Danny O’Neil’s Week-8 NFL picks: Will Seahawks, Cards recover from missed FGs in last week’s tie?
Oct 27, 2016, 11:11 AM
“This isn’t high school, baby.”
That’s what Bruce Arians said after the Cardinals’ game on Sunday. He was referring to his kicker Chandler Catinazoo … errr … Catanzaro, who missed a field-goal attempt in overtime.
“You get paid to make them,” Arians said.
Compare that to Pete Carroll, who expressed confidence in Stephen Hauschka, who missed a kick every bit as makeable as Catinzaro’s attempt.
“We love him,” Carroll said.
O’Neil: What we learned from Seahawks’ tie with Cardinals
Throw in Arians’ complaints about the fact Bobby Wagner was allowed to leap over the line of scrimmage to block a first-half field-goal attempt by Arizona and it will be interesting to see how each team recovers not just this week, but going forward because while no one technically won last week’s game, it sure seems like the Cardinals suffered more from that tie.
Both teams are playing on the road this week against AFC South opponents in games that start at 10 a.m. Sunday.
Jacksonville at Tennessee (Thursday night)
The Jags have been held to fewer than 20 points in two of their six games. Blake Bortles has been picked off nine times, tied for third-most among all quarterbacks. Meanwhile, Titants QB Marcus Mariotta was picked off five times in the first four games and is looking very much like another high-end quarterback bust from Oregon, but he’s thrown eight touchdown passes over the past three games counterbalanced by one interception.
Pick: Titans 20, Jaguars 17
Washington at Cincinnati
Washington has not given up more than 20 points in any of its past four games, and last year’s Cincinnati offense would pose quite a challenge to that trend. The Bengals passed for 15 touchdowns in their first seven games in 2015. This season? They’ve passed for eight touchdowns through seven games. And while the Bengals are nowhere near where they were last season, they’re still good enough to beat Washington at home.
Pick: Bengals 24, Epithets 20
New England at Buffalo
The Patriots have won 23 of their past 26 games against the Bills, but one of those three Buffalo victories came the last time the teams met. That’s when the Bills authored a 16-0 shutout – while Tom Brady was suspended, though. The Bills just don’t throw the ball well enough to beat a Brady-led Pats team.
Pick: Patriots 27, Bills 13
Arizona at Carolina
A rematch of last year’s NFC Championship Game, which Carolina won 49-15. Neither team has a winning record this time around, and this might very well be a loser-out game when it comes to any playoff consideration.
Pick: Panthers 23, Cardinals 20
New York Jets at Cleveland
The Jets are coming off what should have been a season-changing win, coming back from not only a deficit against Baltimore but an injury to starting quarterback Geno Smith. But after leading the Jets’ comeback in relief, Ryan Fitzpatrick explained how hard it is to go to work after everyone from the coach to the owner had lost faith in him. Boo-freaking-hoo, man. You know what that sounds like? It sounds like the best chance for the league’s last winless team to avoid an entirely winless season.
Pick: Browns 15, Jets 13
Detroit at Houston
Efficient. It’s the last word that would’ve been attached to Matthew Stafford early in his career. He was a big-armed quarterback with gaudy statistics for a team that would occasionally make the playoffs. Well, he has become the single steadiest thing about a Lions team that is surprisingly relevant, having won three in a row. But Houston has won five in a row at home, and quarterback Brock Osweiler is under increased scrutiny.
Pick: Texans 23, Lions 17
Kansas City at Indianapolis
Andrew Luck has been sacked a league-high 25 times, but the Colts are going to be hard-pressed to allow pressure at the same rate against this utterly toothless Kansas City pass rush. The Chiefs have eight sacks, which is tied for the fewest in the league. Never underestimate the Colts’ ability to give up pressure, though. They’ve proven capable of letting just about anyone hit Andrew Luck over the past season and a half.
Pick: Chiefs 24, Colts 22
Seattle at New Orleans
Same story, different year. The Saints enter the game with one of the league’s most explosive offenses, having passed for a league-leading 339.3 yards per game. The Seahawks have one of the league’s best defenses, having held two of their first six opponents without a touchdown. The fact that Seattle didn’t win either of those games is testament to how challenged Seattle’s offense has been. The real question about this game is whether the Seahawks can run the ball, though. The Saints have given up 11 touchdowns on the ground, most by any team in the league.
Pick: Seahawks 27, Saints 20
Oakland at Tampa Bay
The Bucs defense gave up at least 24 points in each of the first four games but has gotten better recently, holding the past two opponents to fewer than 20 points. Good luck doing that against the Raiders, who’ve been held to fewer than 28 points only twice this season. The key to Oakland’s attack is preventing pressure. They’ve allowed a league-low seven sacks.
Pick: Raiders 31, Bucs 24
San Diego at Denver
The Broncos lead the league with 22 sacks, and they’re allowing a league-low 175 yards passing per game. The Chargers rank fifth in the league in passing yards at 275.4, but asking them to beat that Broncos defense for the second time in 15 days is asking too much.
Pick: Broncos 21, Chargers 14
Green Bay at Atlanta
You’d think this game would be a shootout, right? After all it’s Matt Ryan and Atlanta’s league-leading offense against former MVP Aaron Rodgers. Except Green Bay’s defense has actually been the key to the their season. The Packers have allowed the seventh-fewest yards overall in the league and have given up a league-low 71.8 yards on the ground. That’s a little bit misleading, though. Dallas is the only team Green Bay has played so far this season that currently ranks among the top 10 total offenses.
Pick: Falcons 31, Packers 27
Philadelphia at Dallas
The Cowboys have rushed for a league-high 161.2 yards per game, and while it’s tempting to say that Philadelphia’s defense – which ranks fifth in total yards allowed – will be a more formidable challenge, look a little closer. The Eagles are allowing 4.53 yards per rush, the ninth-most of any team in the league. That’s a bad omen.
Pick: Cowboys 27, Eagles 24
Minnesota at Chicago (Monday night)
Yay. The Bears are on national television. Again. This is the third time this crummy team has played in prime time, and while you could understand it if it was say the Panthers, a team coming off a Super Bowl appearance, but no one with an ounce of sense expected this Bears team to be any good this year. Not only bad, but boring. Chicago is averaging a league-low 15.9 points. Jay Cutler is back, though. So at least we’ll get to watch a quarterback commit turnovers and stand petulantly on the sidelines without expressing a single ounce of remorse. Oh yeah, and if the Vikings lose this one to a team they’ve beaten in five of the last seven meetings? The bottom is falling out of their season.
Pick: Vikings 16, Bears 15
