Week Eight Picks: FAIL No More

At the end of last season, the St. Louis Rams had been the best team in my "Power Rankings" over the course of the two years I'd been tracking my picks in the confidence pool(s). They were the only team I had never picked to win a single game.

That streak continued almost halfway into this third season of tracking picks here on BMC, but at long last, it appears the week has finally arrived when I indeed actually select the perennially lowly Rams to actually emerge victorious. It's been a long time coming, I suppose, but when you consider St. Louis has already won as many games only seven games into this year as they had won combined in the previous two, it's about time I cave in.

Besides, they're currently 25th in the Power Rankings this year, so it appears the reliability of ending up in the positive by picking against them every single time has finally worn off.

When this is how I'm leading into my picks this week, it's surely a sign the Bears have an off-week. That, or the Brett Favre pecker story has finally, um, gone limp.

Speaking of turnarounds, I'd also never have guessed that the Kansas City Chiefs would be the most popular pick of any week so soon either, but here we are:

PFW Spread	Yahoo Users	Wunderdog	Brian Burke	My Numbers
13 (11)	13 (93%)	13 (26-17)	13 (.86)	13 (81)
12 (7 ½)	12  (90%)	12 (26-19)	12 (.83)	12 (70)
11 (6)	10.5 (87%)	11 (27-23)	11 (.77)	11 (57)
10 (5 ½)	10.5 (87%)	10 (24-20)	10 (.75)	10 (51)
9 (4)	9 (79%)	9 (22-19)	9 (.69)	9 (49)
8 (3 ½)	8 (71%)	8 (22-19)	8 (.65)	8 (42)
6.5 (3)	6.5 (70%)	7 (23-21)	7 (.60)	7 (39)
6.5 (3)	6.5 (70%)	6 (23-22)	6 (.59)	6 (20)
5 (2 ½)	4.5 (63%)	5 (23-22)	5 (.57)	5 (15)
4 (2)	3.5 (62%)	4 (21-20)	4 (.56)	4 (5)
3 (1 ½)	3.5 (62%)	3 (22-21)	2.5 (.54)	3 (4)
2 (1)	2 (59%)	2 (22-21)	2.5 (.54)	2 (3)
1 (E)	1 (54%)	1 (17-17)	1 (.51)	1 (0)
57.5 points (8-5)	55.5 points (7-6)	48 points (6-7)	61.5 points (9-4)	49 points (6-7)

And as for my picks:

13 points

Kansas City Chiefs (4-2) over Buffalo Bills (0-6)

+12/-7 : +74/81/-7 : 0/+62

12 points

Dallas Cowboys (1-5) over Jacksonville Jaguars (3-4)

-29/0 : +5/4/+1 : +1/+34

11 points
New England Patriots (5-1) over Minnesota Vikings (2-4)
+28/-1 : +52/49/+3 : +4/+24



10 points
Indianapolis Colts (4-2) over Houston Texans (4-2)

+19/0 : +13/5/+8 : +8/-6

9 points
Pittsburgh Steelers (5-1) over New Orleans Saints (4-3)

+22/-9 : +23/20/+3 : +12/+1



8 points
St. Louis Rams (3-4) over Carolina Panthers (1-5)

0/-4 : +39/51/-12 : -8/+39

7 points
New York Jets (5-1) over Green Bay Packers (4-3)
+27/-2 : +27/3/+24 : +26/0

6 points

Washington Redskins (4-3) over Detroit Lions (1-5)

-13/-16 : +55/70/-15 : +1/+68



5 points
Miami Dolphins (3-3) over Cincinnati Bengals (2-4)
+7/-14 : +26/42/-16 : -2/+19



4 points 

San Diego Chargers (2-5) over Tennessee Titans (5-2)

-25/+2 : -36/57/+21 : +19/-11

3 points

Denver Broncos (2-5) over San Francisco 49ers (1-6)

-8/+29 : +19/0/+19 : -10/+27

2 points

Oakland Raiders (3-4) over Seattle Seahawks (4-2)

+6/+14 : -21/39/+18 : +4/-27

1 point
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-2) over Arizona Cardinals (3-3)
+5/-14 : +22/15/+7 : +21/+17