I went 11-3 last week. That puts me at 62-40 for the season. For a comparison, check out the "experts" over at ESPN.
Here are my picks for the NFL's Week 8:
*SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26*
Tampa Bay 5-2 at Dallas 4-3 - 1:00 PM (Line: Dallas by 3.5)
The Buccaneers have won two straight and are atop the NFC South, but they are just 1-2 on the road this season. The Cowboys are averaging the third most yards per game in the league, but they have dropped their last two.
RJ's Pick: Dallas by 9
Washington 5-2 at Detroit 0-6 - 1:00 PM (Line: Washington by 7.5)
Redskins QB Jason Campbell has not thrown a single interception in seven starts and has a quarterback rating of 96.3. The winless Lions are ranked dead last in the league in points allowed per game as well as yards allowed per game.
RJ's Pick: Washington by 28
Buffalo 5-1 at Miami 2-4 - 1:00 PM (Line: Buffalo by 1.5)
The surprising Bills play their first game against a divisional opponent this week. The Dolphins have been struggling with their red-zone offense; they are ranked 11th in the league in yards per game, but just 23rd in the league in points per game.
RJ's Pick: Buffalo by 6
Saint Louis 2-4 at New England 4-2 - 1:00 PM (Line: New England by 7)
The Rams have won two in a row after losing their first four games of the season. The Patriots continue to be hampered by injuries, as safety Rodney Harrison appears to be done for the season after injuring his right thigh muscle last week.
RJ's Pick: New England by 2
San Diego 3-4 at New Orleans 3-4 [to be played at Wembley Stadium in London, England] - 1:00 PM (Line: San Diego by 3)
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - J
This article is about the author, RJ, predicting the outcome of this weeks NFL games. The point was to pick the correct winners. He went game by game, gave a little analysis, and then picked the winner and by how much. This article is meant to give expert analysis on this weeks football games and to pick the correct winners. He also wants to give his opinion on the games and help out other people when they make their own picks. He thinks he has sufficient knowledge of the subject to help out others and get recognized for his picks.
I think its a decent article. He picks the winners of each game and gives the points he thinks they will win by. I do not think he gives enough analysis of each game. In most predictions he just gives meaningless facts and does not present the most valuable information such as on the subject of the Dallas vs. Tampa Bay game, which most consider to be the game of the week. This is the information he gives : “The Buccaneers have won two straight and are atop the NFC South, but they are just 1-2 on the road this season. The Cowboys are averaging the third most yards per game in the league, but they have dropped their last two. “. This fails to mention that Dallas' star quarterback Tony (Homo) Romo will not be playing and that Dallas' number one corner is suspended.
I disagree with the authors picks on the two most significant games this week. I just do not understand his rationale for picking Dallas to beat Tampa Bay. Dallas is starting Brad Johnson for the second straight week. This guy is forty years old and he does not have it in him to beat his former team, the Buccaneers. Last week he started against the Rams, who are one of the worst teams in the NFL all around this season. Johnson threw three picks and one meaningless touchdown against the Rams defense who has allowed thirty eight points to the Eagles, forty one to the Giants, thirty seven to the SEAHAWKS who are complete garbage this year. The Buccaneers have one of the best defenses in the league, and not to mention a team that knows what he does. And if you want to make a point about Dallas' defense do not even start, this squad has been underachieving all year. Dallas' defense has allowed 20+ points in five of seven games. This will be a blowout in the Buccaneers favor. I could go on, I have endless points why the Buccaneers will win while the reason for the author picking the Cowboys is “The Cowboys are averaging the third most yards per game in the league”, yea it may be true, but that was with their starting quarterback.
This article is missing the important factors in picking the games. As I stated before he gives little fun facts that have no pull toward the game. He should discuss more what streaks the teams are on, what type of opponents have the team faced, and injury reports. I mean, the analysis on some games are fine I am just so perplexed of how badly described the match up between Dallas vs Tampa Bay. Also on his “Game of the Week” featuring the Steelers and Giants he gives two sentences of analysis and barely any detail. What I do like about this article is how he picked every game. Some prediction articles I read only pick the games they think are important, try telling the players on certain teams that the game your playing in this week is not worth a paragraph of effort. And as much as I might have ripped this guy, his record is 62-40, so he has some credibility. I just think that he may of gotten a little lazy in this weeks picks. I also liked how he picked the scores of the games, adds a little more excitement to his picks. Overall I think it was a fun read, but if the guy is going to make an article on picks, he should put some more research into it.
2 - RJ Elliott
Thanks for your feedback, J.
Yes, the last couple of weeks my articles have been shorter than usual, it's true. However if you look at my picks from earlier in the season, those articles offered much more in-depth analysis of each game and the various matchups involved. It's just that I've been incredibly busy this month working on other projects, so I have neglected writing out these NFL articles more fully.
As for the Tampa Bay - Dallas game, at the time I was writing the article Romo was rumored to be starting this week. Also, the Vegas oddsmakers favor the Cowboys, albeit narrowly. So I guess we'll just have to see. As they say, that's why they play the games!
