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NFL Week 8 picks against the spread

By Nick Villano

LONDON, ENG - OCTOBER 21: The NFL logo awaits the crowds before the doors open to fans at the NFL game between the Tennessee Titans and the Los Angeles Chargers on October 21, 2018 at Wembley Stadium, London, England. (Photo by Martin Leitch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENG - OCTOBER 21: The NFL logo awaits the crowds before the doors open to fans at the NFL game between the Tennessee Titans and the Los Angeles Chargers on October 21, 2018 at Wembley Stadium, London, England. (Photo by Martin Leitch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

Green Bay Packers @ Los Angeles Rams (-8.5)

You’ve heard it all week long. Aaron Rodgers is facing the biggest point spread of his career. If you are hearing it all week long, guess who else has to answer questions about it all week long? Rodgers seems like the kind of player that sees these things and on the inside lets them motivate him.

The Los Angeles Rams have been rolling through their schedule thus far this season, but it’s not like they haven’t had close games. Over the last four weeks, they theoretically could have lost three games (the Broncos game is a stretch, but I’m counting it). Just because the Rams beat up on a bad 49ers team doesn’t mean they are all of a sudden eight points better than Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers are coming off their bye week. They’ve has two weeks to prepare for this matchup. The Rams had a layup last week, so their confidence is a little irrational just right now. They deserve to be confident overall, but this isn’t like the 2007 Patriots over here. They’ve been close in about half of their games. Not only are we going with the Packers to cover, we’re picking them to win!

Green Bay 41, Los Angeles (R) 38

Indianapolis Colts (-1.5) @ Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders have thrown in the towel. They’ve given their price. Anybody can be had for a first-round pick. The latest player to be traded was wide receiver Amari Cooper. It’s not like he was having a great season, but now who is there to even worry about on this Jon Gruden offense? Marshawn Lynch is done for the season, so Derek Carr is trying to do it all by himself, and that’s not a good thing.

Speaking of doing it all by himself, enter Andrew Luck. The Indianapolis Colts quarterback has been carrying this team all season long. Sure, the running game woke up against the Buffalo Bills, but we’re not overly impressed. Luck carried this team to top ten in scoring offense.

This is not a good matchup for the Raiders. They don’t have enough pass rushers to take advantage of the Colts bad offensive line, while having too bad an offense to score with Luck. Go with the Colts, as this may be the biggest lock of the week.

Indianapolis 31, Oakland 10

San Francisco 49ers @ Arizona Cardinals (PK)

We don’t have a pickem game all season long, then we have two in the same week! This isn’t the kind of pickem anyone will take a look at however. In fact, most bettors will stay away from this matchup just so they don’t have to watch.

Here’s the thing, the Cardinals really stink. It’s questionable whether they have anything to go home about. The coaching is not where it needs to be. The offense is putrid. This defense is at least defensible, but with Patrick Peterson rumors demanding the headlines, it could be a distraction.

The 49ers are also really bad, but we aren’t sure if they are fight-for-first-overall bad. We know Kyle Shanahan is a good head coach with bad luck. It’s obvious this team is starting to miss Jimmy Garoppolo. The Niners may be fighting for first overall on paper, and could be the reason for the Cardinals first loss of the season, but we have them getting revenge after a really tough schedule.

San Francisco 29, Arizona 16