Sportsnaut
In NFL Week 7, we saw a historic fourth-quarter rally by the Denver Broncos, the Arizona Cardinals experience another last-minute collapse and blowout victories by the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams. Needless to say, surprises are coming on a weekly basis in this remarkable season and that trend will continue with the NFL schedule this week for Week 8.
Let’s dive into our NFL Week 8 predictions, from a great Thursday Night Football matchup to a Sunday Night Football revenge game and an outstanding battle on Monday night Football to close out the NFL schedule this week.
Related: NFL Week 8 Power Rankings
It’s difficult to have confidence in either of these teams entering their Week 8 matchup, especially given how surprising many of the Thursday Night Football results have been this season. On one side of the field, we have a Los Angeles Chargers team that is 1-3 in its last four games with a bottom-five defense (0.136 EPA per Play) and an offensive line that is starting multiple backups.
On the surface, that would seem like an appealing matchup for the Minnesota Vikings (link to Vikings). However, in the last month, Minnesota has a bottom-10 offense (22nd in EPA per Play), and Carson Wentz will give the Chargers’ defense multiple chances at turnovers. Ultimately, we’re giving the edge to Minnesota because it has the healthier roster and should win the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
If Mike McDaniel isn’t fired before the Week 8 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, he’ll likely be shown the door after this game. The path to beating the Miami Dolphins is rather simple for Atlanta. Give Tyler Allgeier and Bijan Robinson 30-plus touches combined against the league’s worst run defense and rattle Tua Tagovailoa with pressure. Of note, the Falcons have the highest blitz rate (33.9 percent) in the NFL this season. Atlanta should win this one convincingly as long as it plays t its strengths.
Related: Miami Dolphins Coaching Candidates to Replace Mike McDaniel
Neither the Chicago Bears nor the Baltimore Ravens are facing one another at the perfect time. For Chicago, it’s facing this team right as MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson and All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith are set to rejoin the team. As for Baltimore, it matches up with the Bears just as Ben Johnson’s rushing attack (183.5 rushing yards per game and 5.5 yards per carry in last two games) has come alive. Baltimore’s offense has had a very bad habit of turning over the football (16.1 percent turnover rate, 31st in the NFL), but Jackson isn’t responsible for much of that. Given the magnitude of this game for the Ravens’ playoff hopes, we think they pull out a win coming off the bye week.
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