NFL Week 8 picks and score predictions: Aaron Rodgers gets revenge on Packers, Giants stun Eagles to get sweep

With the NFL season headed into Week 8, that means we're basically halfway through the regular season, which makes right now the perfect time to hand out some midseason awards. Actually, I'm only handing out one award and it's going to me: It's the award for best picker from Week 7.

Thank you. Thank you. I couldn't have done it without you. I also couldn't have done it without Joe Flacco. I tried to tell everyone I work with that you just can't pick against Flacco when he's playing against a division rival after getting just nine days to learn the offense that his new team is running. He never loses in that spot. Again, I tried to tell them, but as you can see below, they didn't listen. 

I might not pick against Joe Flacco again for the rest of the season. 

How much will I pick Flacco to win by this week? Let's get to the picks and find out. 

Actually, before we get to the Week 8 picks, here's a quick reminder that you can check out the weekly picks from every CBSSports.com NFL expert. Also, as you may or may not know, I'm in charge of the NFL newsletter here at CBSSports.com. If you want to subscribe, all you have to do is enter your email address. I get a 10-cent bonus every time someone signs up, although it's not as lucrative as it sounds because I have to give 12 cents back every time I get a pick wrong, so I think I'm actually losing money in this deal. 

Alright, let's get to the picks so we can find out how much money I'm going to lose this week.

Bet NFL games at Bet365 Sportsbook, where new users get $200 in bonus bets using the bonus code CBSBET365. Claim your offer here: 

NFL Week 8 picks

Minnesota (3-3) at L.A. Chargers (4-3)

• Thursday, 8:15 p.m. ET (Amazon Prime)

Someone in the NFL scheduling department must really hate Minnesota, because, for the second straight year, the Vikings have to fly two time zones west to play a Thursday game. That might not sound like much, but it's the closest thing to a guaranteed loss that a team can be given on its schedule because teams flying two time zones or more to the west for a Thursday game almost always lose. 

Since the return of "Thursday Night Football" in 2006, this has happened a total of 21 times and the Central/Eastern time zone team that flew west has gone 4-17 straight up and 4-15-2 ATS (And two of those four wins were by Aaron Rodgers while he was going through his MVP run with the Packers).

I have no idea why teams are so bad in this situation, but I have some theories. When you're playing on a Thursday, you only have 72 hours to recover from your Sunday game, and 3.5 of those hours are spent on a plane because you have to fly HALFWAY across the country. Once you get off the plane, you then have to adjust to a new time zone. 

Every time I visit California, I'm always ready for bed at 7:30 p.m. PT. I can't explain why and it makes no sense, but it always happens. Based on that, the Vikings will be getting sleepy around the third quarter, so that's the time we should fully expect the Chargers to start taking over. 

Last year, the Vikings also had to fly out to Los Angeles for a Thursday night game and guess what happened? They got sleepy in the second half, so I think I might be onto something with my sleepy theory. In the 2024 game, the 5-1 Vikings were favored by three over the Rams and they ended up losing 30-20 after getting outscored 16-6 in the second half. 

The other thing about the Vikings is that their QB room is banged up right now. During Minnesota's game in Week 7, I think I saw Carson Wentz holding his ribs at one point and he also seemed to be favoring his shoulder. I'm not a doctor, so I can't sit here and diagnose anything, but that guy is definitely dealing with something, and now, he's going to have to play on three days' rest. And if he doesn't play, then J.J. McCarthy and his injured ankle will have to play. There's no good option for the Vikings. 

The bottom line here is that I won't be picking against my time zone trend or my sleepiness theory, so I have to roll with the Chargers. 

PICK: Chargers 31-24 over Vikings

N.Y. Giants (2-5) at Philadelphia (5-2)

• Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (Fox, Fubo, try for free)

If it feels like you just saw these two teams play, that's because you did. Someone in the NFL scheduling department clearly got a little lazy because this game will mark the second time in 17 days that these two teams have met. In Week 6, the Giants beat the Eagles 34-17, and I have to say, I've watched that game 11 times since then and the Giants were just the better team. 

That seems like an obvious statement, but I think my point is that I'm not sure that enough has changed over the past 17 days to convince me that the Eagles can beat a Giants team they got dominated by. The biggest difference this time around is that Jalen Carter will be playing for the Eagles. He wasn't on the field in Week 6 and the Giants took advantage of that by steamrolling Philly's defense for 172 yards rushing. It's the most that the Eagles have given up all year on the ground. 

It will certainly help to have Carter back, but I'm not sure he's going to make a huge dent in stopping the run. In the five games he's played this season, the Eagles have given up 120.9 yards per game, so you can still run on them even with Carter out there. 

Not only have the Eagles struggled to stop the run, but their pass rush has also been nonexistent. They have just 11 sacks this season, which is the fifth-lowest number in the NFL. The Eagles are so desperate for pass-rushing help that they've talked 37-year-old Brandon Graham into coming out of retirement. 

If you're calling people out of retirement to help you, that's definitely not a good thing. 

