NFL 2020, Week 8

I learned something during the Thursday night game this week.  (Also, why did the NFL and FOX insist on having such bad Thursday night games this season?)  The team that wins isn't necessarily the better team.  It's the team that's better prepared.  Because, as we've seen throughout this season, preparation is key on the short week.  Which sounds obvious, but isn't always the case.  It has been this season, though.  And not just on Thursday nights.

Thursday Night: Carolina (Loss)

Patriots (2-4) at Bills (5-2): Buffalo-Maybe it was Brady.  How else do you explain the Bucs being good and the Patriots being a pedestrian football team this season?  Not that every NFL fan outside of New England isn't enjoying the Patriots coming back to Earth!  They've lost three in a row and have scored a grand total of 18 points in the two games since their little COVID break.  The Bills have certainly overtaken them as the top dogs in the East.  They'll have a chance to emphatically make that point and let out years of frustration in the process.

Titans (5-1) at Bengals (1-5-1): Tennessee-Despite no longer being undefeated, the Titans are still in a pretty good position.  Especially when you consider how bad the bottom of the AFC is.  Cincinnati is included in that bottom, even though the Bengals have been competitive in pretty much every game.  They're eventually going to beat somebody unexpected and ruin that team's playoff chances.  It might even be this week.  I think we'll have to wait until a little later in the season for it, though.

Raiders (3-3) at Browns (5-2): Cleveland-Good news, Browns fans!  You aren't playing the Steelers or Ravens this week!  It really is crazy how Cleveland got blown out by both of those division rivals, but is 5-0 against everybody else.  That should continue as they host the Raiders.  I'm still trying to figure out Las Vegas.  They won in Kansas City, but lost in New England.  They seem to be a very streaky team.  That's not gonna help them against the Browns, who are consistent as long as they aren't playing Pittsburgh or Baltimore.

Colts (4-2) at Lions (3-3): Detroit-Is it time to start thinking of the Lions as a playoff contender?  It's hard to tell.  They've won two straight, but those were against Jacksonville and Atlanta (and they only beat the Falcons by a point on the last play).  It's kind of a similar situation with the Colts.  They may be good enough to win the AFC South, but how do they stack up against everybody else?  This game could go a long way towards answering questions about both teams.

Vikings (1-5) at Packers (5-1): Green Bay-When they met in the season opener, Green Bay won a 43-34 shootout.  Both teams were expected to be good, so nobody thought anything of it at the time.  Things only got worse for the Vikings, of course, as Minnesota is one of five teams in the one-win club.  Maybe I'm not being totally fair--the do have two one-point losses to good teams--but 1-5 is 1-5.  And that should become 1-6.

Jets (0-7) at Chiefs (6-1): Kansas City-This could be ugly.  And it could get that way quickly.  The Chiefs are a very good team.  The Jets are not.  The Chiefs have a high-powered offense.  The Jets do not.  The Chiefs have their starting quarterback (who just happens to be the reigning Super Bowl MVP).  The Jets don't have theirs (and the guy they hope will start for them next season is currently out with COVID).  See where I'm going with this?

Rams (5-2) at Dolphins (3-3): Rams-Considering how competitive the NFC West is, the Rams need to stockpile as many non-division wins as they can.  I wonder when and if all this travel to the East Coast will take a toll on them though.  This is their fourth 1:00 game of the season, and it's coming on a short week (the Rams have only played one game that wasn't at 1:00 or on Sunday/Monday night).  And the Dolphins will be a tough out.  Miami has won two straight and has officially made the switch to Tua Tagovailoa (even though Ryan Fitzpatrick was doing fine).  How will their new QB perform in his first start?

Steelers (6-0) at Ravens (5-1): Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh won the battle of unbeatens in Tennessee, then watched the Seahawks lose to leave them as the only remaining undefeated team.  That mantle will certainly be challenged against the archrival Ravens.  As crazy as it sounds, a loss not only knocks the Steelers out of the No. 1 seed in the AFC, it knocks them out of first place.  So, basically, this is a huge game for both teams.  And, like most Steelers-Ravens games, it'll probably be decided by a field goal.

Chargers (2-4) at Broncos (2-4): Denver-It's fitting that the Broncos and Chargers have the same record.  Because they've had pretty similar seasons.  They've both played a bunch of close games and found ways to lose them in the fourth quarter.  And they both have wins over opponents that aren't very good.  So what will make the difference in this one?  I'm gonna go with the obvious and say the weather.  There's quite a difference between Southern California to the Rocky Mountains, especially in early November.

Saints (4-2) at Bears (5-2): New Orleans-Remember last week when I was saying the Bears might be better than we think?  Yeah, maybe not.  That criticism has only gotten louder after they were manhandled by the Rams.  Now they have to deal with another good team.  The only way to shut the critics up will be to have a good performance against the Saints, but it seems more likely that they'll get manhandled again.

49ers (4-3) at Seahawks (5-1): Seattle-Seattle learned a very important lesson last week.  Take the Arizona Cardinals lightly at your own risk.  That's a lesson the 49ers had already learned.  San Francisco is starting to find its groove, having won two straight, including a surprising blowout of the Patriots last week (Fun fact: San Francisco is 3-0 in the Northeast, 1-3 everywhere else).  Every game in the NFC West seems to take on that much more importance when you consider every team is above .500.  And I just don't see the Seahawks losing two division games in a row.  Especially with the 49ers going from New England to Seattle in consecutive weeks.

Cowboys (2-5) at Eagles (2-4-1): Philadelphia-No matter how bad the NFC East is, a Dallas-Philadelphia game is most likely going to make its way onto Sunday Night Football.  And the real crazy thing about this one is that a Cowboy win puts them back in first place at the midway point.  I'm not really sure we can count on that happening, though.  They've gotten blown out twice and scored a grand total of 13 points in two games without Dak Prescott.  Now they don't have Andy Dalton either.  My preseason prediction about the Cowboys was very, very wrong.

Buccaneers (5-2) at Giants (1-6): Tampa Bay-So I guess now we all know why Antonio Brown was on the Patriots for 20 minutes last season.  Tom Brady is the LeBron of the NFL.  He picks whatever team he wants, then they just go out and get the guys he wants to play with.  Must be nice to have that sort of clout!  Also, the Bucs appear to be the latest victim of the COVID lottery.  First the Raider game was moved earlier because they were worried about a positive test on the Raiders.  Now they have positive tests on the Giants to deal with.  Fortunately, it looks like the game will still be played on Monday night as scheduled.

This Week: 0-1
Last Week: 8-6
Overall: 70-34-1