NFL Week 8 Picks: Vegas Odds, Props and Predictions Before Thursday Night

The Minnesota Vikings have been rolling this month, and that's not going to change in their final game of October.

After winning their first three games of the month, scoring at least 28 points in each of them, the Vikings host the Washington Redskins on Thursday night to open Week 8 of the NFL season.

Minnesota has difficult road matchups the following two weeks against Kansas City and Dallas, so it would likely benefit from improving to 6-2 with a win over Washington on short rest.

And that shouldn't be an issue for the Vikings, as the Redskins have won only one of their first seven games, and that was a 17-16 victory over the winless Miami Dolphins.

With Week 8 about to get underway, here's a look at odds and predictions for every game this week, along with more on Thursday's matchup, including a few prop bets to consider.

Week 8 Odds, Picks

Picks are made against the spread.

Washington at Minnesota (-16); Over/Under 42 points

Philadelphia at Buffalo (-1.5); O/U 43.5

L.A. Chargers at Chicago (-3.5); O/U 40.5

N.Y. Giants at Detroit (-6.5); O/U 49.5

Tampa Bay at Tennessee (-2.5); O/U 45.5

Seattle at Atlanta (no line)

Denver at Indianapolis (-5.5); O/U 43

Cincinnati at L.A. Rams (-13.5); O/U 48

Arizona at New Orleans (-10.5); O/U 49

N.Y. Jets at Jacksonville (-6); O/U 41

Carolina at San Francisco (-5.5); O/U 42

Cleveland at New England (-13); O/U 46

Oakland at Houston (-7); O/U 51.5

Green Bay (-4) at Kansas City; O/U 48

Miami at Pittsburgh (-14); O/U 43

Odds obtained via Caesars

Preview, Prop Bets for Thursday Night Football

Thursday's Redskins-Vikings game will feature several players taking on their former team. Most notably, Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins will be facing Washington, which drafted him in 2012.

The 31-year-old played for the Redskins from 2012-17, before joining the Vikings last season.

Cousins was a fourth-round draft pick of Washington, and he didn't become a full-time starter until 2015.

"They picked me when nobody else did. I was sitting around waiting for a phone call for two-and-a-half days," he said, according to the Associated Press (h/t Yahoo Sports). "I was given an opportunity to start when there weren't many people outside of that building who thought I should."

Now, Cousins is going to air it out against his former team in what could be another big game for the Vikings' offense. And it will also be a chance for bettors to cash in.

Over the Vikings' past three games, the Michigan State product has passed for at least 306 yards in each of them, and they were his first 300-yard games of the season. He has also thrown four touchdowns in each of their last two wins over the Eagles and Lions.

Cousins has had past struggles against winning teams, but he's never had much trouble excelling against lesser opponents, which the Redskins certainly are. On Oddschecker, there are bets to make on his passing yards total for Thursday's game with the highest betting line at 300.5. He should have no trouble exceeding 300 yards again, so that should be a good bet to make.

But Cousins won't be the only player going up against his former team. The Redskins' offense features quarterback Case Keenum and running back Adrian Peterson, both of whom used to play for the Vikings.

However, Keenum has struggled this season, Peterson is questionable due to an ankle injury and Washington is coming off a home loss to San Francisco in which it got shut out to fall to 1-6.

So, more prop bets to consider are those that involve the Vikings' defense having success against the Redskins' offense.

For example, two good bets to make via Oddschecker are the under on Keenum's passing yards and the Vikings scoring a defensive touchdown. Keenum should easily be held under 300.5 yards, and it might be worth going even lower as there are bets with the line as low as 200.5.

Since the Redskins fired head coach Jay Gruden and Bill Callahan took over as interim coach on October 7, Keenum has passed for 243 total yards in two games against the Dolphins and 49ers. Don't expect him to have any success against the Vikings, either.