If you’re a Colts, Buccaneers, or Packers fan, you definitely don’t need to celebrate Halloween on Monday, and that’s because you’ve dealt with enough horrors this year — you’ve been forced to watch your team play offense. .
If you’re a fan of one of these teams and need a costume idea, I’ve got some quick ones. If you’re a Colts fan, you can go as the bench, since that’s where Matt Ryan will spend the rest of the season. If you’re a Buccaneers fan, you can go as Father Time, as it looks like he might have finally found Tom Brady. And if you’re a Packers fan, you couldn’t be anything, because that’s what Green Bay has done on offense all season.
After watching all three of these teams lose in Week 7, I can’t pick one to beat in Week 8? CAN I? Let’s go to the elections and find out.
In fact, before we get to the Week 8 picks, here’s a quick reminder that you can check out the weekly picks from all of CBSSports.com’s NFL experts by clicking here. Also, as you probably know because I point it out every week, I’m responsible for the NFL newsletter here at CBSSports.com. If you want to subscribe, just click here and enter your email address. I get a four cent bonus every time someone signs up, although it’s not as lucrative as it sounds because I have to pay six cents back every time I get sick, so I think I’m losing money on this deal. I will probably have to fix this during the next contract negotiation.
Since I’m publishing a newsletter now, you might think I’ll be too busy to do podcasts, but I’m not. If there are two things I’m never too busy for, it’s podcasting and playing Star Wars Monopoly.
For the rest of the season, I’ll be joining Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday) on the Pick Six Podcast, which is our daily NFL podcast here at CBSSports.com. You can listen to Tuesday’s episode below. The reason you’ll want to check it out is because we spent half the podcast wondering if Justin Fields is any good after what he did to the Patriots on Monday.
OK, enough rambling, let’s get to the election.
NFL Week 8 picks
Baltimore (4-3) at Tampa Bay (3-4)
8:15 PM ET, Thursday (Amazon Prime)
Latest odds: Baltimore Ravens -1.5
Usually, when I see Tom Brady play in primetime, I automatically pick his team to win because I hate betting against Brady, especially when that game is on a Thursday. However, I’m now throwing out all my automatic “pick Tom Brady to win” rules because Tom Brady doesn’t play like Tom Brady anymore.
One rule is that you never pick against Brady in a Thursday night game because he is 10-1 all-time when he has to play on just three days rest. However, that rule means nothing to me now because Brady is 45 years old and no 45 year old can work on three days off. Also, the Buccaneers offense looks broken and I’m not convinced it can be fixed in just three days.
Another Brady rule he always followed is that you should never go against him when he’s an underdog at home. In his 23-year career, Brady has only been a home underdog a total of 12 times and has gone 9-3 in those games (11-1 against the spread). However, the Buccaneers lost last week to a team (Carolina) that fired their coach and traded their best player in an 11-day span and if they can lose to the Panthers, they can lose to anyone. I mean, I’m not sure what the bottom line is in the NFL, but just scoring three points against the Panthers has to be close. Brady is probably starting to wish he had stayed retired.
Not only has the Buccaneers offense broken down, but their defense can’t stop the run and that’s the one weakness you can’t afford to have when you face the NFL’s fifth-ranked Ravens averaging 156.3 rushing yards. per party
The Ravens have held a double-digit lead in every game they’ve played this season and if they get one against Tampa Bay, it’s hard to see the Bucs making any kind of comeback considering how bad their offense has looked.
As you can probably tell by now, I’m breaking all my Brady rules and taking the Ravens.
The pick: Ravens 23-20 over Buccaneers
Carolina (2-5) at Atlanta (3-4)
1 p.m. ET (Fox)
Latest odds: Atlanta Falcons -4.5
If you had told me before the season started that something involving Panthers and Falcons would be must-see TV in October, I would have assumed you were talking about a show on Animal Planet involving real Panthers and Falcons, but no. , this week’s game is MUST SEE TV.
If you’re wondering if I did tequila shots before writing this, the answer is no, I actually think this game is must-see TV and that’s because first place might be on the line. If the Buccaneers lose to the Ravens on Thursday night, the winner of that game will take over first place in the NFC South.
If the Falcons win, they would move to 4-4, which would give them a one game lead over the next best team. If the Panthers win, they would improve to 3-5 and hold the tiebreaker over both the Buccaneers and Falcons thanks to their 3-0 division record.
Nothing sums up this crazy NFL season more than what Carolina is going through right now: The Panthers traded away their best offensive player, fired their coach and are on their third choice at quarterback, but they could be No. 1 heading into Week 9 if they can win on Sunday.
The only problem is that I don’t think they can win on Sunday. If there’s one thing the Panthers defense struggles with, it’s stopping the run. The problem with this is that running the ball is the only thing the Falcons are good at on offense. The Falcons average 156.9 yards per game on the ground, which ranks fourth in the NFL. The Falcons love to run the ball so much that they refuse to throw it even when they probably should. In the NFL, most teams will throw the ball when they’re ahead, but not the Falcons. Against the Bengals in Week 7, the Falcons were outscored by 21 points in the first half and 18 points in the second, but still only threw 13 passes the entire game.
The Falcons are going to run the ball and they don’t mind you know they will and I think they will do it all the way to the top of the division with a win over the Panthers. The Falcons being top after eight weeks would be the most shocking thing to happen in the world of falconry since Ken Mortimer left his family in 1992 to become a falconer.
I’ve also thought about going off the grid to train hawks, but I can barely function on the grid so it probably wouldn’t be a great idea.
The pick: Falcons 23-17 over Panthers
NY Giants (6-1) at Seattle (4-3)
4:25 PM ET (Fox)
Latest odds: Seattle Seahawks -3.5
I don’t know how it happened, but after falling off the face of the earth for nearly six years, Geno Smith has not only re-emerged, he’s re-emerged playing the best football of his life. Through seven weeks, Smith has played so well that it looks like he could end up being an MVP candidate. Is it silly to talk about MVP candidates in October? Probably, but I also once thought it would be dumb to bring up Smith’s name in any MVP conversation, but here we are, so I’m not going to pretend to know anything about what’s dumb and what’s not.
Before signing with the Seahawks in 2020, Smith played with three teams over the first seven seasons of his career and one of those teams was the GIANTS. During his time in New York, Smith was known for doing exactly one thing and that is ending Eli Manning’s hitting streak that he started. Needless to say, New York fans did not take the news well.
Two years later, Manning would be benched again, but this time for Daniel Jones, which means we’re now getting a matchup of the only two quarterbacks Eli Manning was benched for. Has the world come full circle…or has it come full circle? I’m not sure, you’d have to ask Geno.
The interesting…