There are two one-loss teams in the NFL and – surprise – they met in the Super Bowl nine months ago. If the NFL was anywhere near that predictable, last week the Lions wouldn’t have lost by a number none of us can count to in our second language, and the Dolphins would never score fewer than three touchdowns. The Chiefs and Eagles have winnable division games this week, but those matchups could be closer than one might expect. Bye weeks are on bye this week, so strap yourself in for a full 16 games here in our NFL Week 8 predictions.
Each week throughout the 2023 NFL season, the supercomputer has something to say about every game. No matter if it’s a headliner or a game we may be less excited about, it unsentimentally beeps its way through the model’s NFL picks, boldly dropping score predictions for each.
Week 8 begins Thursday with the Bills hosting the Bucs, and it ends Monday with the Raiders visiting the Lions. For those games and everything between, we’ve taken plenty of data – advanced and historical – and pumped it through our predictive model. Keep in mind this model uses our data only and nothing from the betting market to produce score projections, so there can be slight discrepancies in scores when considered against the percentages of our win probability model found elsewhere. These scores consider team news as of Thursday.
We’ll start with New York versus New York in New York New Jersey. The sentiment around the Jets has gone from Aaron Rodgers could put them over the top to Aaron Rodgers only has one Achilles and the season’s over to Wait, maybe they can still be a playoff team with an improving Zach Wilson. It’s the circle of life crammed into the first half of an NFL season. Ahead of their bye last week, they beat the Eagles and Broncos, and prior to that nearly completed a comeback against the Chiefs. Not. Bad. At all. But if they lose to the Giants, no one’s going to care about what happened in Weeks 4-6. If they beat the Giants, as we believe they will, the supercomputer is going to have them inching ever closer to being a 10-win team:
Speaking of potential 10-win teams, Jacksonville at Pittsburgh is one of the more compelling games of the week. The Steelers are 4-2 despite being outscored 127-103 this season. The Jaguars are 5-2 with a 3-0 record outside of Jacksonville. London in the fall can have a cozy feel. We’ve got the Steelers winning this one, but hardly helping that point differential with a 21-20 victory. We have them with a 39.1% chance of making the playoffs entering this week, and if they can get to 5-2 with winnable games against the Titans and Packers ahead, that percentage will be on the rise.
Speaking of the Packers, no one is going to mistake this 2023 team for the 13-win teams with MVP Rodgers in charge in 2020 and 2021. But the Vikings haven’t quite overcome the early season damage they did themselves, even if they are coming off a promising win over the 49ers. The predictor has the Packers by a 23-20 score in this one as the battle for second in the NFC North takes shape. Both teams have a lot of work to do to become a serious part of the NFC playoff picture:
But it could be worse. They could be the Arizona Cardinals. Kyler Murray may be nearing his return – which may be a prolonged audition for work elsewhere next season – but the desert dwellers are also cellar dwellers at 1-6, and that doesn’t bode well against Baltimore. The Ravens quieted the chatter about the upstart Lions last week, and we’ve got them as 24-20 favorites for a road win to get to 6-2 in an AFC North division that may take all season to take shape.
Here’s a look at all 16 NFL Week 8 predictions, including C.J. Stroud and the Texans keeping Bryce Young and the Panthers winless, Brock Purdy (if he’s able to go) and the 49ers getting back on track against the Bengals, Jalen Hurts and the Eagles getting to seven wins against the Commanders, and the Raiders as two-point underdogs to the Lions on Monday Night Football:
NFL Week 8 Predicted Scores
Thursday night:
- Buffalo Bills 21, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20
Sunday:
- Dallas Cowboys 24, Los Angeles Rams 21
- Houston Texans 24, Carolina Panthers 20
- Green Bay Packers 23, Minnesota Vikings 20
- New York Jets 20, New York Giants 17
- Miami Dolphins 28, New England Patriots 20
- Atlanta Falcons 20, Tennessee Titans 17
- Philadelphia Eagles 24, Washington Commanders 20
- New Orleans Saints 23, Indianapolis Colts 21
- Pittsburgh Steelers 21, Jacksonville Jaguars 20
- Cleveland Browns 21, Seattle Seahawks 17
- Kansas City Chiefs 24, Denver Broncos 21
- Baltimore Ravens 24, Arizona Cardinals 20
- San Francisco 49ers 27, Cincinnati Bengals 20
Sunday night:
- Los Angeles Chargers 24, Chicago Bears 21
Monday night:
- Detroit Lions 23, Las Vegas Raiders 21
Don’t forget to check out each team’s chances to make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl this season in our season-long predictions. We also have weekly fantasy projections and rankings, then you can use our sit/start comparison tool to help with lineup decisions.
We’ll be back next week, when some of you may be interested in the NFC East meeting between the Cowboys and Eagles in Philly, others the potential AFC title game preview between the Dolphins and Chiefs in a sea of red at Arrowhead. The supercomputer wears no team colors but predicts all teams’ fates.