Upsets by the Jets, Ravens, Dolphins, and Texans ruined a lot of people’s Week 8 picks. As for now, I am staying above the .600 winning percentage mark after 120 contests.
As for the Los Angeles Rams, they will return to action with a home date against the New Orleans Saints in Week 9. While the Saints are inferior competition to the Rams, LA must get a win coming out of the bye in order to boost its NFC conference winning percentage, a key tiebreaker for playoff standings. Here’s how I see the Rams game and other Week 9 games unfolding…
Week 8 picks: 7-6, Cumulative picks: 72-47-1 (.605)
Week 9 Matchups & Predictions
(Thursday) Baltimore Ravens @ Miami Dolphins, 8:15 PM EST
I don’t understand the Miami Dolphins. When they are supposed to be bad, they win. When you think they will beat a Cleveland Browns team, they get smoked.
Lamar Jackson is expected to return and although there might be some rust, I don’t see how Miami contains Baltimore’s offense with the running threats of Lamar and Derrick Henry.
Pick: Ravens win 30-20
Chicago Bears @ Cincinnati Bengals, 1:00 PM EST
Cincinnati’s defense is bad and that will allow Ben Johnson to exploit enough areas to get Caleb Williams operating successfully.
Cincinnati needed that win last week against New York and they might have lost their season with that collapse.
Pick: Bears win 24-20
Minnesota Vikings @ Detroit Lions, 1:00 PM EST
Someone at ESPN wrote about how the NFC North could produce four playoff teams. Talk about clickbait. The NFC North will only produce two playoff teams. Detroit and Green Bay. Chicago and Minnesota don’t have the caliber of quarterback play to make the dance.
Detroit will exploit the Vikings on both sides of the ball. The defense could give up 40 points and the offense will be trying to get out of neutral with JJ McCarthy resuming his role under center.
Pick: Lions 40-17
Carolina Panthers @ Green Bay Packers, 1:00 PM EST
GB is undefeated at home and will take on a Panthers team that is 1-3 on the road. I don’t see the Panthers pulling off an upset in Lambeau.
Pick: Packers win 33-17
Los Angeles Chargers @ Tennessee Titans, 1:00 PM EST
The Titans are trading away assets, one of which to the Rams. Justin Herbert should be able to expose a thin Tennessee secondary.
Pick: Chargers win 34-14
Atlanta Falcons @ New England Patriots, 1:00 PM EST
The Falcons are a confusing team too. They beat the Bills but lost to the Dolphins. New England is on a heater right now and I’ll take them at home with Atlanta having to play in the northeast, away from their indoor stadium.
Pick: Patriots win 27-20
San Francisco 49ers @ New York Giants, 1:00 PM EST
The injuries for the 49ers are beginning to become insurmountable. Fortunately for them, the Giants have lost Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo, making life for rookie Jaxson Dart very difficult.
Pick: 49ers win 26-16
Indianapolis Colts @ Pittsburgh Steelers, 1:00 PM EST
I’m going to make my upset pick here. Something tells me that the Colts will get tripped up. Pittsburgh’s defense has been awful but just when you feel like Tomlin’s teams are bad, they surprise you. With the game being in Pittsburgh, I think they find a way to slow down Jonathan Taylor and Indy enough.
Pick: Steelers win 24-23
Denver Broncos @ Houston Texans, 1:00 PM EST
Two great defenses will highlight this game. Houston is starting to find a rhythm on offense. However, the Broncos will be too much for them to figure out…even at home.
Pick: Broncos win 24-20
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Las Vegas Raiders, 4:05 PM EST
The Jaguars have been plagued by a lot of self inflicted mistakes (drops and penalties). If they lose this game it’s because of those things still lingering. I’m going to ride with them though coming off a bye week and having time to scheme and game plan against a weak Raiders team.
Pick: Jaguars win 23-17
New Orleans Saints @ Los Angeles Rams, 4:05 PM EST
With a weak opponent after a bye week, I am expecting there to be some sluggish behavior with LA. But they cannot afford to lose this NFC game. Doing so would drop them to 0-3 in conference play. They must beat a bad opponent the way they are capable of (i.e. Jacksonville in Week 7). If anything, maybe I am predicting the defense to underperform with the Saints turning to rookie quarterback Tyler Shough…an unknown.
Pick: Rams win 30-20
Kansas City Chiefs @ Buffalo Bills, 4:25 PM EST
Buffalo figured out how to lessen the load for Josh Allen. James Cook had a field day against Carolina.
The Bills strength of victory is only .256, so their 5-2 record has been padded by beating bad teams (Dolphins, Panthers, Jets, Saints).
I’m giving Mahomes and the Chiefs the nod here because of their win over Detroit. They have an extra gear right now that I’m not sure the Bills have found yet.
I think we will get another wire to wire game with KC and BUF…
Pick: Chiefs win 28-27
(Sunday Night Football) Seattle Seahawks @ Washington Commanders, 8:20 PM EST
Even if Jayden Daniels plays, I think Seattle controls this game with their defense. Bobby Wagner and the Commanders might play with a little extra heart against Wagner’s former team but that will only carry them so far.
Pick: Seahawks 24-16
(Monday Night Football) Arizona Cardinals @ Dallas Cowboys, 8:15 PM EST
The Jonathan Gannon seat is getting hot. And asking his team to slow down the number two overall offense is a troublesome task. Furthermore, Dallas is averaging 41.3 ppg at home this year! Give me a Brandon Aubrey field goal for the game winner.
Pick: Cowboys win 33-30
Teams on Bye: Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
What are your predictions for Week 9? Is this a trap game for Los Angeles or do they win handedly? Include your picks and predictions in the comments below.
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