NFL Week 8 Picks: Breaking Down Best Picks Against the Spread

A crazy weekend in the NFL altered the landscape of the league as many stars went down with injuries, and the Week 8 slate is full of spread predictions that are bound to go awry.

With the bye weeks in full effect, it'll be a shortened slate of games as six teams—Tennessee, Chicago, Indianapolis, San Diego, Baltimore and Houston—will get the weekend off.

Let's take a look at the best picks to make against the spread over the weekend.

Away Team	Home Team	Pick (ATS)
Carolina Panthers (-7)	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Panthers
San Francisco 49ers (-17)	Jacksonville Jaguars	49ers
Dallas Cowboys	Detroit Lions (-3)	Cowboys
New York Giants	Philadelphia Eagles (-6)	Eagles
Cleveland Browns	Kansas City Chiefs (-9)	Chiefs
Buffalo Bills	New Orleans Saints (-11)	Saints
Miami Dolphins	New England Patriots (-7)	Dolphins
New York Jets	Cincinnati Bengals (-7)	Bengals
Pittsburgh Steelers (-3)	Oakland Raiders	Steelers
Washington Redskins	Denver Broncos (-14)	Broncos
Atlanta Falcons	Arizona Cardinals (-2.5)	Cardinals
Green Bay Packers (-10)	Minnesota Vikings	Packers
Seattle Seahawks (-11)	St. Louis Rams	Seahawks

Spreads for ATL/ARI and BUF/NO via VegasInsider.com, all others via Bovada.lv

Miami Dolphins (+7) over New England Patriots

The Pats got Rob Gronkowski back in Week 7 against the Jets but continued to struggle in the passing game, despite Tom Brady throwing his way a whopping 17 times on the day. They lost in overtime, 30-27.

In the two previous games—one a 13-6 loss to Cincinnati, and the other a late comeback win over New Orleans—Brady had one touchdown and two picks while completing less than 50 percent of his attempts in each game. 

The Dolphins are sputtering as well, having lost three straight since starting the season 3-0. But they led Buffalo late last week, and nearly sent Baltimore to overtime before missing a deep field goal. 

Miami's offense is improving in the run game after a nonexistent performance against the Ravens and going for 120 on the ground as a team against Buffalo. Against an even worse Patriots run defense—that is without Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo and ranks 31st in the category—that should continue. 

Brady's clutch gene will power the Patriots to a win, but it'll have to come late and that will result in the Dolphins topping the spread.

Prediction: Patriots 27, Dolphins 23

Dallas Cowboys (+3) over Detroit Lions

After a gut-wrenching loss to Denver a couple weeks back, the Cowboys have been rolling in two straight victories heading into a tough road test against Detroit.

The Lions aren't playing poorly at the moment, beating Cleveland by two touchdowns before dropping a late contest to Cincinnati, 27-24. But they gave up 372 yards through the air to Andy Dalton, a solid quarterback but one who doesn't often scorch defenses for ridiculous yardage. 

With Tony Romo coming in and playing in a dome—a setting he's somewhat used to—he's a near lock to continue putting up gaudy numbers and add onto his already impressive total of 2,010 passing yards and 15 touchdowns (only five picks).

Detroit's passing offense has been potent as well but is often fueled by a formidable running game, and the Cowboys' defense has been particularly stingy in that department, ranking 13th in run defense. 

The Cowboys will continue rolling and pull out a tough win against a Detroit team that isn't getting nearly enough on defense.

Prediction: Cowboys 31, Lions 28

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