NFL Picks Week 8: Top Teams That Will Fail to Cover Spread

Week 8 of the NFL season has some favorite teams winning by sizable amounts against some pretty good competition. Against the spread (ATS) is not the same thing as winning and losing, and you’d do yourself some good by doing some more research before placing your final bets or making your picks today.

New England (4-3 ATS), Chicago (4-2 ATS) and Pittsburgh (2-4 ATS) are all favorites in close matchups that may be a lot closer than the spread indicates.

Check out why these favorites won’t cover today.

 

New England Patriots (-7) over St. Louis Rams

If there are any remaining questions about the weakness of the New England Patriots, you obviously haven’t been watching as of late. Last week, a horrendous New York Jets passing game looked like all-pros against the Pats’ secondary.

Tom Brady is a dangerous player behind center and will be able to put some points on the board. But not likely enough that the Rams aren’t able to make up for it when given their chances on offense.

This game is in unfamiliar territory, at Wembley Stadium in London. The Pats have played at Wembley before in 2009, defeating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35-7.

Bill Belichick’s Pats won’t cover the spread because they’re giving up way too many points on defense. Will they win? Most likely, but it will be a high-scoring and close game that gives the English audience a good show.

 

Chicago Bears (-7) over Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers nearly covered the spread last week to move to 3-0 against the spread (ATS) to cover as the underdog. A timeout by Dallas negated a first down by the Panthers and they failed to convert on the ensuing fourth-down play.

That gave the ball back to Dallas, who kicked a spread-winning field goal with only 53 seconds to play.

This week, the Panthers look to play spoilers to Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears’ relative success ATS this season. Last week against Detroit was their first failure to do so.

Chicago and Carolina are both heading in opposite directions but both are good enough in most aspects of the game to keep this one close. I don’t think the Panthers will win, as they’ve shown an inability to finish games.

Turnovers will be the key to this one. The only game that the Panthers have been truly “out of” was the Week 3 shellacking at the hands of the New York Giants. Newton threw three interceptions and kick returner Joe Adams lost two fumbles to lead to that lopsided loss.

 

Pittsburgh Steelers (-4.5) over Washington Redskins

Pittsburgh has an explosive offense, but its defense is not the same dominating force that it once was. Still, it’s a good unit that may be able to help them win some more games in 2012.

However, despite the good defenses it’s faced, the Robert Griffin III-led Washington Redskins have shown they can move the football and put up points against anyone they face.

Washington is 4-3 ATS while the Steelers have not had a good run of it this season, posting just a 2-4 record ATS.

Pittsburgh will likely be starting Jonathan Dwyer at running back against a pretty stout Redskins defensive front-seven. However, it’s not likely going to make much of a difference as I anticipate a high-scoring affair at Heinz Field that ends with a Steelers field goal for the narrow victory.

Steelers win, but fail to cover the 4.5 points.

 

 

Mike Hoag Jr. is a B/R Breaking News Team writer and covers the NFL, NCAA Football and the Cleveland Browns for the site. Follow him on Twitter for analysis and updates on the latest news and happenings in the sports world.

Follow @BigHoagowski