Another week of NFL action has arrived, with the Tennessee Titans dispatching the Jacksonville Jaguars already on Thursday Night Football. NFL bettors looking for a fun upset bid could have considered that game to start week eight, but ultimately Marcus Mariota and co. stepped up their game and Blake Bortles looked about as brutal as ever.
New Orleans winning at home isn’t a stretch, but the Saints beating the Seahawks might be. That’s the main reason Drew Brees enter week eight as underdogs on their own turf, and it’s quite possibly why they end up dropping to 2-5.
The bad part here is the Saints haven’t even been elite on their own field (1-2), while Seattle has been one of the more balanced teams in the league during a 4-1-1 start. That being said, the Seahawks could not close the deal last week in Arizona, which could begin to showcase some road woes. They also struggled at Los Angeles in a loss in week two and for the most part in 2016, really haven’t looked quite like themselves.
Seattle is still probably winning this week, but the Saints are deadly at home and Seattle has been struggling. It may make sense to take advantage of that.
San Diego is another team to consider this week, as they face off with the hated Broncos for their second showdown of the year. They outlasted the Broncos at home earlier this year and that, coupled with a crazy overtime win in Atlanta last week, could give them enough to think they can pull off the sweep.
Logic does not suggest a Chargers sweep is going down in Denver, but with Broncos star rusher C.J. Anderson (knee) sidelined, Denver isn’t 100% and could be in a vulnerable spot. That may not be a terrible time to bet on a rising divisional foe to get the best of the defending champs.
Dallas is getting a lot of credit for a team that has won some close games and is still being led by two key rookies on offense. On the other side, the Eagles just became the first team to knock off the Minnesota Vikings, yet they enter this divisional clash as the clear underdog.
Carson Wentz has been exposed a bit over Philly’s last few games, but the Eagles rallied around him last week and suddenly this week 8 battle has the top of the NFC East completely up for grabs. The Cowboys have been better and cleaner through seven weeks, but there is a feeling a trip-up is just around the corner. This could be the week where betting against Dak Prescott and co. finally pays off.
This is the one week 8 NFL upset that I’m not totally enamored with. These other games have serious chances at pulling off upsets, but betting on the Bears to stage an upset over the Vikings feels like a reach.
Of course, there is some logic to support that notion Jay Cutler (thumb) is back under center, and while his team seems to have largely abandoned him, there is a certain level of “anger” narrative here that looks appealing. Cutler has to know that he’s basically playing for his life beyond Chicago, so in a lost season, could he show up big at home and stun the Vikings?
Perhaps, plus the idea of playing spoiler in general has to be appealing for everyone in Chicago. There is also the case of natural regression, as Minnesota suffered their first loss of the season last week and looked all kinds of awful in the process. Was that an unmasking of a pretender? If so, the rival Bears could use the return of Cutler and a huge NFC North clash at Soldier Field to launch themselves on the front page of newspapers, come Monday.
Minnesota probably still gets the win here, but there are some fun narratives that could have you giving this bet a cursory glance in week eight.
No matter which NFL games you bet on this week, we wish you luck!