Sportsbozos look at the NFL Week 8 Matchups

Best Bets 2-0 last week! Can the Bozos extend the streak?

The Bozos got it wrong bigly last night taking the Dolphins and the under as Houston whipped Miami 42-23. Deshawn Watson threw a career high 5 TDs as the Texans routed Miami with 4 TDs after halftime to win their fifth straight and climb to 5-3. Dolphin coach Adam Gase was understandably frustrated with the effort on both sides of the ball. Miami, after starting 3-0, fell to 4-4.

Eagles (-3) vs. Jaguars

Another 9:30 AM game in London this week as the Jags give up another home game. The Eagles are the lucky ones this time to play in front of the hooligans. Both teams made the Final Four last season but are struggling this season at 3-4. Jacksonville is certainly used to the schedule as they are 4-0 in Foggy town. Unfortunately this London trend is continuing.

Carolina scored 3 TDs last week in the 4^th quarter last week to beat Philly 21-17 while Jacksonville looked lackluster in their home loss to the suddenly surging Texans 20-7. Blake Bortles was benched in favor of Cody Kessler against Houston after his second fumble but he will get the start against Philly. The play here is Philly, with an additional Philly in the 1^st half play. The Eagles score early and can’t hang on while the Jags have been outscores 57-0 in their past three games in the first half.

The two most interesting games Sunday from the Bozo perspective are the two NFC contests, the 4:25 PM Packers (3-2-1) at the undefeated Rams and the night game, Saints (5-1) at Vikings (4-2-1).

GB (+9 ½) @ LA Rams

LA has been cruising along with the best offense in the league clobbering Oakland, Arizona and San Francisco and now face their biggest challenge of their schedule so far. After trouncing SF last week, the Rams squeaked by Denver and Seattle, all on the road. The Rams are happy to be back home but will have to face the always dangerous Aaron Rodgers in an almost must-win scenario for the Packers. GB travels to NE next week and are in a dogfight for the NFC Norris division.

The Packers are second in the NFL in offense but the gimpy Mr. Rodgers will need some O-line protection against the likes of Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh to get time enough to air it out. Gurley and Goff statistically dominate the stat page every week. The Packers have given up 29 points or more in 4 of their 6 games. LA has tallied a minimum of 33 points in 6 of their 7 wins.

As the Bozos traditionally go with experience in these matchups, we are banking on Rodgers and GB to keep it close or upset the Rams in an exciting high scoring affair. Although still mid-season he Pack are in a position to define their season as a realistic contender with a big upset win here.

Saints (Even) @ Vikings

New Orleans travels to Minnesota in the premier late game Sunday in a rematch of the divisional game we all remember for the Saints, being up by a point 24-23 lost on a 61 yard bomb from Case Keenum to Stephon Diggs as time expired. Saints CB Marcus Williams made an awkward attempt at a tackle and Diggs ran untouched into the end zone.

New Orleans will seek redemption for that heart wrenching loss and enters this game winning 5 straight, at 5-1, with the NFL’s best rushing defense. If Vikings RB Dalvin Cook can’t play due a lingering hamstring injury, the boys in Purple will have to rely on the reborn Latavius Murray and on Kirk Cousins passing to Adam Thielen and the aforementioned Diggs.

Brees has spread the ball around this season and in a shootout with Cousins, we like NO to continue the hot streak and keep pace with the Rams for NFC dominance.

In other games we like:

Pittsburgh (-8) home against Cleveland. In the last two games, the Steelers (3-2-1) rode Big Ben to two big wins against Cincinnati and Atlanta. Cleveland (2-4-1) struggles too much to find consistency and is improving but will take a beating here.

KC (-9 1/2) home against Denver. Chiefs (6-1) are simply a juggernaut offensively and although they had a tough time beating Denver in Mile High, this one should be easier. The Broncos (3-4) are in turmoil and will be significantly outscored.

The Bears (3-3) are home against the struggling 3-4 JETS, NY was handled quite easily by Minnesota at home last week while Chicago came within a yard of tying powerful New England on the game’s last play. After losing two in a row, Chicago should regroup against the Jets and then the Bills to get back in the playoff race. Even with Khalil Mack nursing a tender ankle, we expect the Bears to cover the 8 at home.

The other, more pathetic New York team, the 1-6 Giants are at home to Washington (4-2) in what usually is an exciting NFC East matchup. I have no idea why the books have this game as Even, has anyone seen the Giants play? Trading Eli Apple and Snacks Harrison make shake up the defense, however the offense still has not figured out how to pass block and get Eli on the same page as their receivers. Giants figure out a way to lose.

(3-3) Seattle at (3-3) Detroit. Who cares? Lions – 2 ½.

Tampa Bay (+4 ½) at Cincinnati. Bungles are in a down spiral and TB plays hard till the end every week. Take the Bucs to keep it close or win this thing.

Baltimore (4-3) will rebound after their gut wrenching missed PAT loss at home last week to the Saints and cover the 2 ½ over the Panthers (4-2). Camster lucked out to beat the Eagles last week, but they do not play 60 minutes of football like the Ravens do.

Indianapolis (-3) in Oakland. The only team that may be worse than the Giants are the 1-5 Raiders. Luck is finding his groove after dissecting Buffalo last week 37-5. Indy on the road.

Two (1-6) teams matchup with SF (-1) heading to the desert to face the inept Cardinals. Arizona’s only win came in Week 5 against San Fran but not this time. SF played GB and the Chargers tough while AZ is a mess all around offensively and defensively. The Niners get victory #2 in a payback scenario.

Monday night the (2-5) Bills take on the (5-2) Patriots in a home game in Buffalo. The Buffalo P.D. is asking for trouble here with those Western NY boozers tailgating all day, breaking tables in the lot, etc. There is no reason I can think of for New England not to manhandle the Bills and win by 20 points. Brady is 28-3 vs. the Bills, 28-3! He is 14-2 in Buffalo! NE is battle tested with recent late scores and wins against the Chiefs and Bears. Pats are on a roll. Walmart stock boy Derek Anderson gets another start for Buffalo as Josh Allen is still wandering around Wyoming and Nathan Peterman has traveled to Africa to model the new desert raincoat for this year’s catalog.

Thurman Thomas’ helmet is being retired at Halftime (if he can find it).

Bozo Best Bets:

Last week the Bozos went 2-0 with victories predicted for the Patriots and Saints proving we sometimes know what the hell we’re doing.

Week 8

Ravens -2 ½ over Carolina

Packers +9 ½ at LA Rams

Enjoy

-HB