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Week 7 kicks off Thursday with the Steelers facing the Bengals in Cincinnati and ends with a 10 p.m. ET Monday night matchup between the Texans and Seahawks in Houston. Both games have moved a point from their lookahead spreads at some books and the Seahawks movement involves a key number, meaning that anyone that bet Seattle prior to last Sunday's kickoff was able to lock in an advantageous line under 3, a common margin of victory. 

When looking ahead at spreads to bet early, key numbers should be a major factor in what you play. We liked the Bengals +4.5 on the lookahead and even those it's moved up since, there isn't much difference between 4.5 and 5.5 as 5 is what's known as a dead number, meaning an uncommon margin of victory. The value in getting 4.5 instead of even 4, however, was worth the risk of watching the number move up through the dead 5.

Let's take a look at the consensus Week 8 lookahead lines and then share our best bets to lock in early.

Week 8 lookahead lines

Vikings at Chargers (-3), 43
Bills (-7) at Panthers, 48.5
Dolphins at Falcons (-6), 46
Giants at Eagles (-7.5), 41.5
Bears at Ravens (-6.5), 49.5
Browns at Patriots (-7), 40.5
Jets at Bengals (-2.5), 42.5
49ers at Texans (-1.5), 43.5
Buccaneers (-5.5) at Saints, 47.5
Cowboys at Broncos (-4.5), 47.5
Titans at Colts (-11.5), 44.5
Packers (-3) at Steelers, 43.5
Commanders at Chiefs (-5.5), 51

Week 8 lookahead picks

Dolphins at Falcons

The Dolphins have a road matchup with a team that can run the ball well while leaning on an excellent defense to limit Miami from scoring much, and I think there's a good chance the Browns give them trouble in the matchup. The Falcons profile as a similar but better team, and if the Dolphins flop against the Browns I think this can open at -6.5 or even -7 before Atlanta squares off with the 49ers on Sunday Night Football. If the Falcons win that game, it shouldn't take long for this line to boost to a full touchdown, so this appears the best time to jump aboard.

Giants at Eagles

We just saw this matchup last week and the Eagles certainly didn't look like the better team on the field that day. They have a tough matchup on the road against the Vikings this week and a third straight loss would have people grabbing the Giants with the points at 7 or higher, even if the Giants struggle in Denver. This might be a game to try and middle, taking the +7.5 now and seeing if we can play the Eagles back at a much smaller number depending on what happens Sunday.

Jets at Bengals

We saw the Jets open as favorites at home against Carolina before the market pushed them to underdog status, which tells you about the state of the Jets. If they show any life in that game, I expect there to be interest grabbing them as 'dogs in this matchup, doubly so if the Bengals flop on Thursday night against the Steelers. In these matchups between two bad teams, you're not going to get one as a big favorite, so there's value backing the 'dog and seeing if the current week's results cause a big shift like it did with the Panthers-Jets game.

Other notes: Neither the Texans nor the 49ers will have played by the time lines reopen on Sunday evening, but I see that line as a little short considering the 49ers' injury issues on defense with Fred Warner out for the year. But the Texans could also struggle offensively in a tough matchup, so there's potential for Texans -1.5 to become Texans -3 or go the other way and have the 49ers favored. It feels like early bettors will have good value on one side of the spread, but it's hard to predict which side that is ... The lookahead for Bears-Ravens is Ravens -6.5 with Baltimore coming out of its bye and expected to have Lamar Jackson back. There might be value fading their return if the defensive injuries still look like an issue, and Chicago could be coming off a fourth straight win as heavy favorites against the Saints this weekend. This feels like a good spot to take the 6.5 with Chicago and see if the number next week is closer to 3 than 7.