I swear it feels like once the summer is over the weeks go by faster. Cannot believe it is Thursday already. As always for the Thursday “No Huddle” I’ll be identifying and breaking down the best games the week has to offer, preview tonight’s primetime game, and pick every game for this week. With six teams on a bye, this is a light slate of games for Week 8.

Just because there are only 13 games this week doesn’t mean there aren’t a few great games on tap though. Truthfully most of the teams on a bye this week are boring teams to watch, with the exception of Pittsburgh, so hopefully this will up the excitement factor. There will be a few games to circle on the schedule. We’ll start with a pair of games during the 1:00 PM block of games on Sunday.

Revenge games will be a bit of a theme on Sunday as there are two divisional rematches from earlier in the year. The first one of those games takes place in upstate New York with New England traveling to take on Buffalo. The Patriots will have the opportunity to avenge its only loss of the season, a Week 4 drubbing at home against these same Bills.

There are a few differences this time around though. Tom Brady is back, Rob Gronkowski is healthy, and Lesean McCoy is likely going to miss this game. Obviously these are massive factors that will play into this game. Bill Belichick coached teams rarely lose twice to the same team in a year, so I believe that revenge factor will be a huge talking point in the Pats locker room this week. Brady is on fire and Gronk is looks like he is impossible to cover now that the Patriots are working with a full assortment of weapons on offense.

The loss of McCoy in this offense is massive as he has been one of the NFL’s best running backs this season. Buffalo may even be without backup Mike Gillislie as well. So this top rushing attack would likely turn to Reggie Bush to carry the load. The Bills defense will have to bring it’s A++ game if they want to stay in this game, otherwise Buffalo will be on the wrong end of a statement game.

Turning our attention to west Florida, there is a potential shootout in the making between Oakland and Tampa Bay. These were my two sleeper teams coming into this season and in the case of Oakland, they have more than proved themselves as legit playoff contenders. Tampa Bay is quite the wild card on a week-to-week basis, so there is a bit of intrigue surrounding this matchup.

Why do I think this could be a shootout? I’m glad you asked. Simply put, these secondaries are pretty bad. Tampa Bay ranks 13^th in the league in passing yards allowed, averaging about 250 passing yards per game. Oakland on the other hand, ranks dead last in that category averaging about 302 passing yards per game. Both of these offenses average over 250 passing yards per game, so there is a potential for these defenses to get lit up like a Christmas tree. Potentially huge games are in the works for Derek Carr, Amari Cooper, Michael Crabtree, Mike Evans, and Jameis Winston. This is one of those games that could dominate the Redzone channel during the early session.

As far as who has the edge in the game, it has to be Oakland for me. The Raiders are 4-0 in road games this year and have gotten a reputation for being a much better team away from home. Most analysts point out the “West Coast team traveling East” argument in games like this, but that doesn’t seem to apply to Oakland for some strange reason. This might be my favorite matchup of the week, although not by much.

A colossal NFC East matchup comes in as a close second for me this week. The Sunday night game between Philadelphia and Dallas should provide a much more entertaining game than we were treated to last week in primetime. Headlined by the clash of rookies Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott, there are plenty of layers to this game to sink our teeth into.

Personally, the matchup of the Dallas offense against the Philadelphia defense will be a great one to watch during the game. Dallas has the best offensive line in the league, while Philadelphia’s defensive line is possibly the toughest test the Cowboys have faced all year. Dallas is the picture of efficiency with its offense, so in order for Philadelphia to have a chance to win they will have to keep the Cowboys off schedule and force three-and-outs.

The Eagles will also need to get this offense going when they have the ball. If Philadelphia can flip the script on Dallas and control the ball they will have a good chance in this one. Carson Wentz will certainly need to cut down on his mistakes, if he turns the ball over like he did last week the Eagles will be in a world of trouble.

Definitely keep an eye on the San Diego/Denver and Green Bay/Atlanta games in the late window on Sunday. Those are the only two games in that block, but both could be fantastic games. Also, the games get started early again this week with the final London game taking place between Washington and Cincinnati. Set your alarms and make sure to get the fantasy lineup set early.

Now let’s turn our attention to tonight’s AFC South game between Jacksonville and Tennessee. In all honesty, this is a pretty bad game on paper. Both teams reside in the NFL’s worst division and the game should resemble that type of game. This will be bad football at its finest.

Tennessee has a solid rushing attack led by Demarco Murray and I wonder how the Jags plan on slowing it down. The Titans can play some good defense on occasion and I expect them to give Jacksonville some issues in this game.

Not really much else to get into with this game so lets just get right into the picks. I’ll take the Titans (-3) tonight. Here are the rest of my picks for Week 8 (Winners in Bold).

Last Week: 7-8   2016 Season: 55-52

9:30 AM (London)

Washington vs. Cincinnati (-3)

 

1:00 PM

Kansas City (-3) vs. Indianapolis

Oakland (Even) vs. Tampa Bay

Seattle (-2.5) vs. New Orleans

Detroit (+2.5) vs. Houston

NY Jets (-2.5) vs. Cleveland

Patriots (-6.5) vs. Buffalo

Arizona (+3) vs. Carolina

 

4:05/4:25 PM

San Diego vs. Denver (-4.5)

Green Bay (+3) vs. Atlanta

 

Sunday Night Football

Philadelphia (+5) vs. Dallas

 

That’s it for me today folks, I’ll be back tomorrow with a quick NBA predictions post if I have enough time to get to it before I’m off to cover St. Joes (Hammonton) and St. Augustine tomorrow night. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.