Welcome to another week of The Sports Savant NFL Picks, Week 8 Edition!
A Cincinnati loss to Pittsburgh. That’s how close I was to every prognosticators dream; the perfect week. Heading into Sunday night’s battle between the Bengals and Steelers last week, I was perfect, 11-0 in my week’s NFL picks for Week 7. Only once in the 24 regular season weeks I have kept an official record of weekly NFL picks had I even only had one loss in a week, a 15-1 record in Week 14 of the 2011 season on a full slate of NFL games. In that week, I had already suffered the sole blemish by the end of the 4:30 games; a 19-21 loss by the 49ers to the Cardinals. This time I was still undefeated going into the night game. The Bengals had control of the game early and I was primed for an undefeated run, but the Steelers came back and blew the dream. By Monday morning I had suffered my first loss.
I ended up correctly picking the Monday Night Football game winner and settled with a 12-1 record for Week 7 and improved my already robust winning percentage to 66.3%. Some would argue that the 15-1 record from last year is more impressive than a 13-0 record considering their were six teams on bye for Week 7 that didn’t have to be picked and no teams on bye in Week 14 last year when I reached the 15 win mark. That may be true, but any prognosticator would tell you that there is something special about escaping a week of NFL picks without a blemish whether it is in a week of teams on bye or a full slate. I’m still seeking that elusive perfect week, but as close I have come in just a season in a half, I am bound to hit it. Maybe it will be this week!
In this week’s NFL picks, I have only one underdog covering the spread in a loss(Jacksonville) and I also have four dogs to win their respective games outright(Miami, Washington, Oakland and New Orleans). I went mostly chalk and picked out the games that looked prime for an upset last week and nailed nearly every one of them. I am using a similar formula this week and we’ll see what kind of results it brings me.
On the season, with last week’s explosion of winners, I was also on absolute fire in my spread and over/under picks finishing Week 7 with a 9-3-1 mark against the spread and 9-4 mark picking the over/under. These marks lead to a personal record of seven trifectas in a single week, a feat that may never again go matched it’s is so unbelievably rare. This blazing week brought me back to nearly even for the year on my spread picks(48.5%) after my brutal stretch of bad spread picks during the NFL Referee lockout when everything was so unpredictable. My over/under picks have been scorching all year long though and half way through the season I have a 57.7% success rate on the over/under, a rate of success that only the most expert of prognosticators reaches for a full season.
Before we look at my picks for Week 8, let’s take a look at how last weeks picks shaped up and my overall records for the 2012 NFL season…
*WEEK 7 RESULTS*
Trifecta: 27
Don’t forget to visit therealsportssavant.blogspot.com to check my game picks or right here on lastwordonsports.com at The Sports Savant channel. And now for my Week 8, NFL picks…
Tampa Bay @ Minnesota(-5.5) (o/u 43)
Savant Spread Pick: Minnesota and the points to win ~ 23-17
Over/Under Pick: Under
St. Louis v. New England(-7) (o/u 47)
Savant Spread Pick: New England and the points to win ~ 26-16 *LOCK*
Over/Under Pick: Under
Indianapolis @ Tennessee(-3.5) (o/u 47)
Savant Spread Pick: Tennessee and the points to win ~ 27-23
Over/Under Pick: Over
Jacksonville @ Green Bay(-15) (o/u 43.5)
Savant Spread Pick: Jacksonville with the points; Green Bay to win ~ 27-13
Over/Under Pick: Under
Cleveland v. San Diego(-3) (o/u 43.5)
Savant Spread Pick: San Diego and the points to win ~ 20-16
Over/Under Pick: Under
Atlanta @ Philadelphia(-3) (o/u 43.5)
Savant Spread Pick: Philadelphia and the points to win ~ 26-23
Over/Under Pick: Over
Seattle @ Detroit(-2.5) (o/u 42.5)
Savant Spread Pick: Detroit and the points to win ~ 24-16
Over/Under Pick: Under
Miami @ New York(A)(-2.5) (o/u 40)
Savant Spread Pick: Miami to win ~ 21-17
Over/Under Pick: Under
Carolina @ Chicago(-7.5) (o/u 43)
Savant Spread Pick: Chicago and the points to win ~ 28-20 *LOCK*
Over/Under Pick: Over
Washington @ Pittsburgh(-4.5) (o/u 46)
Savant Spread Pick: Washington to win ~ 29-27
Over/Under Pick: Over
Oakland @ Kansas City(-1.5) (o/u 42)
Savant Spread Pick: Oakland to win ~ 20-17
Over/Under Pick: Under
Dallas v. New York(N)(-2) (o/u 46.5)
Savant Spread Pick: New York and the points to win ~ 27-19 *LOCK*
Over/Under Pick: Under
New Orleans @ Denver(-6) (o/u 55)
Savant Spread Pick: New Orleans to win ~ 31-28
Over/Under Pick: Over
Arizona v. San Francisco(-7) (o/u 38)
Savant Spread Pick: San Francisco and the points to win ~ 23-12 *LOCK*
Over/Under Pick: Under
