NFL Week 8 Picks: Houston Texans and First-Place Teams That Will Keep Rolling

While it may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, it is certainly nice to be atop your division at any point in the season. Much is sure to change as we reach the season's half-way mark, but now is the perfect time for divisional leaders to entrench themselves.

Several such teams will have terrific opportunities this weekend. Here are three first-place teams that will maintain or extend their leads with wins in Week 8. 

New York Giants

Despite tons of hype surrounding the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys entering the season, it is the New York Giants who lead the NFC East with a record of 4-2.

The Giants can certainly be an enigmatic team at times, but they unquestionably have the talent to ultimately win the division.

That being said, New York has made a habit of losing to inferior teams—including the Seattle Seahawks, a few weeks ago—which is a bit concerning. However, the G-Men have a cushy matchup against the winless Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

The Giants have continued to get healthy on defense and should be able to shut down the Dolphins, who haven't looked good with Matt Moore at quarterback.

Miami also has a very weak pass defense this year, and that bodes well for the Giants. Quarterback Eli Manning's inconsistency is a microcosm of the team, but he has generally been very good thus far. I expect "Good Eli" to make another appearance this week in a Giants win. 

San Francisco 49ers

Perhaps no team has got off to a start as shockingly good as the San Francisco 49ers. The Niners were expected to do big things last season, but were incredibly disappointing. However, they seem to have made amends this year under new head coach Jim Harbaugh.

With the meat of their schedule likely behind them, it isn't inconceivable that the Niners could run the table or at least come close to it. They will host the 3-3 Cleveland Browns this weekend, which is a team that is honestly a testament to doing more with less.

The 49ers are clearly the more talented team, but Cleveland has played very well defensively and won't simply lay down for San Francisco. The Browns are gritty enough to hang around for a while, but the 49ers will ultimately put them away and extend their already lengthy NFC West lead. 

Houston Texans

After stud wide receiver Andre Johnson suffered a hamstring injury, prompting a two-game losing streak, it seemed like many were beginning to lose faith in the Houston Texans. With the Indianapolis Colts in a black hole without Peyton Manning, the AFC South is ripe for the picking.

Houston's only true competition at this point is the Tennessee Titans, but the Texans have have essentially made it a one-horse race when they obliterated the Titans by a score of 41-7 last Sunday. The win only gives them a half-game lead in the division, but it is once again clear that the Texans are the class of the AFC South.

The Texans will have a great chance to keep rolling as they host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. While the Jags were able to upset the Baltimore Ravens last week, they don't have enough offensive firepower to hurt Houston. With Johnson quite possibly returning to the lineup as well, the Texans are in great shape to carry their momentum moving forward.