NFL Week 9 picks against the spread

Week 8 was another winning week for FanSided’s NFL picks against the spread, but this week provides some serious challenges. With the matchups getting harder, and the bye weeks making it even more difficult, where can you make some serious money this week?

Last week saw some of the best games of the year to date. The Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers put on a clinic, up until a kick returner ruined the game for Aaron Rodgers. Fitzmagic made it’s long awaited return, and almost ruined a major Bengals lead. The Kansas City Chiefs needed another major Patrick Mahomes performance to squeak past the Denver Broncos.

In the few days since Week 8 ended, we had our first coach fired, a very busy trade deadline, the possible replacement to Eli Manning spending time behind bars, and the return of the easiest bet in the history of the league. That’s right, we are talking about Nathan Peterman! We’ll get to that later.

This week, the way the bye weeks worked out make the matchups increasingly hard. In fact, half the matchups will be hard to pick straight up, but we will put our winning streak on the line either way. It’s been close to a month since a losing streak. Let’s not do it again.

Last Week: 8-6
Season Record: 53-58-5

As always, we will get our lines from Westgate.

Oakland Raiders @ San Francisco 49ers (-3)

Well, this is a bad start. This reminds us of Thursday Night Football games of old, when the NFL would put the worst teams against each other just to get them their guaranteed nationally televised game. This looked like a good game before the season. Jimmy Garoppolo and Jon Gruden were supposed to breathe new life into this former rivalry.

That just wasn’t meant to be. This game is as much a fight for who gets Nick Bosa as a rivalry matchup. The Raiders and 49ers are two of the worst teams in the league. The Cardinals have two wins thanks to the 49ers. Meanwhile, the Raiders lone win came against the Browns in overtime.

This matchup is terrible, and I recommend you skip watching it, but it seems like an easy bet. Derek Carr has been doing his best to throw this team into games the past few weeks. The 49ers, on the other hand, have zero discernible qualities. There’s no reason they should get points, even at home.

Oakland 21, San Francisco 17