Week 8 NFL Picks: Odds, Prop Bets and Predictions for Sunday's Schedule

The Oakland Raiders are coming off a crucial Week 7 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, and that 31-30 triumph kept their hopes alive to turn their season around and make a run at a spot in the AFC playoffs.

The Raiders are limping along with a 3-4 record, but if they had not scored on the final play of the game, they would have been in a much worse spot at 2-5.

Quarterback Derek Carr made something of a heroic comeback in that game, returning from a broken bone in his back to throw for 417 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Carr and Amari Cooper (seven receptions for 210 yards and two TDs) were both dominant, and tight end Jared Cook contributed six catches for 107 yards.

The Raiders had to depend on their passing game, as the Chiefs stifled the running game. Head coach Jack Del Rio hopes to fix that issue when Oakland takes on the Buffalo Bills on the road Sunday. The game marks the Raiders' third Eastern road trip of the season. They defeated the Tennessee Titans on the road in Week 1 but lost to the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Week 3.

The Bills bring a 4-2 record into this game, and Sean McDermott's team is clearly in a position to make a run at a playoff berth for the first time since 1999. However, there are legitimate questions whether the rebuilding team is clearly interested in going for it this season.

They let wide receiver Robert Woods go via free agency in the offseason, they traded wide receiver Sammy Watkins to the Los Angeles Rams in the preseason and they traded defensive tackle Marcell Dareus to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Friday. Additionally, they don't appear to have much confidence in QB Tyrod Taylor. He is rarely asked to lead the team by making big plays. 

Instead, he is more of the game manager, even though he has completed 62.1 percent of passes for 1,178 yards with seven TDs and two interceptions. Taylor has thrown just 169 passes this season, while Buffalo's opponents have have thrown the ball 233 times.

The Bills are two-point home favorites, according to OddsShark, and that's the kind of spread they should be able to handle. The Raiders are unlikely to cope with third trip East in the first half of the season, and while the Chiefs victory was solid, the defense may not be good enough to win on the road against this opponent.

Take the Bills and lay the points.

Week 8 Point Spreads and Predictions

Minnesota vs. Cleveland (London), Minn. -10/37.5, Cleveland*/Under

Chicago at New Orleans, NO -9/47, Chicago*/Under

Oakland at Buffalo, Buff. -2/46.5, Buffalo/Over

Indianapolis at Cincinnati, Cinn. -10.5/42, Indianapolis*/Over

Los Angeles Chargers at New England, NE -7.5/48, Los Angeles*/Over

Atlanta at N.Y. Jets, Atl. -6.5/44.5, Atlanta/Under

San Francisco at Philadelphia, Phil. -12.5/45, Philadelphia/Over

Carolina at Tampa Bay, TB -1.5/46, Tampa Bay/Over

Houston at Seattle, Sea. -6/46, Seattle/Over

Dallas at Washington, Dall. -1.5/47.5, Washington/Over

Pittsburgh at Detroit, Pitt. -3/45.5, Detroit/Over

Denver at Kansas City, KC -7.5/43, Kansas City/Under

*—Will cover point spread but fail to win game.

Butch Dill/Associated Press

Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions

The Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) appear to have righted themselves after an awful Week 5 home loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Since that defeat, they have beaten the Chiefs on the road and followed that with a solid 15-point victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Steelers will try to assert themselves against the Detroit Lions, and the trip to Motown should be an exciting QB matchup between Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers and Matthew Stafford of the Lions. 

This is a game Detroit (3-3) badly needs since it has not won since beating the Minnesota Vikings in Week 4. Since then, the Lions have dropped consecutive games to the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints prior to regrouping during their bye week.

The home team should be quite sharp, and they need to come out with a purpose and try to put the Steelers on their heels. Stafford has one of the toughest and most dependable receivers in the league in Golden Tate, and former Bengal Marvin Jones would like nothing better than to make a big play or two against the Steelers.

Rookie Kenny Golladay has not been a consistent factor, but he has the speed to make a key contribution, while tight end Eric Ebron can be a third-down or red-zone factor.

The Lions tend to be one-dimensional since the running game is pedestrian, and that's something the Steelers definitely are not.

Running back Le'Veon Bell is going back to Michigan, and after starring at Michigan State, he would love to give some of his old college fans a thrill. Wide receiver Antonio Brown is capable of taking over any game for the Steelers.

Pittsburgh is a three-point road favorite and is coming up to its bye. The team may not be prepared to put in its best effort.

Look for the Lions to steal this game at home against the powerful Steelers.

Prop Bet

Oddschecker shows that some bookmakers offer bettors a chance to wager on the player who will score the opening touchdown in a given NFL game. We are quite interested in the Los Angeles Chargers-New England Patriots matchup at Foxborough, Massachusetts.

The Patriots are 7.5-point favorites, but the Chargers have won three games in a row after a hard-luck 0-4 start. Los Angeles could easily have been victorious in two of those four losses.

While the Patriots feel like they can dominate at home, the loss of defensive leader Dont'a Hightower (torn pectoral muscle) will hurt them. It could make the home team vulnerable to giving up the first touchdown of the game.

New England tight end Rob Gronkowski is the favorite at 6-1 to score the opening touchdown, while Los Angeles running back Melvin Gordon is listed at 8-1. Patriots wide receivers Chris Hogan and Brandin Cooks are also listed at 8-1.

The player who has our attention in is Chargers tight end Hunter Henry, who is listed at 12-1. Henry offers excellent value, and QB Philip Rivers will look his way in the red zone. Take Henry in the prop bet to score the first TD in the Los Angeles-New England game.