NFL Week 8 Picks: Midweek Vegas Odds and Score Predictions

The middle of the week looks like the sweet spot for NFL bettors.

Going into the middle of the buildup for Week 8, those who wish to throw coin down have a good idea as to how Las Vegas feels about the entire slate and which direction both oddsmakers and bettors alike want to push things as the contests near.

This allows bettors to strike right away if necessary or drag their feet until near kickoff and then capitalize on a line trending in a direction they prefer. 

Below, let's look at the available lines for the slate and nail down predictions for each.

NFL Week 8 Odds

Game	Spread	O/U	Predicted Winner
Miami at New England	NE -8	51	NE 33-28
Detroit vs. Kansas City (London)	KC -5	45	DET 21-20
Tampa Bay at Atlanta	ATL-7.5	48.5	ATL 27-24
San Diego at Baltimore	BAL -3	50	SD 35-17
Minnesota at Chicago	E	42	MIN 28-14
Arizona at Cleveland	ARI -4.5	46	ARI 34-17
Tennessee at Houston	NL	--	TEN 17-14
New York Giants at New Orleans	NO -3	49	NO 24-23
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh	E	48.5	CIN 27-23
San Francisco at St. Louis	STL -9.5	39.5	STL 23-20
New York Jets at Oakland	NYJ -1	44	NYJ 20-14
Seattle at Dallas	SEA -6	40.5	SEA 21-17
Green Bay at Denver	GB -3	45.5	GB 28-17
Indianapolis at Carolina	CAR -7.5	46.5	CAR 30-20

Odds courtesy of Odds Shark.   

Analyzing Midweek Lines

Detroit vs. Kansas City (-5)

Say hello to the toughest line of the week. 

The Detroit Lions sit as one of the league's biggest disappointments at 1-6, the lone win an overtime struggle against the miserable Chicago Bears. It's the same story for the 2-5 Kansas City Chiefs, a team that needed to beat one of the league's worst (Houston) and one without its starting quarterback (Pittsburgh) to avoid a goose egg in the win column.

Oh, and this one goes down in London.

Maybe this isn't such a must-avoid matchup, though. After all, the Lions just cleaned part of the offensive house, per ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein, meaning the offense should perform better against one of the league's worst defenses against the pass.

Kansas City allows 264.6 passing yards per game and north of 100 rushing yards, too, so a fresh offensive approach from Matthew Stafford and Co. shouldn't have any problems moving the ball compared to an offense grounded by the loss of Jamaal Charles. Look for the Lions to control the pace and prove Las Vegas wrong.

Prediction: Lions 21, Chiefs 20

New York Giants at New Orleans (-3)

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Then again, this one isn't much easier.

The New Orleans Saints have had Drew Brees under center over the course of their last four games and won three. The New York Giants have won four of five, although the loss came to the best team (Philadelphia) of the stretch in 27-7 fashion.

Now it's a showdown between Brees and Eli Manning against a pair of defenses ranked 26th or worse in terms of yards allowed through the air per game. Brees is completing 67.6 percent of his passes with eight touchdowns to four picks, while Manning sits at 64.9 percent with 11 touchdowns to four picks.

Translation: Neither should have problems moving the ball.

The difference between two desperate teams with similar builds might just be venue. Two of New York's three losses this year have come on the road, including the blowout in Philadelphia. This one will be closer, but the red-hot Saints will edge the Giants late with Brees through the air.

Prediction: Saints 24, Giants 23

San Francisco at St. Louis (-9.5)

One of the biggest lines of the week might also qualify as the most confusing.

The San Francisco 49ers look like an absolute mess at 2-5, but the St. Louis Rams haven't exactly been the model of consistency at 3-3, having upset a team like Arizona but suffering a blowout at the hands of Washington.

Inconsistency aside, it's not hard to see why Las Vegas sides with the Rams here. The 49ers have yet to win a game on the road, and there's the beginning of what looks like a quarterback controversy with Colin Kaepernick under center, who has thrown six touchdowns to five picks and more than 200 yards in a game just three times.

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com shed some light on the situation:

"

What’s truly important is how Kaepernick performs on the field. Coach Jim Tomsula, when asked Friday about Kaepernick’s status heading into the 49ers’ next game at St. Louis, said there are “no controversies.”

He said, “Colin’s our quarterback today.”

"

Despite the issues, the Rams have allowed 22 or more points four times already. The offense under Nick Foles (six touchdowns, five interceptions) isn't much more potent than San Francisco's, with the only saving grace the fact this one comes at home.

In a run-first affair, look for the Rams to fend off the visitors with exciting rookie Todd Gurley (287 rushing yards, two scores over last two games), but don't expect either team to be able to pull away.

Prediction: Rams 23, 49ers 20

Stats courtesy of NFL.com and accurate as of Oct. 27. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.