My biggest question about this game actually has nothing to do with the Eagles. I just want to know how the Giants are going to react to blowing a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Broncos. I feel like this will only go one of two ways: They'll use the loss as motivation to pick up another win over the Eagles or the entire team is now mentally broken and the Giants will lose by three touchdowns, which will be followed by Brian Daboll getting fired.  

The second option is definitely the more entertaining one, but I'm leaning toward that first option. 

PICK: Giants 23-20 over Eagles

Bet NFL Week 8 games at DraftKings, where new users bet $5, get $300 in Bonus Bets + 3 Months of NBA League Pass. Click here to get started:

Dallas (3-3-1) at Denver (5-2)

• Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS, Paramount+)

Through seven weeks, it's become pretty clear that the Cowboys have one major flaw and that flaw is that they can't play outdoors. The good news for the Cowboys is that out of their 10 remaining games, only three of them will be outdoors. The bad news for the Cowboys is that one of those outdoor games will be this week. The Cowboys are basically an indoor cat that thrives while inside the house, but can't survive for more than 13 seconds outside. 

I think what I'm trying to say here is that the Cowboys need every team to build a dome. 

If we ever get to a point where every team plays in a dome, I will pick the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl every year.  

Anyway, let's take a look at the Cowboys' indoor/outdoor splits this year:

• Cowboys playing inside: The Cowboys have played three indoor games and they've gone 2-0-1 while averaging 41.3 points per game. Impressive. 
• Cowboys playing outside: In four outdoor games, the Cowboys are 1-3 while averaging just 24.5 points per game, but their only win came against the Jets, so I'm not sure we can even count that. If you take that out, they're 0-3 outdoors with an average of 20.3 points per game and their three losses came to the Eagles, Bears and Panthers. 

If Jerry Jones is smart, he'll pay for the Broncos to install a dome over their stadium this week. Actually, I don't think it's going to work. I just Googled "How quickly can a dome be installed over an NFL stadium" and it appears that getting a dome up by Sunday wouldn't be possible. 

Besides the outdoor thing, the other issue for the Cowboys is that their defense has been a huge problem this year. Heading into Week 8, the Cowboys have given up the most passing yards per game in the NFL (260.3), the third-most rushing yards (141.3) and the third-most points per game (29.4). 

The biggest issue is likely going to be their ability to stop the run. The Broncos are averaging more than 130 yards per game on the ground this season and they rank in the top five in the NFL in rushing yards. Now, the one thing I can't account for in this game is what the Broncos' mental state is going to be. They're coming off one of the most improbable wins in NFL history -- they beat the Giants after trailing 19-0 in the fourth quarter -- and when something like that happens, a team usually responds in one of two ways: They go out and fall flat on their face in their next game or they ride the wave of the crazy win to another crazy win. 

I see another crazy win coming for the Broncos. 

PICK: Broncos 23-20 over Cowboys

Tennessee (1-6) at Indianapolis (6-1)

• Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS, Paramount+)

I don't want to brag, but I'm 7-0 picking Colts games this year, which you probably already know about, because I mention it every week. If I go 17-0 picking Colts games this year, I'll probably just move to Indianapolis. Sure, that will probably be a somewhat awkward conversation with my family, but they'll understand. 

I break down five NFL games each week in this picks column and since I'm on a roll with the Colts, I will be featuring them every week until I miss one. So get ready for a lot of lame "Indiana Jones" references. 

As good as the Colts have been this year, this is the game where we're finally going to learn just how good they are. I know what you're thinking, "Breech, they're playing the worst team in the NFL. How are we going to learn anything about the Colts this week?" 

Well, this is a classic trap game. Actually, it's a booby trap game. In every Indiana Jones movie, Indy has to overcome booby trap after booby trap and that's what the Colts have to do here. They're coming off a dominant road win over the Chargers and they have a game against the Steelers in Week 9. In-between, they have this game against a Titans team that's going nowhere. 

On paper, the this seems like a Colts blowout waiting to happen: The Titans just fired their coach, they've scored the fewest points in the NFL and Cam Ward has been sacked more times (30) than any other quarterback in the league this year. Also, Colts coach Shane Steichen has never lost to Tennessee (5-0) and the Titans can't stop the run, which could be an issue since they'll be going up against the NFL's leading rusher in Jonathan Taylor. 

And let's not forget, the Colts got the JJ Watt seal of approval this week. So JJ, how do the Colts look to you? 

Did I say this was a trap game? I might have been mistaken. 

I was going to pick the Colts to win by 14, but getting that JJ Watt seal of approval convinced me to add another touchdown. Indiana Jones takes down the Temple of Titans. 

PICK: Colts 38-17 over Titans

Green Bay (4-1-1) at Pittsburgh (4-2)

• Sunday, 8:20 p.m. on NBC (Stream: Fubo -- try for free)

I can't say this for sure, but I'm pretty confident that Aaron Rodgers has spent the past five years counting down the days until this game and I think his countdown started on April 23, 2020, which is the day the Packers decided to use a first-round pick on Jordan Love. Yes, Rodgers still played for the Packers in 2020, but once that pick was made, he knew that Love was eventually going to replace him and that he'd eventually have to leave Green Bay and that he'd eventually end up with another team and that his new team would eventually play the Packers. 

