NFL Week 8 odds, picks: Jalen Ramsey and Rams roll in London, Cardinals cover in New Orleans

CBS NFL writer Jordan Dajani gives his picks for Week 8 of the 2019 NFL season

By Jordan Dajani

Oct 24, 2019 at 7:46 am ET • 6 min read

I feel like we learned a lot during Week 7 of the NFL season. The Tennessee Titans are a lot better off with Ryan Tannehill under center instead of Marcus Mariota, the Chicago Bears are in serious trouble with Mitchell Trubisky and I really should have cooled my jets when buying in to the New York Jets hype. Sam Darnold was seeing ghosts and so was I apparently.

It appears as though Kirk Cousins has finally found his footing in the Minnesota Vikings' offense, something we have been waiting on for more than a year, and Aaron Rodgers finally had a breakout game in Matt LaFleur's offense. That NFC North division may be the toughest in the NFL, and Green Bay has a chance to extend their lead with a win over a Patrick Mahomes-less Kansas City Chiefs team this week.

We have some exciting matchups in Week 8, and there are several double-digit lines that I'm going to jump on. Let's examine this week's picks.

Will Brinson, Pete Prisco and R.J. White broke down all the angles and picks you need to know for every game on Friday's Pick Six Podcast. Give it a listen below, and be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform:

Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (Fox)
Point spread: Seahawks -3.5

The Seahawks and Falcons have played in several close games over the years, but this one may be different. Seattle is coming off of a 30-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta is coming off of a 37-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The Falcons may be without quarterback Matt Ryan, who is seemingly the only player doing anything right for this team. Even if Ryan plays, the writing has already been written on the wall -- Head coach Dan Quinn is going to be fired at some point, and the Falcons' on-field performance reflects that. The Falcons have been outscored by a total of 49 points over the past three weeks, and it's hard to imagine they have a chance against the Seahawks. Seattle's loss to Baltimore last week was pretty rough. They only turned the ball over twice, but the Ravens' defense turned those two turnovers immediately into 14 points. The Seahawks are better than their performance last week, and they are going to take out their frustration on the lowly Falcons.

The pick: Seahawks 42-10 over Falcons

Cincinnati Bengals at Los Angeles Rams

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
Point spread: Rams -13

Zac Taylor faces off against his former boss, Sean McVay, in London, and his Bengals are in pretty bad shape. Cincinnati is 0-7, they are still without superstar wideout A.J. Green and there is apparently some internal drama with left tackle Cordy Glenn. He may play in his first game this season on Sunday, but questions remain about his future with the franchise. The Rams on the other hand got a spark when they acquired star cornerback Jalen Ramsey. After losing their last three games, the Rams beat the Falcons, 37-10, last week. This team has a chance to build some confidence with their second straight win over a lesser opponent, and Ramsey has a chance to have his first big game as a Ram against Taylor's pass-happy offense. While Los Angeles has fallen on hard times recently, the Bengals are an absolute disaster. Take the Rams and lay the points.

The pick: Rams 35-14 over Bengals

Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
Point spread: Saints -10.5

This is something I've been writing about for the last few weeks: the Cardinals are not who we thought they were. The worst team in the league last year has now won three straight games, and they get a big test against the red-hot Saints this week. Teddy Bridgewater is still undefeated as a starter, but he may be sent to the bench this week if Drew Brees decides to play after missing the last five games due to a hand injury. The Cardinals beat the New York Giants, 27-21, last week, and what's most impressive about that win is that they didn't have to rely on Kyler Murray. After he passed for 340 yards and three touchdowns against the Falcons in Week 6, he threw for just 104 yards against the Giants. Running back Chase Edmonds was the star of the show, as he rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns. He figures to receive another 20-plus touches this week. I was also impressed with the Cardinals defense, as they forced three turnovers from Daniel Jones. My guess is that Brees plays on Sunday, and I hesitate to say that he will be "rusty," but there could be some drop-off as he returns to the field. That spread is huge, which is why I'm taking the Cardinals to cover.

The pick: Saints 31-24 over Cardinals

Denver Broncos at Indianapolis Colts

Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
Point spread: Colts -5.5

There isn't much you can say about the Broncos' performance against the Chiefs last week other than that it was abysmal. Even after Mahomes went down in the first half, Matt Moore and the Chiefs went on a 20-0 run to cap off a 30-6 victory. On the flip side, the Colts beat the Houston Texans, 30-23, in what was an impressive victory. No one's talking about it, but the Colts are on a roll. They have won two straight and Jacoby Brissett set career highs in passing yards and passing touchdowns last week, with 326 yards and four scores. Things change week by week in the NFL, but one of these teams is clearly trending up while the other is clearly trending down. The Broncos also lost veteran wideout Emmanuel Sanders, who wanted out and was dealt to the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts are the favorite for good reason, and they will be able to cover six points in Week 8.

The pick: Colts 27-14 over Broncos

Green Bay Packers at Kansas City Chiefs

Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC)
Point spread: Packers -4

We have been waiting seven weeks for this. Rodgers finally had a big game in LaFleur's offense. He accounted for six total touchdowns in the 42-24 win over the Oakland Raiders, and did so without Davante Adams and with Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Geronimo Allison not 100% healthy. The Packers have been winning games, but this may be the point in the season where they really start winning games. Their defense is as good as it has been in a long time and we've just been waiting on the offense to catch up. They get the Chiefs this week, who will probably be without Mahomes. Andy Reid didn't officially rule out Mahomes on Wednesday, but it's hard to imagine that he's going to play. It's tough because it feels like we were robbed of a great matchup here in Week 8 due to Mahomes' injury.

The pick: Packers 28-21 over Chiefs