It’s hard to believe it’s already Week 8 of the NFL, but here we are almost at the halfway point. This week we get the opportunity to rest up, sleep in, and relax on a Sunday morning after Halloween. The time changes Sunday morning, and there is no international game this week. So, with all this extra time, let’s dive into The Opening Script. NFL first-half best bets for Week 8.
Raiders +1.5 (-139)
Las Vegas getting points at the New York Jets is a beautiful thing. New York may be the least trustworthy team in the league right now. Garrett Wilson was yelling at coaches last weekend on the sideline, and the loss to Miami may be the beginning of the big downfall. An amazing statistic making the rounds this week is how, under Aaron Glenn, the Jets have been outscored just in the final two minutes of the first half: 107-6. That is an insane way to end the halves of these games.
Las Vegas has been a solid team in the first half this season. They were blown out twice, against the Rams and Patriots. Outside of that, they’ve had the lead at halftime against great teams, including the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. The Raiders aren’t a bad team, and Kirk Cousins is a competent quarterback.
Patriots -3.5 (-115)
New England heads to South Beach to take on the Miami Dolphins Sunday. The Patriots will have 10 days of rest after last playing on Thursday Night Football against the Chicago Bears. Miami is riding high after winning against the Jets last week. Outside of getting blown out by the Jaguars, against good or bad opponents, the Patriots have performed well in the first half. They had easy leads against the Jets, Bills, Steelers, Raiders, and even the Seahawks.
They’ve let some teams in the backdoor to steal the cover, but this has been a good team early on. With 10 days to prepare, Mike Vrabel off the bye, and Miami off the win. It’s the perfect formula for a Patriots first half cover.
Chiefs/Broncos Under 20.5 (-129)
The first half under bit us for the first time last week in the France game. We missed out by just a couple of points in the Steelers/Saints game, and then they only scored seven in the second half. So we had the right train of thought; maybe we just needed to be on U.S. soil. Let’s take it to the altitude in Denver, where the Chiefs visit the Broncos. These teams played a few weeks ago, and 21 points were scored in the first half.
Now that they’ve seen each other, and the Chiefs have seen and experienced how easy it is to run on this Broncos defense, I’ll expect a lot of Kenneth Walker early in this game. Both of these teams will want to slow this game down and play chess rather than checkers. That’ll lean toward this under.
Vikings +2.5 (-108)
Minnesota and Detroit square off in an NFC North game that is going to answer a lot of questions about both of these teams this week. Minnesota’s defense has been stellar lately, but they’ve also not played the likes of an offense as potent as the Lions’. Which side will prevail? Early on, I’ll give the edge to Brian Flores and company. Flores is one of the best defensive minds in all of football. His entire goal will be to slow this Lions offense down early and give Kyler Murray and company a shot at this game. I think it’ll be a lower-scoring, back-and-forth affair. Give me the underdog in a tough division matchup in that case.
