It was another up-and-down but rather successful week of NFL picks and predictions in Week 8 action. With a slightly more predictable slate of games than in Week 7, our record after Monday Night Football between the Bengals and Browns was a solid 9-6. The biggest whiff of Week 8 was probably overestimating the Las Vegas Raiders coming off of a bye week as they were shut down and embarrassed by the New Orleans Saints. That, or the Los Angeles Rams getting crushed at home by the San Francisco 49ers.
At any rate, our picks and misses in Week 8 can certainly help out in Week 9 as we have a rather slim slate of games with six teams on bye weeks. In this week’s matchups, there are only two games in the late-afternoon window, which certainly makes for a less exciting Sunday than normal. As is always the case, if you plan on making any bets based on these picks, always understand that betting NFL games is an inexact science and know your limits.
With that said, it seems as though the Week 9 NFL schedule will open up with a rather predictable matchup. Let’s take a look at Week 9 and make our NFL picks and predictions for every game.
Week 9 byes: Browns, Cowboys, Broncos, Giants, Steelers, 49ers
2022 NFL picks and predictions for Week 9
Philadelphia Eagles (7-0) at Houston Texans (1-5-1)
Thursday, November 3, 8:15 PM ET (Prime Video)
What a great time to be a Philadelphia sports fan, right? The Eagles are undefeated at 7-0. The Phillies are in the World Series. It really doesn’t get much better than that in the months of October and November for two beloved franchises and some of the most passionate fans in the world.
With the Eagles on the road early this week, it’s going to be a fun but perhaps stressful week for the Philadelphia fan base. Not only do you have the Phillies playing on Tuesday and Wednesday but now you’ve got the Eagles putting their undefeated record on the line on Thursday night. Thankfully for Philadelphia sports fans, the Eagles can perhaps take a bit of the stress of the world series away, because this is one of the easier matchups to predict all week.
Look, funny stuff can happen at any time in the NFL. The Eagles probably won’t finish this season undefeated, but are they going to lose to the Houston Texans? There’s just no reason to predict that at this point.
Prediction: Eagles win 31-13
Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) at Atlanta Falcons (4-4)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
The Atlanta Falcons have become increasingly difficult to predict on a weekly basis as far as NFL picks are concerned. The Falcons have one of the best offenses in the NFL, ranking 6th in the league in points per game at 25.0. The Falcons can definitely score the ball, a testament to the work being done by head coach Arthur Smith and his staff.
On Sunday, they came inches away from being 3-5 instead of 4-4 with the Carolina Panthers simply unable to make a couple of kicks in both regulation and overtime. It was sad for the Panthers, but the Falcons won’t complain about waking up every day this week in sole possession of first place in the NFC South.
Considering what people expected of this team coming into the 2022 season, you’ve got to tip your cap to Smith and the job he’s done with Marcus Mariota under center. Mariota looks reborn, even if he’s not lighting up defenses with his passing.
The Chargers are coming off of a bye week but teams out west traveling east to play in the early window? That’s tough no matter if you’re coming off of a bye or not. We’ll see if the Chargers can get some key players back from injury in this game to give them a boost against one of the league’s top offenses, but this game could wind up being a shootout.
If a shootout is what we get, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Justin Herbert as the last one standing, regardless of how healthy the Chargers may or may not be.
Prediction: Chargers win 34-27
Miami Dolphins (5-3) at Chicago Bears (3-5)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
The last handful of weeks have been extremely interesting for both the Miami Dolphins and the Chicago Bears. For the Bears, even at a record of just 3-5, it feels like this team has slightly overachieved. They have shown some improvements offensively while losing, but they have also won some games in which the offense didn’t play well at all.
After trading Robert Quinn to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Bears are now in an interesting position defensively where we saw them get absolutely gashed against the Dallas Cowboys and Tony Pollard, and things aren’t going to get any easier in Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins, who boast one of the NFL’s most potent offensive attacks this year when Tua Tagovailoa is healthy.
The Dolphins have had to deal with injuries at the quarterback position after a white-hot start to the year for Tua Tagovailoa and the dynamic duo of Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill. The Dolphins have three games this season with over 450 total yards of offense, including 476 yards against the hapless Lions in Week 8.
The concern for the Chicago Bears in a game like this — how do you stop Waddle and Hill from breaking down your defense with their speed? The Bears no longer have Robert Quinn rushing the passer but the pass defense has been tough as a whole, ranking 5th in the NFL this season in yards allowed.
That unit is going to be put to the test in a significant way. I think the Bears, with their offensive improvements, should not be taken lightly in this kind of matchup, even though they probably will be by most. We’re seeing Justin Fields make some strides, if only small ones.
