NFL Week 8 thread -- RIP Larry Wilson

Other great names who wore No. 8 include Hoot Flanagan and Two-Bits Homan.

THURSDAY NIGHT
ATL at CAR (-2.5)

SUNDAY EARLY
NE at BUF (-3.5)
TEN (-5.5) at CIN
LV at CLE (-2.5)
IND (-3) at DET
MIN at GB (-6.5)
NYJ at KC (-19.5)
LAR (-3.5) at MIA
PIT at BAL (-3.5)

SUNDAY LATE
LAC (-3) at DEN
NO at CHI (NL)
SF at SEA (-3)

SUNDAY NIGHT
DAL at PHI (NL)

MONDAY NIGHT
TB (-10) at NYG

BYE
ARZ, WSH, JAX, HOU

Some sneaky entertaining games in the early window, aside from the obvious Steelers-Ravens matchup. ... That New England team looked absolutely done against San Fran but Belichick usually kills Buffalo so we'll see if the Bills can actually get it done. ... Indy-Detroit should be good simply because Detroit is always in it at the end of games. ... I'll be tuning into a movie or something on Sunday night. God, what a shit balls game. ... Eli will come out of retirement for Monday night simply to taunt Brady.

 

Pats looked done, but the Bills haven’t looked so hot lately, either. They lost two in a row, then scored zero touchdowns in beating the Jets.

 

Love TB at NYG - but then again, it's Brady against the Giants...

Cowboys look to be trading the malcontents - Griffen to Detroit for a conditional pick.

 

So Trevor Lawrence looks at the winless Jets and begins to muse aloud about one more year at Clemson. That would be the most Jets thing ever, if he refused to come out to prevent them from drafting him.

 

Keep Pounding, Ron.

 

I know Peyton Manning did snub the Jets. But if you wait a year you probably wind up at another doormat like the WFT or the Lions. In New York you at least ahve an organization that will spend some money to support you. And I don't think the Jets are quite as poorly managed as the WFT or a couple other teams.

 

Is there really another organization in the NFL that won’t spend money other than the Bengals?

 

I don't think any are as remotely as cheap as the Bengals. But I think that some team are more reluctant to upfront money on contracts and to push the ceiling of the cap than others. Off the top of my head I would think Arizona has historically been the second cheapest team in the NFL. I think the Jaguars, Steelers and Chargers would be teams that have been reluctant to push the upper limits of the salary cap.

 

Oakland Raiders. Apparently,they literally didn't have the money to pay Mack.

 

Fair. I would say teams like New England and Pittsburgh have simply been smarter than most.

 

This feels like a week where you can find a couple of teams that are absolutely quitting for one reason or another. The Cowboys are obviously there, and if you can get the Eagles as less than a touchdown favorite that's worth jumping on.
I think the Vikings are close to that edge as well. Green Bay only giving 6.5 at home is mighty juicy.
Hard to say if the Patriots are there yet. They looked terrible Sunday and Buffalo is good enough and motivated enough to lay the wood to them, but the Patriots are still Dracula. Gotta drive the stake through their heart, and until you do it's not over.
The Bengals, Falcons and Giants are all bad teams, but frisky bad. They're still capable of giving you a hard time and a close game. The Falcons should probably be 4-3 instead of 1-6.
The Jets stink, but I don't think they've quit yet.

Games I like this week are:
• Cincinnati +5.5 vs. Tennessee - Both teams just seem to play close games every week, so this has to come down to a field goal, right? They've played 13 games combined this season, and three have been decided by more than six points.
• Rams -3.5 at Miami - Rookie QB for Miami making his first start against a solid defense. Only worry is that the Rams have a cross country trip, a short week and an early kickoff. So which one gives?
• Raiders +2.5 at Browns - The Raiders feel like a better team than 3-3, and how the hell are the Browns 5-2?
• Packers -6.5 vs. Vikings - See above. The Vikings are teetering on the edge, and the Packers handled them pretty well in Week 1. This is either the week they rally for one last stand, or the week everything really falls apart in an ugly 42-10 loss where Aaron Rodgers throws for 450 yards and six touchdowns. I'd lean toward the latter.
• Eagles -TBA vs. Cowboys - If this line is in the single digits, especially if DiNucci is the QB, it's worth betting. If it's less than 7 points with Dalton, that might be even better. The Eagles aren't great, but the Cowboys are lost and still falling. They've got a couple more stinkers in them before they hit rock bottom and get to play the Vikings in a couple of weeks.
The Eagles are listed as -3.5 on Vegas Insider, but check your local listings.

 

If taken by the Jets, he'd have first pick money and would be living in New York, which is both good (one of the great cities) and bad (media microscope, fan expectations/demands/lunacy). The perennial curse of the #1 overall pick is that barring the rare trade sending you elsewhere, you go to one of the very worst teams in the league. Going to a doormat is a given. I don't know that I agree with his doing it, but I understand his reservations. I'd think that any other team would be better than Dan Snyder's Washington, but that's just me.