of unspectacular quarterbacks (other than Josh Allen, of course). They even were lucky enough to face Marcus Mariota instead of Jayden Daniels when the Commanders paid a visit to Atlanta. The Dolphins at least have some talented players on their roster, at least offensively – including QB Tua Tagovailoa and RB De’Von Achane. Prior to last week’s stinker against a very good Cleveland defense, Miami had scored more than 20 points in 5 consecutive outings.
Find our full Dolphins vs Falcons prediction
NFL best bet: Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New Orleans Saints Under 47 (-110)
Odds available at bet365 at the time of publishing.
The Saints do not inspire any confidence on the offensive side of the ball. They have been held under the 20-point mark 5 times this season and have scored more than 21 points just once – when they benefited from 5 Giants turnovers and were basically always playing with a short field. Spencer Rattler is nothing more than a game manager at quarterback, counted on primarily to not make mistakes – which he was accomplishing for the most part until suddenly throwing 3 interceptions in last weekend’s loss to Chicago. Because RB Alvin Kamara, WR Chris Olave and TE Juwan Johnson are all listed as questionable for Sunday, it’s hard to see New Orleans scoring many points, so my Buccaneers vs Saints pick is under 47.
As well as Baker Mayfield is playing, it’s hard to see Tampa Bay putting up a huge number. After all, it was just limited to 9 points by the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football. Now one of the most banged-up teams in football has to play on a short week, which is not good news for the offense. Evans is on injured reserve after breaking his collarbone against Detroit, while Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving are also out. Furthermore, the Bucs have 2 offensive linemen who would normally be in the lineup on injured reserve and 2 more who are questionable for Sunday. All things considered, let’s back the under with a ton of confidence.
Don’t forget to check out our Buccaneers vs Saints prediction
NFL best bet: Pittsburgh Steelers +3 over Green Bay Packers (-115)
Odds available at BetMGM at the time of publishing.
The Packers have been unimpressive now for 4 straight weeks. In Weeks 1 and 2, which feel like a century ago, Green Bay looked like they might have one of the best rosters in the NFL, anchored by their newest x-factor in Micah Parsons. But since 2 impressive wins at home, it’s been less than stellar. The Packers lost at Cleveland in Week 3, allowing Joe Flacco to score 13 unanswered 4th-quarter points. Then, they tied with Dallas in overtime before they barely got by the hapless Bengals and Cardinals. Jordan Love has been consistent, but that doesn’t mean it’s been anything above average. Through 6 weeks, he ranks 13th with 1,438 passing yards and 15th with 10 touchdowns. Perhaps his greatest quality so far is he doesn’t turn over the ball, throwing just 2 interceptions entering Week 7. The Packers eventually seem to find ways to score, thriving on third downs (1st, 49.33%), fourth downs (8th, 71.43%), and in red-zone TD-rate (5th, 72%). But they’ve also mostly faced pedestrian defenses. When they have faced above-average defenses (CLE, AZ), it hasn’t been pretty (230 and 262 total yards).
The Steelers are a mirror image of the Packers offensively, with above average marks (25 points per game, 12th) and are at their best on third downs (8th) and in the red zone (4th). The difference in this game is Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers undoubtedly cares a lot about this game. In the years to come, he will be memorialized as a first ballot Hall of Famer because of his time in Green Bay, but he also still holds resentment and regret from his time there. He also gets to face his former coach, the same guy who he had plenty of sideline battles and drama with. Following a loss, we love the Steelers to show up for their quarterback, to wreak havoc on defense, and to expose a Green Bay program that’s been regressing for weeks.
Here are our Packers vs Steelers predictions for SNF
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