Week 8, …The Beginning!!

Let’s get right to this weeks picks.

Cleveland at St. Louis
The Cleveland Browns travel to St. Louis to play the 0-7 Rams. The Browns are coming off a bye week and the Rams are coming off a week that saw their starting QB have a tiff with the head coach on the sideline during the game. I think we can all agree that that is not a good thing. I just don’t think the Rams are that bad and the Browns haven’t won a game on the road this year, so I’m going to take the Rams at home.

Detroit at Chicago
The Lions travel to the “Windy City” to take on the Bears. The Bears salvaged their season last week by beating the Eagles and now they get a surprising Lions team at home. The weather shouldn’t be a factor. I’ve been right with the Lions a couple of times lately, but I think the Bears will protect their home field and win this one 20-17.

Indianapolis at Carolina
All the talk around Carolina is “who’s gonna play quarterback this week??” Does anyone think it’s going to matter?? The Colts are coming to town. Indy will win this game easily and extend their record to 7-0, setting up the “game of the year” on Nov. 4 with the Patriots. The Panthers simply have too many questions for them to be a real threat to the Colts this weekend.

The New York Giants at Miami in London
Nothing is going right for the Dolphins and everything is going right for the Giants. Having said that, I think the Dolphins will show up and play hard, but in the end the G-men will prove to be too strong for the fish. Eli Manning will continue his good play and the Giants will prevail 20-10.

Oakland at Tennessee
The somewhat improved Raiders will go to Nashville to play the Titans. Vince Young will be back at the helm for the Titans and that will prove to be the difference in the game. Tennessee will win this one 23-14.

Philadelphia at Minnesota
Donovan McNabb and the Eagles pay a visit to the “Giant Hefty Bag” in Minnesota Sunday to play the Vikings. If the Vikes can run the ball effectively they have a good chance of stealing this game. The Eagles have underachieved all year and appear ready to fall off the deep end, but something inside me says they aren’t ready to quit just yet. I think they rebound and beat the Vikings 23-21.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
At the beginning of the season, I thought this would be a showdown for the lead in the AFC North. Instead, we have a game that features one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL this year against one of the most disappointing teams from this past weekend. The Steelers should have beaten a week Broncos team last Sunday night, but they managed to let it slip away at the last minute. The Bengals defense can’t stop anyone and their offense hasn’t lived up to it’s billing at all. I think the Steelers will right the ship and win this one by a field goal.

That’s it for the first half of the picks for week 8. Please come back tomorrow for the rest.