Prediction: Dolphins win 27-24
Carolina Panthers (2-6) at Cincinnati Bengals (4-4)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
Since the Carolina Panthers fired Matt Rhule and inserted PJ Walker into the starting lineup, we’ve started to see a resurgence for wide receiver DJ Moore. Is that altogether surprising? Not really.
The Panthers have wisely started getting the ball to no. 2, but Moore is also part of the reason the Panthers lost on Sunday in a crucial matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. PJ Walker heaved up a Hail Mary which was reeled in by Moore to tie the game. Moore, unfortunately, took off his helmet after the clutch touchdown, pushing the extra point back to a 48-yard attempt.
Which was of course missed. The Panthers had a shot to win with a much shorter field goal in overtime, but Eddy Pineiro missed that as well. The Panthers would have had no chance of winning without DJ Moore’s clutch reception, but they also kind of lost because of his celebration. Tough times in Carolina, no doubt. They would have been in first place.
Now, they have a matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9, and the Bengals were one of the hotter teams in the NFL in the month of October before their blowout loss on Monday night against the Browns. Although Cincinnati is having to deal with an injury to Ja’Marr Chase, their offense is more than capable of putting up big numbers even in his absence, and the Bengals’ defense has been one of the more underrated units this season.
Of course, they were absolutely smoked against the Browns, so nothing is impossible and not even the Panthers should be overlooked here.
Although Carolina seems to have been jumpstarted under interim head coach Steve Wilks, I’m not banking on them going on the road against the reigning AFC champions and getting a win.
Prediction: Bengals win 28-16
Green Bay Packers (3-5) at Detroit Lions (1-6)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
Another week, another brutal loss for the Detroit Lions. The Lions’ offense had started off the season looking so good, only to get shut down by the New England Patriots a few weeks ago as well as the Dallas Cowboys last week. In those two losses, the Lions scored a combined six points, but they got back on track against the Miami Dolphins, scoring 27.
Unfortunately, the Detroit defense kept its awful pace this year and gave up 31 to the Miami Dolphins, and nearly 500 yards of total offense. This is the NFL’s worst defense, by far, and the Lions are now facing an Aaron Rodgers-led Packers team that desperately needs a get-right game offensively.
Can the Lions stop the bleeding defensively? Can they win a shootout against Rodgers and the Packers? At this point, have the Packers given us any reason to think they can actually win a shootout?
There are a lot more questions going into a Lions and Packers game than you might traditionally expect. Despite their two dud performances against the Cowboys and Patriots, the Lions are still a top-10 scoring offense. They just have to find a way to not make mistakes against Green Bay.
I have been picking against the Packers the last couple of weeks and they have proved me right, but I think against the Detroit Lions, we’ll see Aaron Rodgers make the necessary number of plays to get a win.
Prediction: Packers win 27-25
Indianapolis Colts (3-4-1) at New England Patriots (4-4)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
Once upon a time, this was the most anticipated matchup every year on the NFL calendar. The days of Brady vs. Manning are obviously long gone, so the Patriots and Colts getting together at midseason doesn’t have the allure it used to. Hence, the 1:00 start time of this game.
It would have been fun to hear Tony Romo call a Manning vs. Brady game, though, wouldn’t it?
At any rate, this matchup is going to be Mac Jones vs. Sam Ehlinger. Just a little bit different. Aside from a clunker against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football last week, the Patriots have been playing some really good football of late, especially defensively.
No surprise there.
Bill Belichick has his unit firing on all cylinders and you can see just how easy it is for him to win schematically when the Patriots go up against a team like the Jets and more specifically, a quarterback like Zach Wilson. They absolutely dominated him. Despite the fact that Wilson threw for 355 yards, the Patriots had him running for his life all game and forced three interceptions.
What will this New England defense do to Sam Ehlinger?
The Colts struggled against the Washington Commanders this past weekend. Jonathan Taylor doesn’t look himself out there and didn’t have a single 100-yard rushing game in the month of October. Playing in New England against Bill Belichick’s defense when your offense is struggling is not really a recipe for getting right or getting things going.
Prediction: Patriots win 23-16
Buffalo Bills (6-1) at New York Jets (5-3)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
Although their records seem to indicate that these two AFC East opponents are not really that far off from each other, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The Buffalo Bills might as well be in a different league than the New York Jets at this point, especially when it comes to the offensive side of the ball.
Even as the Jets acclimate to life without Breece Hall (slowly but surely incorporating James Robinson into the fold), it’s clear that New York is simply not going to be a viable contender in the AFC as long as Zach Wilson keeps playing the way we are seeing. Even as the Jets beat the Denver Broncos a couple of weekends ago, you just saw Wilson out there playing way too loose and out of structure. Against the Patriots, it cost him in the form of three interceptions.
