Week 8 NFL straight up, against the spread, and survivor pool picks

For the gambling degenerates, here are my Week 8 NFL picks. The team logos indicate who I think will win the game, not cover the spread. At the end of the picks, I’ll note a few teams that I like based on the spread.

Vikings at Chargers (-3): I hate to be so reductive in my #analysis, but one of these teams is starting Carson Wentz at quarterback, and one isn’t. Give me the one that isn’t.

Giants at Eagles (-7.5): The Eagles got their asses kicked a couple weeks ago by this Giants team, notably in the trenches on both sides of the ball. On defense, they struggled getting a couple of rookies in QB Jaxson Dart and RB Cam Skattebo to the ground. Skattebo ran over Eagles defenders all night, while Dart slithered out of sacks and made off-schedule plays.

On offense, Jalen Hurts had his worst game of 2025, missing a wide-open DeVonta Smith deep down the field, and throwing a bad sideline ball that resulted in his lone INT of the season.

The Eagles’ badness even carried over into special teams, where the returners couldn’t even field kickoffs.

The Eagles played about as badly as they are capable of playing, and the Giants played about as well as they can.

The biggest difference between this game and the Week 6 game is that Jalen Carter will play. He was a surprise scratch Week 6, but has since recovered and had arguably his best game of the season Week 7 in Minnesota. The defense looks completely different when he plays and is on his game. Hurts had easily his best game of the season in Minnesota as well, as the passing offense looked legitimately dangerous for the first time all season.

I’ll keep it simple. I expect the Eagles to play a lot better than they did a couple weeks ago, and the Giants to not play as well as they did.

All of the Eagles’ wins have been one-score games, though, so I do like the Giants to cover the 7.5 points.

Jets at Bengals (-6.5): After looking like one of the worst teams in the NFL at one point this season, the Bengals have a chance to get back to .500 against the winless Jets. They are very much still in contention in the wildly overrated AFC North. If Joe Flacco can keep them afloat for a couple of months, the Bengals could get Joe Burrow back in time to make a playoff run.

Bears at Ravens (-6.5): The Ravens will get Lamar Jackson back for this game, and like the Bengals above, they aren’t out of the AFC North hunt, even at 1-5.

49ers at Texans (-1.5): Ugh. Both of these teams have major issues, and the 49ers remain extremely banged up. But, they find ways to win games, and the Texans find ways to lose them.

Dolphins at Falcons (-7.5): I’m not sure why the Dolphins haven’t fired everyone yet. They’re a mess on and off the field.

I will say that if there’s a team they can beat, it’s the Falcons, if they catch them on the right week. Atlanta has been arguably the most inconsistent team in the NFL, looking decent one week, and the horrid the next. So, you know, beware of taking the Falcons, ever, in your survivor pools.

Bills (-7.5) at Panthers: The Panthers are a fun story this season, but they’ve had one of the easiest schedules in the NFL. Going toe-to-toe with the Bills, especially if they’re without Bryce Young, is too big of a challenge.

Browns at Patri*ts (-7): Drake Maye is putting together an MVP type of season, and the Pats will return home after three road wins in three straight weeks.

Buccaneers (-4) at Saints: I’ve been picking the Bucs against the spread almost every week, and they’ve been a rare reliable team for me this season. But I just can’t anymore, because of their absolutely insane injury list, which doesn’t even note that starters Mike Evans, Luke Goedeke, Cody Mauch, and Calijah Kancey are on IR.

Titans at Colts (-14): If you’re a Cardinals fan, you have to be livid that your team got the wrong 2022 Eagles coordinator during the 2023 hiring cycle (video via Inside The NFL): 

Shane Steichen is going to be a shoo-in for NFL Coach of the Year if the Colts close this season the way they have started it.

And, of course, there’s little reason to believe they won’t take care of the Titans. 

Cowboys at Broncos (-3.5): This should be a fun matchup between the Cowboys’ explosive offense vs. the Broncos’ very good defense. A matchup that I hate for the Cowboys is their shaky offensive tackles vs. the Broncos’ elite edge rushing duo of Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper.

Packers (-3) at Steelers: If you read these picks each week, you’ve seen me mention the site Inpredictable, which are rankings based on betting market information. It’s a great tool for identifying teams that are being overrated and underrated by sportsbooks. The most overrated team in the NFL by betting markets is the Steelers, in my opinion, at 12th. They are most certainly not the 12th best team in the NFL, which makes them an easy team to pick against. I’ll lay the 3 points with Green Bay.

Commanders at Chiefs (-12.5): In the last four weeks, the Commanders have suffered a decisive road loss to the Falcons, a gutting home loss to the Bears, and a blowout loss to the Cowboys. They also lost Jayden Daniels for a two-game stretch with a knee injury earlier this season, and they’ll be without him again this week because of a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, after a slow start to the season, the Chiefs are getting healthy again at wide receiver and their offense has taken off, as they have averaged 31.5 points per game over their last four games.

I don’t expect this bad, old Commanders defense to be able to consistently get stops against Patrick Mahomes and Co., and Marcus Mariota isn’t going to be able to hang in a shootout.

BYE: Lions, Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks, Raiders, Jaguars.