Week 8 Picks

Home team in caps, as always.

EAGLES -8.5 Falcons, 46.5

Welcome back, old friend. It’s a week of comebacks in Philly with the return of Kevin Curtis, Brian Westbrook to the Linc and the Phillies to the World Series. Unfortunately for the Falcons, the storybook season might come to an end this week. Or at least be temporarily derailed. The Eagles sport an excellent rushing defense and one of the better pass defenses in the league. They’ll get after the rookie Matt Ryan and make his life miserable for most of the game. The only limit on fantasy potential for the Eagles this week is Westbrook’s health – Andy Reid is never shy about pulling his big stars from blowout games.

MLTS Pick: Eagles, under

JETS -13 Chiefs, 38

The Jets looked pretty terrible on the road against the Raiders last week. Fortunately for them, they get the woeful Chiefs at home. To quote Herm Edwards, “We’re not a strong offense; we’re not a strong defense. We don’t have any strengths right now.” Ouch. Thomas Jones has been on a roll for the last few weeks, posting a career high in rushing yardage last week against the Raiders. Look for Brett Favre to work on his timing this week in spite of potentially missing Coles and Cotchery.

MLTS Pick: Jets, under

PANTHERS -4.5 Cardinals, 43.5

I just want to go on record here saying that I think the Cardinals are a pretty good football team. Schwartz thinks they’re a decent to above-average club. Getting Anquan Boldin back will be huge for this team. However, as good as I think the Cardinals may be, they’re not a very good road team – especially when coming West to East for a 1 PM EST game. That is partially tempered by the Cardinals coming off bye, but I digress. The Panthers shouldn’t have many problems on offense. While Arizona’s defense is coming along, they’re still not very good against the pass. Ultimately, the Panthers will be able to pressure the QB and frustrate the Arizona offense enough to win.

MLTS Pick: Panthers, over

Bills -1.5 DOLPHINS, 42

At 5-1, the Bills need to be taken seriously (if they weren’t being taken seriously already). They’ve got a solid defense and an offense that excels at ball control. While Marshawn Lynch hasn’t necessarily done what he’s been expected to do from a fantasy perspective, Lee Evans and Trent Edwards have been excellent value for fantasy owners this season. Teams are starting to figure out how to play against the Wildcat – Ronnie Brown et al haven’t been very good as of late. Chad Pennington has done a great job this season for the Dolphins, Football Outsiders has the Dolphins ranked #3 in passing offense (!) in spite of no discernible WR talent. Pennington can’t win games on his own, though. The Fins will need a heroic effort from their defense or better play from their RBs to beat the Bills.

MLTS Pick: Bills, over

JAGS -6.5 Browns, 41

Braylon Edwards has caught 20 passes on 49 targets this season. He has 10 total drops in 2008. There are two questions left to ask about this Browns team: Was that Giants game a complete fluke (and Derek Anderson, Edwards' 2007 campaigns)? Is Braylon Edwards the worst starting player in the NFL? Both players need to show some kind of consistency to ease fantasy owners' minds. On the other side of the ball, Jacksonville has gotten a little healthier and it shows. Losing offensive linemen the way that they did at the start of the season creates a huge trickle down effect that diminishes every aspect of your team. Expect the Jags to be able to run the ball well this week, MJD should follow up on his great performance before the bye. With Matt Jones potentially missing some time in the future due to violation of league policy, Jerry Porter might finally do something this season.

MLTS Pick: Jags, under

STEELERS -2.5 Giants, 42

Game of the week, with easy. The Giants have a better offense and defense than the Steelers. While it may be close on the defensive side of the ball, the Giants are a team that is built to eat mediocre offensive lines. Look for Roethlisberger to continue to take obscene punishment. Both teams figure to be taken out of their offensive rhythm for this game. From a fantasy perspective, the game might be a little bleak. From a general storyline and football perspective, it doesn’t get any better than this.

MLTS Pick: Giants, under

RAVENS -7 Raiders, 37

Tom Cable referred to the Raiders as a 1-0 football team after beating the Jets last week. This is the kind of delusional perspective you attain when your record as a head coach is 12-35. The only good news about this game is that we’ll be treated to Cable’s post-game news conference in which he attempts to explain how the Raiders fell to 1-1.

MLTS Pick: Ravens, under

Chargers -3.5 SAINTS, 47

London is calling, NFL. They’re saying they don’t want to watch two 3-4 teams play fake football. Both of these teams are potentially explosive and potentially abysmal. MLTS would really like the Saints in this game if Reggie Bush were playing. Alas, we’ll have to settle for the return of Marques Colston to fantasy relevance.

MLTS Pick: Saints, under

49ERS -4.5 Seahawks, 42.5

Mike Nolan out, Mike Singletary in. Look for Singletary to fire this team up against Seattle and come away with a victory. When these teams met earlier in the season, Julius Jones, Matt Hasselbeck, Frank Gore and JT O’Sullivan all had great days. Unfortunately for Seattle, the role of Hasselbeck will be played by Seneca Wallace in the rematch. Seattle has all the makings of Bizzaro 2007 Boston – Instead of 3 championships, Seattle lost their NBA franchise, the Mariners were one of the worst teams in baseball, and their perennial playoff contending football team.

MLTS Pick: 49ers, under

PATRIOTS -7 Rams, 43.5

2001 Super Bowl Remix. Only this time the slightly frisky Rams are bad. Remember that defense that looked like they may or may not be worse than most elite college defenses at the beginning of the season? Yeah, they should be making their grand re-entrance any week now.

MLTS Pick: Pats, over

COWBOYS -1.5 Buccaneers, 40.5

The Cowboys should stick to reality TV. They were at least above average at that. Tampa is a really good football team.

MLTS Pick: Bucs, over

Redskins -7.5 LIONS, 42

Hand it to the Lions, they’ve covered a couple of spreads in the last two weeks. They won’t cover against the Redskins, who should be looking to play a complete game if they’re going to be viewed as a legit contender in the NFC. Since this game is blacked out in the Detriot media market, the 12 people watching this game are guaranteed to be Redskins fans.

MLTS Pick: Redskins, under

TEXANS -10 Bengals, 44.5

The Texans are the best 2-4 team in the NFL. They’re also absolutely terrible at covering spreads and closing out games. This one could be pretty exciting since you’ll get to see the best WR in the NFL, Andre Johnson (check out our articles from September telling you this! Also, ignore that tirade about John Kitna in the archives) and you’ll see the guaranteed implosion of the Texans defense in the waning minutes!

MLTS Pick; Bengals, over

TITANS -4 Colts, 40.5

Our heads tell us to take the Titans – there are plenty of compelling reasons to do so. While the Colts may be one of the better teams to face the Titans so far this season, they really have no business beating them in Nashville. However, every Monday Night game this season has been completely and totally random and irrational (see Saints defense holding AP to 32 yards, Browns over Giants, etc.). Thus, we’ll take a sputtering and slightly beat up Colts offense over the best defense in the NFL.

MLTS Pick: Colts, over