NFL Week 8 Predictions

Week 8 NFL Predictions

Boxscores and stats from every upcoming game

By Paul Bessire, WhatIfSports.com

October 21st, 2008

Each Tuesday morning, we will preview every NFL game of the upcoming week. All of our NFL content, including our most recent power rankings and weekly fantasy projections, is located here. If you want to take WhatIfSports weekly college football and/or NFL picks with you (to your MySpace, Facebook or personal homepage), please see the widget below on the right or at this page.

The inputs to the 10,001 simulations of each upcoming game are based on a rigorous analysis of each team that considers strength-of-schedule-adjusted team and player ratings and then makes modifications for injuries and depth at each position.

Game of the Week: #6 New York Giants 16 @ #2 Pittsburgh 26
Watch for falling quarterbacks in this game between the top two sacking defenses in the NFL. I will admit that this outcome seemed surprising at first - not in the fact that Pittsburgh defeats New York, but that it does so convincingly. The Giants are the defending Super Bowl champions and a very good team, yet they have faced the league's easiest schedule thus far. The Steelers may very well be the best team in football with or without Willie Parker. The biggest key to this result is that the Steelers defense negates the Giants main strength: running the football. Pittsburgh is holding opponents to just 2.9 yards-per-rush. New York is leading the league at a remarkable 5.6 yards-per-rush on offense, but the Giants have yet to face a team like this. If the Steelers can just keep New York to the league average or lower (4.2 ypc), it should be able to dictate tempo, hit a couple of big plays in the passing game and prevail. We like Pittsburgh impose its will at home in the spotlight 79.8% of the time and by an average score of 26-16.

Click on the Boxscores below to see detailed team and player stat projections for every game.

Week 8 Scores for Every NFL Game

Matchup	Home Win%	Avg Score
Kansas City @ New York	88.5	18-32	Boxscore
Oakland @ Baltimore	85.2	11-22	Boxscore
Atlanta @ Philadelphia	83.1	17-30	Boxscore
Cincinnati @ Houston	80.9	17-27	Boxscore
New York @ Pittsburgh	79.8	16-26	Boxscore
Indianapolis @ Tennessee	73.2	17-26	Boxscore
Cleveland @ Jacksonville	71.1	16-23	Boxscore
Seattle @ San Francisco	70.8	17-25	Boxscore
St. Louis @ New England	69.1	21-28	Boxscore
San Diego @ New Orleans	62.4	24-28	Boxscore
Arizona @ Carolina	59.2	22-25	Boxscore
Buffalo @ Miami	59	23-25	Boxscore
Tampa Bay @ Dallas	46.9	26-21	Boxscore
Washington @ Detroit	15	31-16	Boxscore

Paul Bessire is the Senior Quantitative Analyst and Content Manager for WhatIfSports.com and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. With any comments, questions or topic suggestions, Paul can be reached at [e-mail]. Thanks!