NFL Week 8 picks against the spread
By Nick Villano
New Orleans Saints @ Minnesota Vikings (-2.5)
Please, please, please keep giving Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints points. They are on a five-game winning streak after a questionable start to the season. They proved last week that they can still score against the best defenses in the league. Despite the fact they got very lucky at the end of the game, I still would bet on Brees to win it in overtimes.
The Saints just added Eli Apple to help out the secondary, although I think he’s going to get torched this matchup. He’s not ready to step into the defense and go against Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs. This Vikings offense is really starting to click, with Kirk Cousins getting more and more consistent.
The problem is this Vikings team still has some turmoil. Everson Griffin returns to the team this week, but it’s hard to tell what his mental state will be. There are just too many questions surrounding the Vikings, even at home. Take Brees and the points.
New Orleans 44, Minnesota 41
Next: Best NFL player from each state
New England Patriots (-13) @ Buffalo Bills
The New England Patriots get a gift when facing this Buffalo Bills team. Instead of facing Josh Allen, who was doing some things with his feet, a major weakness of the Pats, they get Derek Anderson. Anderson was not in the league a week ago, but now he’s starting on Monday Night Football against the Patriots.
Honestly, there isn’t much to say about this matchup. The Patriots offense is on a roll thanks to the chemistry between Tom Brady and Josh Gordon. Rob Gronkowski will be back for this matchup. The Pats lost Sony Michel, but James White looked amazing in his absence.
The Bills are just a bad team. They honestly hurt themselves by winning those two games, because they could sorely use Nick Bosa in this year’s draft. It looks like he’s going to the Cardinals. Either way, 13 may be a lot of points, but not enough in this matchup.
New England 31, Buffalo 13