NFL Week 9 Predictions: Early Vegas Odds Advice, Lines and Spread Picks

We've reached the halfway point of the 2016 NFL season. After the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears play on Monday night, eight weeks of football action will be in the books. In only a few days, Week 9 will be underway.

We've learned quite a bit over the first two months of the season. The good teams are beginning to establish themselves. The bad teams are making their existence known. There are, of course, a large number of teams that fall somewhere in between the two extremes, and it can be difficult to predict how those are going to fare.

This is never going to stop us from making our predictions, though, which is what we're going to do here. We'll be looking ahead to Week 9 and making our picks against the early lines—provided by Odds Shark. We'll also examine some of the more interesting matchups on the upcoming slate.

Game	Early Line	Prediction
Atlanta at Tampa Bay	TB -1	ATL
Pittsburgh at Baltimore	BAL -3	PIT
Philadelphia at NY Giants	NYG -3	NYG
NY Jets at Miami	MIA -3	MIA
Dallas at Cleveland	DAL -6.5	CLE
Jacksonville at Kansas City	KC -7.5	KC
Detroit at Minnesota	MIN -6.5	MIN
Carolina at Los Angeles	CAR -2	CAR
New Orleans at San Francisco	NO -3	NO
Tennessee at San Diego	SD -5	SD
Indianapolis at Green Bay	GB -7	IND
Denver at Oakland	DEN -1	DEN
Buffalo at Seattle	SEA -7	BUF

Matchups to Watch

Carolina Panthers at Los Angeles Rams

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It may be a bit premature to say that the Carolina Panthers are back to being playoff contenders. However, the team's 30-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday did project the sense that this team isn't ready to give up on the season.

At 2-5, it will be a steep uphill battle for Carolina, to be sure.

"We’ve done some good things, but you are what your record says," Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said of the latest victory, per Michael Persinger of the Charlotte Observer. "We’ve got to keep rolling."

The next challenge comes in the form of the Los Angeles Rams—and this game will be on the road.

The fact the game is being played in Los Angeles makes it a bit harder to pick the Panthers, but there are a couple of reasons we're going to do so.

Carolina appeared to have tightened up its defense during the bye, and the team was able to corral Arizona's 10th-ranked offense (374.4 yards per game). So long as what we saw wasn't a mirage, the Panthers should be able to do the same with L.A.'s 30th-ranked offense (307.6 yards per game).

Cam Newton and the Panthers offense also looked rejuvenated on Sunday, racking up 349 total yards. That Cardinals defense is rated second overall by Pro Football Focus, one spot higher than the Rams defense. 

This should be a close game, but one the Panthers can certainly take.

Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders

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The marquee game of the week comes between the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders. Along with the Dallas Cowboys, the Raiders have become one of the hottest young teams in the NFL and appear to be legitimate contenders.

We'll find out in Week 9 if Oakland is ready to take the next step and truly seize control of the AFC West.

The Raiders' overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday proved two things: The Raiders are a confident team that isn't going to quit, and they are still a young team that is going to make a lot of silly mistakes.

The Raiders lead the NFL in penalties, and they set a new standard for laundry-gathering against the Buccaneers.

The mistake-prone nature of the Raiders is the primary reason we believe the Broncos can steal a win in Week 9. Denver is a more experienced and more mature football team. Otherwise, these two rivals appear evenly matched.

Oakland is rated first in overall offense by Pro Football Focus. Denver is rated first in overall defense.

We'll bank on experience and efficiency being the deciding factors in this game, with the Broncos coming out on top. When the two teams face off again in Week 17, though, the Raiders may well have grown enough to be the better team.

Buffalo Bills at Seattle Seahawks

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The upcoming matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Seattle Seahawks has grown a lot more interesting over the past couple of weeks. The Bills still look to be in the second tier of teams—good, but not true contenders—but the Seahawks may be trending that way as well.

A week after struggling to break a tie with the Cardinals, the Seahawks outright lost to the New Orleans Saints.

The fact that Seattle surrendered 375 yards of offense to the Saints is a bit alarming because it shows that this Seattle defense isn't playing at the level it once did. More alarming, though, is the fact the team could only muster 20 points against a New Orleans defense ranked 31st in scoring (30.7 points per game allowed).

Seattle will get a bit of an advantage by playing at home, but they'll also be facing a much more efficient Bills defense.

Let's not be fooled by the fact the New England Patriots gashed Buffalo for 41 points on Sunday. Tom Brady and Co. are going to do that to a lot of teams in the coming weeks. The Bills defense is still a quality unit—rated 11th overall by Pro Football Focus.

Where the Bills can gain their advantage in this game is on the ground. The Saints racked up 123 rushing yards against a Seattle defense that is ranked eighth in the league (89.7 yards per game allowed) but might not be as good as advertised. The team allowed Cardinals back David Johnson to rush for 113 yards in Week 7.

The Bills should be able to field a strong running game against Seattle, especially if starting back LeSean McCoy is able to return from his hamstring injury.

We're not sure the Bills can pull off the upset road victory, but we're even less convinced the Seahawks can win by more than a touchdown.