When this game kicks off, it will have been 2,012 days since the Packers drafted Love and Rodgers has definitely spent every second of every one of those days plotting his revenge. 

I have to think that Rodgers would love to win this game 67-0, but is that realistic? Probably not. 

That being said, someone in the NFL scheduling department definitely did Rodgers a favor in this game. The Steelers played on Thursday in Week 7, so Rodgers and the Steelers will be getting three extra days to rest and prepare for the Packers. On the other hand, the Packers had to fly halfway across the country to Arizona in Week 7 AND THEIR FLIGHT WAS DELAYED BY FIVE HOURS. And this week, they have to fly halfway across the country to Pittsburgh. 

If the Steelers are going to win, they're going to need a huge game from Rodgers, and that certainly could happen, because the Packers defense has struggled some to stop the pass. Jacoby Brissett, who has only started two games over the past year, threw for 279 yards against Green Bay in Week 7, so based on that alone, Rodgers might be able to throw for 479. 

Of course, that might not even be enough to win the game because the Steelers defense hasn't been able to stop anyone this year. They've given up more than 30 points to the Jets, Bengals and Seahawks. And no, that is not a typo. The Jets topped 30 points against the Steelers. 

Rodgers is very familiar with Matt LaFleur and the Packers offense, so the Steelers should just let him draw up the defensive game plan this week. And the offensive game plan. You know what, if the Steelers are smart, they'll just let Rodgers do whatever he wants this week, because I don't think any player has ever wanted to win a game more than Rodgers wants to win this game. 

If the Steelers win, Rodgers will become just the fifth quarterback in NFL history to beat all 32 teams. The Steelers are breaking out their throwback uniform and as we all know, I can never pick against a team playing a prime-time game at home in a uniform from 1933. 

After 2,000 days of waiting, I'm going to say that Rodgers finally gets his revenge. 

PICK: Steelers 27-24 over Packers

NFL Week 8 picks: All the rest

Falcons 27-17 over Dolphins
Bengals 24-16 over Jets
Patriots 20-17 over Browns
Bills 24-21 over Panthers
49ers 23-16 over Texans
Buccaneers 30-20 over Saints
Chiefs 34-24 over Commanders

Lamar Jackson special
Ravens 27-20 over Bears (If Lamar Jackson plays)
Bears 20-13 over Ravens (If Lamar Jackson doesn't play)

BYES: Lions, Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks, Raiders, Jaguars

Last Week

Best pick: Last week, I predicted that Joe Flacco would lead the Bengals to an upset win over the Steelers and guess what happened? Joe Flacco led the Bengals to an upset win over the Steelers. Now, did I know that Flacco was going torch the Steelers defense for 342 yards and three touchdowns? Of course I did. As soon as I saw the look of terror in Mike Tomlin's eyes when he was asked about the Flacco trade three days before the game, it was pretty clear that Flacco was going to go off. 

I'm half convinced the only reason the Browns traded Flacco to the Bengals was just to make Tomlin mad. 

Worst pick: In my Cowboys-Broncos pick, I mentioned how bad Dallas is when playing outdoors and although they're bad, there's one team that's worst: The Atlanta Falcons. Going into Week 7, the Falcons had played three outdoor games since Nov. 1 and not only did they go 0-3 in those games, but they got outscored 98-30. For some reason, the Falcons forget how to play football when they play outdoors, but despite that fact, I still picked them to beat the 49ers last week. The 49ers are so beat up that they barely had enough players to field a full roster against Atlanta, so I thought for sure the Falcons could win, but they're allergic to being outside. I will never be picking the Falcons to win another outdoor game ever again. 

Finally, if you guys have ever wondered which teams I'm actually good at picking, I'm going to start sharing that information with you now that we've got seven full weeks of information. Here's a quick look at my best teams when it comes to picks this year. 

Teams I'm 7-0 picking this year (Straight up): Colts
Teams I'm 6-1 picking this year (Straight up): Jets, Bengals, Titans, Raiders, Broncos, Saints, Cardinals, Steelers (5-1), Texans (5-1)

Longest winning streak: Colts (Seven straight games picked correctly)
Longest losing streak: 49ers and Commanders (four straight games picked incorrectly)

Picks Record

Last week, I complained that there's too much parity in the NFL, but apparently, I've cracked the code to parity because I went 13-2 with my picks in Week 7. I thrive on parity. I eat parity for breakfast. 

Straight up in Week 7: 13-2
SU overall: 71-36-1

Against the spread in Week 7: 11-4
ATS overall: 52-56

You can find John Breech on Facebook or Twitter, and if he's not doing one of those things, he's probably buying a new trophy case so he has a place to put the 'best picker from Week 7' award that he gave himself.