The Bills will eat the Jets alive, and you hate to say that with as good of a story as the Jets have been in the first half of the 2022 season. Anything can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL, right? You can’t completely count the Jets out, you can’t discount the way Robert Saleh’s defense has played, but you also can’t sit here and act like the Bills aren’t just on a different level as a team.
Buffalo is one of the best teams in the NFL. The fact that they have a loss this season only speaks to the fact that it’s really impossible for NFL teams to go undefeated. If there is a team out there that deserves to be almost unanimously picked week-to-week, it’s the Bills. They are a well-oiled machine that is basically just able to show up and play great at this point.
I think Buffalo is going to absolutely roll in this game as the Jets’ season starts to take a turn for the worst.
Prediction: Bills win 37-18
Minnesota Vikings (6-1) at Washington Commanders (4-4)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
It’s the Kirk Cousins revenge game, Part II.
The last time Kirk Cousins played against his former team was back in 2019, and he absolutely picked them apart. He nearly completed 90 percent of his passes as the Vikings coasted to a win against Washington, but things are obviously a lot different now in 2022.
The Vikings look like one of the best teams in the NFL. Regardless of how they are winning games or how close their wins are, the Vikings are winning just about every week, and their victory in Week 1 against the Packers really set the tone for this season. As far as making NFL picks, however, this one is really tough.
The Commanders have been resilient as well in recent weeks, somewhat shockingly winning three games in a row despite losing starting quarterback Carson Wentz to injury. Taylor Heinicke has come in and done well for himself, not just winning games for the Commanders but also earning himself some hefty bonuses.
For every game that Taylor Heinicke plays at least 60% of the snaps and the Commanders win, he earns a $125K incentive. He puts that bonus to a new pair of Jordans in the colors of the team that Washington beat. This week: new blue and white Jordans.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 30, 2022
Could a pair of purple and gold Jordans be on deck for Heinicke? Can the Commanders keep this rather improbable streak alive at home against a Vikings team that has so many dynamic weapons offensively? I’m not so sure.
I am going to go out on a limb and say that playing in Washington does something weird for Kirk Cousins. As good as he was the last time the Vikings played his former team, I think there’s some kind of mystique about the Commanders right now with Taylor Heinicke, and I’m (perhaps foolishly) buying into it for another week.
Prediction: Commanders win 26-24
Las Vegas Raiders (2-5) at Jacksonville Jaguars (2-6)
Sunday, November 6, 1:00 PM ET
Another week gone by, another very confusing game for the Las Vegas Raiders. Over the last handful of games, it looked like the Raiders — even at 2-5 entering Sunday’s action — had turned the proverbial corner.
They played really well against the Chiefs a couple of weeks ago, the running game had really started to get going with Josh Jacobs leading the charge, but clearly we were all tricked as the Raiders went 2-1 with a bye week before ending the month of October with a gross 24-0 loss at the hands of Andy Dalton and the New Orleans Saints.
The Raiders didn’t even have 200 yards of total offense as the Saints coasted to a victory and Raiders backup QB Jarrett Stidham was called upon for some garbage time duty. What are we supposed to make of this Raiders team?
The Jaguars played a “home” game in London against the Broncos and once again struggled late in the fourth quarter, surrendering a game-winning drive to Russell Wilson and the Broncos before Trevor Lawrence threw an interception when the Jaguars had an opportunity to retake the lead.
These are two teams whose records at this point are disappointing for different reasons, but both squads are underachieving offensively right now. This game is actually a matchup of two of the better running backs in the NFL right now in Josh Jacobs and Travis Etienne. Etienne is unstoppable these days.
I think this game is a toss-up. Have we ever predicted a tie here? I’m going to take the Jaguars by a point because they’re playing at home in an early time slot.
Prediction: Jaguars win 24-23
Seattle Seahawks (5-3) at Arizona Cardinals (3-5)
Sunday, November 6, 4:05 PM ET
One of only two games in the late-afternoon window this coming weekend is a matchup against two NFC West teams whose seasons have gone just about the opposite of what everyone predicted going into the year.
The Seattle Seahawks have become one of the best teams in the NFL with the play of Geno Smith and the emergence of rookie running back Kenneth Walker. Seattle has three losses this season but they have played teams tough every single week, and the Cardinals had better be ready for a really efficient team all-around that doesn’t make a lot of bad mistakes and can absolutely bleed you out over the course of four quarters.
Not only that, but even without Russell Wilson, the big play has still been there for Seattle. It’s hard to say a 5-3 team is firing on all cylinders but you just see them play so well week in and week out, even though they’re not without flaws.
