NFL Week 8 Picks: Detroit Lions and Teams That Will Score Big Road Victories

As if winning in the NFL wasn't difficult enough, it is only exacerbated by playing on the road in front of a hostile crowd. As tough as it may be, winning on the road is often what separates a pretty good team from a truly great team.

Most home teams look to be in great position to win this week, but there are several good teams that will have a chance to prove themselves in enemy territory. Here are three teams that will score big Week 8 road victories.

Dallas Cowboys

You might not know it by looking at their 3-3 record, but the Dallas Cowboys can very well be one of the NFL's elite teams. Late-game jitters have cost them on numerous occasions, but they have shown that they are capable of hanging with top-tier teams all season long.

The Cowboys will have a big challenge in front of them against the 2-4 Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night. The Eagles have significantly underachieved, but they got back on track with a win two weeks ago and will surely be desperate to avoid further losses.

There should be tons of offensive fireworks in this game, but it will come down to which team does the little things best. I think the Eagles will have trouble blocking DeMarcus Ware on offense, and stopping running back DeMarco Murray on defense, leading to a Dallas upset.

New Orleans Saints

I think that it's pretty clear the New Orleans Saints were a little miffed about losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers two weeks ago. In order to show their displeasure, they laid a beat down of epic proportions upon the Indianapolis Colts in a 62-7 rout.

The Saints will take their aerial show on the road this week, but the game won't be much tougher as they face the winless St. Louis Rams. Not only will the Rams have trouble stopping Drew Brees and New Orleans' passing game, but they seem very likely to be without quarterback Sam Bradford who is nursing a high ankle sprain.

Even with Bradford I wouldn't like St. Louis' chances, but having A.J. Feeley under center won't do the Rams any favors. I don't expect the Saints to come up with another 62-point effort, but I think they'll coast to another fairly easy win on Sunday.

Detroit Lions

After a 5-0 start the Detroit Lions have fallen on hard times in recent weeks with narrow losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons. The Lions have been right there in every game, though, so I don't view it as anything but a momentary hiccup. 

The Lions will take on the Denver Broncos in a very tough road environment. Denver made the switch to Tim Tebow at quarterback, and while he looked rough for much of last week's game against the Miami Dolphins, he came through with a clutch come-back win in the end.

While I think the Broncos are better than their record suggests, the Lions provide a matchup problem. Tebow was sacked time and again against the Dolphins, and the Lions have a far superior pass rush thanks to Ndamukong Suh, Cliff Avril and Kyle Vanden Bosch. Provided Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford guts it out for the duration of the game with his ankle injury, the Lions will be just fine.