A wonderful NFL season continues into week 8 this week as teams start to try and separate themselves from the pack.
In a highly entertaining season so far, this week we’ll look at three games involving the Tennessee Titans taking on the Houston Texans, the Las Vegas Raiders game with the New Orleans Saints, and the Atlanta Falcons clash with the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
We’ll break down both exciting matchups, give you our best free NFL picks, and see if we can earn you some extra cash for the end of the weekend.
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The Titans sit top of the AFC South right now with a 4-2 record after a strong start to the season. They lost the opening game to the New York Giants when they lost 21-20, and then got smashed by the Buffalo Bills 41-7 in week 2.
But they responded brilliantly to win the next four games in a row. They beat the Raiders 24-22, then beat the Indianapolis Colts 24-17, the Washington Commanders 21-17, and then the Colts once again last time out 19-10 for a great run of form.
The Texans on the other hand have not had a good season so far, going 1-4-1 in their opening six games. Their opening game of the season ended in a 20-20 tie, before a 16-9 defeat to the Denver Broncos and a 23-20 loss to the Chicago Bears.
The Los Angeles Chargers then earned a 34-24 win, before Houston finally got their first win of the season by beating the Jacksonville Jaguars 13-6. They were brought back down to earth by the Raiders last week though as they lost 38-20.
This matchup is a game where the Titans can begin to separate themselves from the rest of the inept AFC South. Although the Texans are a tough out, the Titans should have no issue picking up a win by more than three points on the road.
What Tennessee does best is run the football, which is how they will dominate this matchup. The Texans are amongst the worst NFL teams at defending the run and now they get Derrick Henry one week after allowing Josh Jacobs to have a storming game on the ground.
While the Titans have yet to defeat a team with a winning record, they don’t have to worry about that this week against Houston. The Titans are 4-0 on moneyline bets in their past four games against teams with losing records, covering the spread in all of them. This seems like a no-brainer.
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It’s been a strange season for the Raiders, losing each of their first three games to the Chargers (24-19), Cardinals (29-23), and Titans (24-22), before finally getting a win against the Broncos (32-23).
The Kansas City Chiefs claimed a very tight win (30-29) in week 5 of their season, before a week off allowed them to regroup and return with a big 38-20 win over the Texans last week.
The Saints perfectly opened their season, claiming a 27-26 win over the Atlanta Falcons thanks to a fourth-quarter comeback.
They then suffered defeat in each of their next three games, losing 20-10 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 22-14 to the Carolina Panthers, and 28-25 to the Minnesota Vikings.
New Orleans bounced back with a 39-32 win over the Seattle Seahawks in game 5, but they suffered defeat once again when they were beaten 30-26 by the Cincinnati Bengals, and then again last week 42-34 against the Arizona Cardinals to move to 2-5.
This Raiders vs Saints game features two teams that can score against anyone but struggle to keep anyone out defensively.
While the Raiders are ranked third in the NFL for average points per game (27.2), the Saints are seventh (25) in that category. Despite high-flying offenses, these teams have a combined four wins with two each. This is because both sides feature bottom-seven defenses.
In this matchup, the outright winner and the NFL point spread can go either way, making the Over the best bet.
While the Over is 4-0 in the past four games the Raiders have played overall, it is also 4-0 in the past four Saints’ games. 50 points combined seems likely, so back this.
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The Falcons lost their opening two games of the season against the Saints and the Los Angeles Rams, before claiming a big win over the Seattle Seahawks in game three.
They followed that up in game 4 over the Cleveland Browns, before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought them back down to Earth in game 5. A dominant win over the San Francisco 49ers followed, but the Cincinnati Bengals thumped them 35-17 last time out to move them to a 3-4 record.
The Panthers have had an even worse start to the season, going 2-5 with a big win over Tampa last time out shocking a lot of people. Defeats to the Browns, Giants, Cardinals, 49ers, and Rams have shown their true level though, and they look unlikely to have much success here.
The Falcons got blown out against the Bengals last week while the Panthers upset the Buccaneers in a convincing fashion both of those games were completely against the way the season has gone so far.
The Falcons were 6-0 ATS heading into last week but failed to cover against the Bengals, who are starting to heat up as one of the best teams in the NFL. Meanwhile, the Panthers may be the worst team in the NFL who just caught the Bucs at their ultimate low.
The Panthers are 2-8 ATS in their past 10 games, while the Falcons are 6-3-1 ATS in that same 10-game period. What’s more, the Falcons are 5-0 ATS in their past five games facing NFC foes and 7-2 ATS in their past nine against Carolina.
Atlanta should win this comfortably and history suggests they’ll cover the spread while they’re at it, so get on it.
About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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