The Cardinals, on the other hand, are extremely flawed. I don’t think anyone really knows what to make of this team. I bought in last week after their dominating Thursday night win over the Saints but they couldn’t find a way to win a close game against the Vikings. And the great teams find ways to win.
Even playing at home in this game, I just don’t love the Cardinals against such a balanced team like Seattle right now.
Prediction: Seahawks win 31-27
Los Angeles Rams (3-4) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5)
Sunday, November 6, 4:25 PM ET
Making NFL picks for the Rams and Buccaneers this year has been infuriating. These two teams came into the season perhaps a little too confident that they would be two of the biggest contenders in the NFC this season. Halfway through the 2022 NFL season, these two teams look way more like pretenders than any sort of contenders.
Tom Brady and the Buccaneers have had one injury after another to deal with. The latest being a season-ending injury for star pass rusher Shaquil Barrett. Considering the Bucs had already moved on from Jason Pierre-Paul in the offseason and they also no longer have Ndamukong Suh, that injury to Barrett is basically a kill shot to their pass rush.
The Rams have been dealing with that all year since Von Miller decided not to re-sign in Los Angeles this year and instead joined the juggernaut that is the Buffalo Bills. Los Angeles just got absolutely destroyed at home by the San Francisco 49ers and, specifically, Christian McCaffrey who did everything but kick the PATs on his touchdowns.
The Rams were embarrassed last week on their home field while the Buccaneers dropped one to the Ravens. And it’s not like these teams are playing great and still losing to great teams — they’re just flat-out getting beat and looking bad in the process.
Somebody’s got to win this game, though, right?
Prediction: Rams win 23-20
Tennessee Titans (5-2) at Kansas City Chiefs (5-2)
Sunday, November 6, 8:20 PM ET
The Kansas City Chiefs coming off of a bye week, playing at home.
It doesn’t get much more deadly for the Tennessee Titans, does it? The Titans have won five straight games and are finding ways to win. Derrick Henry continued to own the Houston Texans this past week and ran all over the Titans’ division rival, but will Derrick Henry be enough to win in Kansas City? Can the Titans’ defense force Patrick Mahomes to turn the ball over a couple of times?
Maybe even more pressing — can Malik Willis or Ryan Tannehill play mistake-free football?
Even with a confusing loss to the Indianapolis Colts a few weeks ago and a loss to the Buffalo Bills, it feels like the Chiefs have really found their stride. And now they’ve added Kadarius Toney into the mix. The Chiefs may take some time to acclimate Toney to their offense but you can’t help but think they’ll find some ways to add him as a creative wrinkle to their offense right away.
As efficient as the Kansas City offense has been, I think this is a very uneven matchup between two teams with identical records at this point. The Titans deserve a ton of respect for the way they have remained a contender in the AFC since benching Marcus Mariota all the way back in 2019, and Mike Vrabel is a phenomenal coach.
With that being said, I don’t see how you could possibly bet against the Chiefs in this one. Things would have to go absolutely perfect for the Titans to pull off a win, and the ball seems to bounce Kansas City’s way more often than not, especially when they are playing at home.
Prediction: Chiefs win 37-20
Baltimore Ravens (5-3) at New Orleans Saints (3-5)
Monday, November 7, 8:15 PM ET
If you were like me and faced off against someone in fantasy this past weekend who had Alvin Kamara in their lineup, I am deeply sorry. Kamara racked up nearly 160 yards from scrimmage with nine receptions and three total touchdowns, pretty much a fantasy football manager’s best-case scenario on a given weekend.
Again, unless you’re the opposing fantasy manager, as I was. There’s always next week.
Kamara’s performance against the Raiders, along with the dominant performance put forth by the Saints’ defense, has certainly given this team some hope going forward. The Baltimore Ravens are a much different team than the 2-6 Raiders, but the Saints should be feeling much better going into this game than they did a week ago after Andy Dalton was seemingly handing out pick-sixes to every Cardinals defender on Thursday Night Football.
The Ravens have once again been in a lot of close games this season. There have been flashes of absolute dominance from Lamar Jackson mixed with some head-scratching plays, but Lamar is still one of the most dynamic playmakers in the entire NFL.
Although it appears the Ravens have a huge advantage here based on these two teams’ records, it’s hard to know on a given week which Saints team you’re going to get. If New Orleans is healthy for this game, I think they are a team that presents a very unique challenge to opposing defenses.
Playing at home on Monday Night Football, I’m going to take the risk in this week’s picks, go against my gut and pick where my heart is telling me…
Prediction: Saints win 30-28