Thank you for your readership,
RJ
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Not one straight up underdog?
4 - RJ Elliott
Huh. I didn't even notice that, Matt. Good eye.
5 - alessandro
All those carrots have paid off for Matt.
6 - Mike
I am just curious what your season record is against the spread, I assumed you were using spreads since you listed the lines in your article.
7 - EEL
WEEK 8 PICKS
( STRAIGHT )
SAINTS
RAVENS
BILLS
JETS
PANTHERS
BUCCS
REDSKINS
PATS
FALCONS
JAGS
STEELERS
49ERS - BLOWOUT ! ( I HOPE )
TITANS - MONDAY NIGHT
8 - DOM
J... LOL.. its all in fun bud
9 - DOM
k.. 9-5 like 3 weeks in a row.. 63-39 overall
Dallas.. despite everything.. the cardinal rule is never go against a team that's lost two when the third game is at home. (the team has to be halfway descent for this rule to apply) :)
Washington.. Detroit would naturally fall into the rule i just stated above, but.. it's Detroit.
Miami.. Miami also with two losses coming home.. can't break the rule here..
Patriots.. rams managing to beat two good teams back to back.. pats slaughtering broncos... this SHOULD be interesting
Saints
Jets
Eagles
Baltimore
Arizona
Jacksonville
Bengals.. if they r going to win a game now's the time.
Giants
SF.. falls into the rule.. although they r playing a team that is long due for a win. YAY for Singletary.
Colts.. going to be a tough game for them.. but a W this week means alot.
10 - RJ Elliott
EEL,
I think you missed a game.
11 - alessandro
Bal, Jack, SF, Wash, SD, NYJ, Phi, Car, NE, Ten, Pit, TB, Mia, Hou
12 - RJ Elliott
Thank you, Alessandro.
I wonder what the Vegas odds are on the Lions going 0-16?
13 - RJ Elliott
Thanks for your picks, DOM.
How long do you suppose Singletary will last as head coach?
14 - Adam
I should be comming into this week at 60-42, but I was in a bit of a hurry adding them up so I'll double check later.
Here are my picks for this week, which I am feeling better than usual about.
Bucs
Skins
Bills
Pats
Saints
Jets
Eagles
Panthers
Ravens
Texans
Jacksonville
Steelers
Seahawks (still time to turn it around baby!)
Texans
15 - RJ Elliott
Final Scores:
Washington 25, Lions 17 - RJ 1-0
Dallas 13, TB 9 - RJ 2-0 [Sorry, J!]
16 - RJ Elliott
Final Scores:
Baltimore 29, Oakland 10 - RJ 3-0
Carolina 27, Arizona 23 - RJ 4-0
17 - RJ Elliott
Final Scores:
Miami 25, Bills 16 - RJ 4-1
NE 23, Rams 16 - RJ 5-1
18 - RJ Elliott
Final Scores:
Jets 28, Chiefs 24 - RJ 6-1
Eagles 27, Falcons 14 - RJ 7-1 (and I nailed the spread!)
19 - RJ Elliott
Final Score:
NO 37, SD 32 - RJ 7-2
20 - RJ Elliott
ESPN's NFL "experts" through 9 games:
Wickersham
7-2
Fleming
7-2
Hoge
5-4
Jaworski
6-3
Schlereth
7-2
Allen
6-3
Mortensen
6-3
Golic
7-2
Accuscore
7-2
Pick 'em
6-3
21 - RJ Elliott
Final Scores:
Browns 23, Jaguars 17 - RJ 7-3
Texans 35, Bengals 6 - RJ 8-3
Giants 21, Steelers 14 - RJ 8-4
Seattle 34, SF 13 - RJ 8-5
22 - RJ Elliott
ESPN's NFL "experts" through 13 games:
Wickersham
9-4
Fleming
8-5
Hoge
6-7
Jaworski
7-6
Schlereth
8-5
Allen
8-5
Mortensen
8-5
Golic
7-6
Accuscore
8-5
Pick 'em
7-6
23 - RJ Elliott
Just for fun:
AFC EAST 17-11 - GOOD
AFC NORTH 12-17 - BAD
AFC SOUTH 15-11 - GOOD
AFC WEST 10-19 - BAD
AFC TOTAL 54-58
NFC EAST 21-9 VERY GOOD!
NFC NORTH 11-17 BAD
NFC SOUTH 19-12 GOOD
NFC WEST 10-19 BAD
NFC TOTAL 61-57
So, the NFL's 8 divisions can be ranked as:
NFC EAST
AFC EAST
NFC SOUTH
AFC SOUTH
AFC NORTH
NFC NORTH
AFC WEST
NFC WEST
Is anyone else detecting a pattern here?
24 - zingzing
east coast! and the south! and then the north! and then we go west!
east! south! north! west!
e! s! n! w!
esnw!
news?
25 - EEL
R.J
YES I DID SORRY ! BENGS AND TITANS. I KNOW THE TITANS WON BUT THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MY PICK WITHOUT A DOUBT. TITANS CAN PUT UP SOME PIONTS !