NFL Predictions Week 8: Tom Brady and 5 QBs Who Will Light It Up

Tom Brady of the New England Patriots leads a group of five NFL quarterbacks that will light it up this weekend and lead their teams to victory. The game between the Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers is, no doubt, the game of the week.

Of the five games we will discuss here, there should be two blowouts, two games decided late in the fourth quarter and one with a modest margin of victory.

In all five cases, the winning quarterback will take the leading role for his team.

Drew Brees

Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints had a remarkable game last week with five touchdown passes against the winless Indianapolis Colts. This week he goes up against another winless team, the St. Louis Rams.

Brees has averaged over 350 passing yards in his seven starts this season. Jimmy Graham leads all NFL tight ends with 45 catches and 674 yards. Marques Colston, who had over 1,000 pass receiving yards in each of the past two years, seems to have recovered from an ealier injury.

A repeat of last week's performance is not out of the question here. Brees should lead the Saints to another easy victory this week.

Ryan Fitzpatrick

Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Buffalo Bills have a home game against the Washington Redskins this week.

The Redskins' offense will be missing Tim Hightower, Santana Moss, Chris Cooley and two linemen. So the Redskins' time of possession will be low. This will give the Bills' offense plenty of time to do damage.

Fitzpatrick is averaging two touchdown passes and just under 250 passing yards per game so far this year. I expect him to surpass those numbers by 50 percent and lead the Bills to an easy victory against the Redskins.

Alex Smith

Alex Smith and the San Francisco 49ers bring their 5-1 record into this week's home game with the Cleveland Browns.

With Frank Gore averaging five yards per carry and over 90 rushing yards per game, Smith doesn't have to air it out like some of his quarterback peers. For example, Smith is average approximately half the passing yardage per game that Drew Brees has this year. He just passes enough to win the game.

The 49ers have outscored the opposition by six points or fewer in three of their five wins. So they have learned to score just enough to win, and I expect them to do exactly this against the Browns this week.

Michael Vick

This is the time for Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles to step it up. Lose another division game at home and this would pretty much end any slight playoff chances the team has.

Andy Reid's regular season record after the bye week is an amazing 12-0, and I expect this streak to continue with this week's game against the Dallas Cowboys.

This will not be an easy victory for the Eagles. Their linebackers will have trouble covering Jason Witten and stopping the runs of DeMarco Murray. They have a disgruntled star player in Asante Samuel.

But the Eagles get two important linemen back in the lineup: Trent Cole on defense and Jason Peters on offense.

I see the Eagles pulling the game out with a fourth quarter drive. Vick will use his legs, not his arm to score the decisive touchdown. This time when it is first and goal, it will not be three running plays up the middle for no gain. Instead, it will be Vick going on a planned run to the right side for the score.

Tom Brady

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have won five of their last six games at Pittsburgh, a fact that is certainly not missed by Steelers' fans.

So far this year the Patriots are first in total offense as well as passing offense, averaging around 475 yards and 350 yards, respectively. Wes Welker is the league leader with 51 pass receptions and seems to be almost unstoppable in critical situations.

I look for this game to be a high scoring affair, a shoot out been Brady and Ben Roethlisberger, with Brady pulling out the game at the end with one of his patented two-minute drills. And again, it will be one of the tight ends making the winning catch.