Week 8 Predictions

Oakland 14, Baltimore 20 - The Raiders finally got a win against the Jets. But the Jets defense is pretty horrible and they got really lucky. The Raiders are also vulnerable to the run, so unless McGahee & Co. lay an egg on the magnitude of the Colts game, the Ravens should be fine.

Arizona 20, Carolina 27 - Well I learned the hard way last week about how West Coast teams traveling East for early games never win. Plus it's the Cardinals, who on their last road trip posted consecutive losses to the Redskins and the Jets. After holding Drew Brees and the Saints to 7 points, surely they can deal with Kurt Warner...?

Tampa Bay 27, Dallas 20 - Tampa Bay's defense is going to have a field day with Brad Johnson. If Dallas starts Tony Romo with his broken finger, Gaines Adams is the perfect candidate to break it again. Since the Cowboys learned that you shouldn't rush players back from injury (Safety Roy Williams went on IR last week after re-breaking his arm, which actually helps Dallas), I don't think Romo will start.

Washington 31, Detroit 17 - We'll see if Calvin Johnson can follow up on his monster outing last week, but I doubt it. Dan Orlovsky? Please. The Redskins have a history of losing to horrible 0-X teams though, so an upset would be pretty funny.

Buffalo 27, Miami 14- The retarded Wildcat finally lost some steam last week, and Buffalo dismantled the Chargers in week 7. They're also used to Chad Pennington, and the Bills have a good record against the Dolphins in the past couple of years. Then again, who doesn't?

St. Louis 17, New England 27 - The win over Denver was kind of convincing, but I wouldn't even be surprised if the Rams pulled the upset here. Both teams are still terrible.

San Diego 27, New Orleans 20 (IN LONDON) - If the weather doesn't cooperate (like last year) this will turn into another 10-7 stinkfest on both sides, further eroding European interest in the NFL. Why play it in London? Play somewhere interesting like Amsterdam or Paris. Anyway, both teams are coming off of big losses, but with Reggie Bush out for a month the Saints are in trouble.

Kansas City 13, NYJ 27- Kansas City let Lendale White (!) rush for almost 150 yards. I didn't even know Lendale White was capable of running that far in a season, let alone a single game. Look for lots of Thomas Jones and then a few play-action passes to put the Jets up big early.

Atlanta 20, Philadelphia 24- On the road against a good rush defense and a fairly good pass defense. Factor in a rookie quarterback and that Jim Johnson likes to blitz. Philadelphia should be able to wrap this one up, and if they can't they should just take knees for every play the rest of the season and not ruin their draft pick any further.

Cleveland 13, Jacksonville 28 - Yeah ok they beat the Giants. The Browns are still awful. At least we aren't subjected to the inevitable torture that is Brady Quinn.

Cincinnati 10, Houston 30 - The Texans will be good on offense as long as Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson stay healthy (hah, imagine that!). The Texans are severaly lacking on defense, but luckily they're playing the Bengals this week.

NYG 20, Pittsburgh 23 - I will concede that Pittsburgh has exceeded my low expectations despite a slew of injuries. The Giants were upset against the Browns on national TV in week 6 but seem to be back on track. The Steelers are good enough to match up with the Giants' weak secondary, and I like to think ben Roethlisberger is in a different league than Derek Anderson and JT O'Sullivan.

Seattle 14, San Francisco 23- I guess I have to pick a winner in this one, so I'll go with the home team. That and the Seahawks are awful. A recent column by one of the ESPN bloggers (I guess it was Mike Sando) blames the Seattle offense as being a major part of the defense's problems. I don't really buy into that, considering they played plenty of close games last year and still won the division. Sure they aren't scoring as many points and the defense is on the field longer, but it's definitely not the entire story. Offensive woes can't be blamed for 44-6 routs.

Indianapolis 13, Tennessee 27- Everyone gave the Colts a chance last week and they blew it. If they can't perform against a crappy NFC North team (it honestly doesn't matter which one) then they certainly aren't going to do it against a dominant Tennessee defense and ground game.