The NFL season moves into the final weekend of October. It’s a bit of an odd week as we have six games where a team is favored by a touchdown or more and then we have eight where teams are favored by three or less. Let’s take a closer look at the games in our NFL Week 8 parlay:
The Favorite
Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs
Odds: Chiefs -10
The Chiefs are a reliable team, certainly on offense. How can you bet against Patrick Mahomes right now? The young star has enabled the Chiefs to lead the NFL in points per game at 37.1. The Broncos, meanwhile, are 19th in the league with 23.6 points per game. That is nearly a two-touchdown difference. Case Keenum has not been what the Broncos hoped he would be. More importantly, the game flow doesn’t seem like it will work for the Broncos. They’re good at running the ball and keeping things close; they’re not a team that’s good at bombing away through the air and getting into shootouts. The Chiefs should get up early and make this uncomfortable for Denver.
Related: NFL Betting Guide | How to Bet Parlays
Pick: Chiefs -10
The Underdog
New York Jets at Chicago Bears
Odds: Bears -7
The Jets and Bears are more similar than you might first realize. Both teams are not too far apart in the league rankings on offense and defense. The Bears are sixth and the Jets 13th, both in the upper half of the league, in points scored per game. The Bears are 11th and the Jets 17th, both in the middle third of the league, in scoring defense on a per-game basis. Both teams have won big blowouts, the Jets by 31 over the Lions and the Bears by 35 over Tampa Bay.
The Bears just feel like a fading commodity right now. They’ve lost two in a row and their defense hasn’t looked as impressive as it did early on. They’ll win this game, but the Jets will find a way to keep this within the touchdown margin.
Pick: Jets +7
The Total
Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Rams
Odds: 56.5
Aaron Rodgers against the Rams’ loaded offense. This feels like a shootout, right? Green Bay scored 33 points in its most recent game. It scored 23 points in its previous game but missed several field goals against the Detroit Lions. The Rams scored 39 points in their most recent game and have scored 33 or more in three of their last four contests. They average 33.6 points per game. If the Rams score at their average – 34 points – Green Bay would need just 23 points to put this game over the number. The Rams will drag the Packers into a shootout. Take the over.
Pick: Over 56.5
The Point Spread
New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills
Odds: Patriots -13.5
We’re not going to overthink this one too much. The Bills’ quarterback situation is a mess. If Derek Anderson is the solution, your team has a lot of problems. Sadly enough, Anderson’s 175 passing yards last week was the most by a Bills quarterback in three weeks. Anderson turned it over four times and that’s really the key to this game. The Bills only win with turnovers but they’re facing a team that simply doesn’t make a ton of mistakes. And you can expect them to be extra cautious after uncharacteristically turning it over three times last week. The Patriots will easily waltz to a win and cover.
Pick: Patriots -13.5
