Staff Against the Spread Picks, Week 8

Footballguys Staff's Staff Against the Spread Picks, Week 8 Footballguys Staff Published 10/28/2021

Footballguys is proud to return the Footballguys' staff Against the Spread Pool Challenge. Multiple staff members will pick the winner of their eight most confident NFL games against the Las Vegas line. Winners will be announced from week to week, and the best overall record will be crowned Against the Spread Champion. Picks and ranks are due on Wednesday, so any late-breaking news may not be reflected in the choices.

Please note that this contest should NOT be viewed as direct sports wagering advice, especially later in the season. Since the staff is trying to beat one another, picks may be made to go against the grain trying to catch up in the standings. This example of game theory is more in tune with playing a contest such as this - so again, do not use these picks as direct advice towards which games to pick every week. Rather, use these picks to see the top choices each week, especially the staff members towards the top of the standings.

Here are the specifics:

  • It lasts for 18 weeks
  • Pick 8 games against the spread each week
  • Games are not weighted; each game correctly picked is worth one point in the standings
  • If you miss a week, you will be awarded the lowest score for that week minus 1 point
  • Standing will be determined by the total correct picks
  • Tiebreaker: number of weeks with the most number of correct picks

Last Week's Picks

  • Correct picks are in bold.
  • LW is the number of points earned last week.
  • Tot is the number of points earned this season.
Visiting Team DEN ATL CAR CIN KC NYJ WAS DET PHI CHI HOU IND NO
Home Team CLE MIA NYG BAL TEN NE GB LAR LV TB ARI SF SEA
Home Line -3.5 +2.5 +2.5 -6.5 +4.5 -7.5 -9.5 -14.5 -2.5 -12.5 -16.5 -3.5 +5.5 Pts YTD
Aaron Rudnicki DEN CIN KC DET CHI HOU IND NO 4 31
Andrew Garda DEN ATL CAR KC LV ARI SF NO 3 19
Andy Hicks CLE MIA WAS DET CHI HOU IND SEA 4 27
Ben Cummins DEN CIN NE GB LAR LV TB ARI 7 33
Clayton Gray DEN MIA BAL TEN GB LAR TB IND 6 29
Dan Hindery MIA CAR CIN NE PHI ARI SF NO 4 31
Danny Tuccitto DEN ATL CAR BAL TEN GB ARI IND 5 24
Dave Kluge DEN CAR NE GB DET LV CHI SF 5 29
Jason Wood BAL KC GB PHI TB HOU SF NO 2 30
Jeff Bell DEN CAR KC GB LAR LV TB IND 5 27
Jeff Tefertiller DEN MIA CAR KC NE GB TB SF 5 35
Justin Howe DEN MIA CAR CIN TEN NYJ WAS LAR 4 24
Keith Roberts DEN ATL CAR WAS LAR LV ARI SEA 4 27
Matt Bitonti DEN CIN GB LAR TB ARI SF NO 5 27
Matt Carey CAR BAL NE GB LAR PHI TB ARI 4 31
Phil Alexander DEN ATL NYG KC NYJ GB LV TB 5 26
Ryan Weisse DEN ATL CAR KC WAS PHI IND SEA 3 26
Sean Settle DEN MIA CAR KC LV TB SF NO 4 26
William Grant CAR BAL TEN NE GB LV IND SEA 6 25

Standings

  • Tot is the number of points earned this season.
  • Wk01 is the number of points earned in Week 1.
  • Etc.
  • People who missed picking for a week are awarded the lowest score for that week minus 1 point
Player Total Wk01 Wk02 Wk03 Wk04 Wk05 Wk06 Wk07 Wk08 Wk09 Wk10 Wk11 Wk12 Wk13 Wk14 Wk15 Wk16 Wk17 Wk18
Jeff Tefertiller 35 4 4 *6 6 5 5 5
Ben Cummins 33 5 4 4 6 3 4 *7
Aaron Rudnicki 31 4 4 4 4 *6 5 4
Dan Hindery 31 *6 4 4 4 5 4 4
Matt Carey 31 *6 3 5 4 4 5 4
Jason Wood 30 5 4 3 5 5 *6 2
Clayton Gray 29 3 3 3 6 4 4 6
Dave Kluge 29 4 3 4 *7 4 2 5
Andy Hicks 27 5 4 4 5 1 4 4
Jeff Bell 27 0 2 5 6 5 4 5
Keith Roberts 27 4 4 4 4 4 3 4
Matt Bitonti 27 5 2 5 2 4 4 5
Phil Alexander 26 4 3 3 4 5 2 5
Ryan Weisse 26 3 *5 2 5 4 4 3
Sean Settle 26 0 4 3 6 4 5 4
William Grant 25 3 3 2 4 4 3 6
Danny Tuccitto 24 2 4 5 2 5 1 5
Justin Howe 24 *6 4 4 3 3 0 4
Bob Henry 20 5 3 3 3 2 3 1
Alessandro Miglio 19 2 0 5 3 *6 2 1
Andrew Garda 19 3 2 3 3 5 0 3

This Week's Picks

  • Tot is the number of points earned this season.

Visiting Team GB CAR CIN LAR MIA PHI PIT SF TEN JAC NE TB WAS DAL NYG
Home Team ARI ATL NYJ HOU BUF DET CLE CHI IND SEA LAC NO DEN MIN KC
Home Line -5.5 -2.5 +9.5 +14.5 -13.5 +3.5 -3.5 +3.5 +0.5 -3.5 -5.5 +4.5 -3.5 +2.5 -9.5 YTD
Aaron Rudnicki ATL CIN BUF DET LAC TB WAS DAL 31
Alex Miglio GB ATL CIN HOU BUF TEN DAL KC 19
Andrew Garda ATL CIN CLE TEN SEA DEN DAL KC 19
Andy Hicks GB CAR MIA DET CHI JAC DAL NYG 27
Ben Cummins GB CIN LAR MIA DET JAC NE TB 33
Clayton Gray ARI BUF DET PIT CHI JAC NE TB 29
Dan Hindery ARI ATL CIN MIA PIT TEN TB DEN 31
Danny Tuccitto ATL CIN DET PIT SF NO DAL KC 24
Dave Kluge CAR DET CHI TEN JAC LAC WAS KC 29
Jason Wood ARI CIN HOU PHI TEN SEA TB KC 30
Jeff Bell ARI CIN LAR BUF PIT LAC TB DAL 27
Jeff Tefertiller CIN DET PIT TEN JAC LAC TB DAL 35
Justin Howe ARI ATL CIN HOU MIA PIT TEN NE 24
Keith Roberts ARI CIN BUF PIT TEN TB MIN KC 27
Matt Bitonti CIN LAR BUF PIT TEN LAC TB DAL 27
Matt Carey ARI ATL LAR BUF PHI SF DAL KC 31
Phil Alexander ATL HOU SF TEN LAC NO DEN KC 26
Ryan Weisse ARI MIA DET SF TEN LAC TB DAL 26
Sean Settle ATL PIT SF TEN SEA LAC DEN MIN 26
William Grant ARI DET PIT CHI TEN SEA TB DAL 25
Away Picks 3 2 12 4 5 2 10 5 13 5 3 11 2 11 1
Home Picks 9 9 0 4 7 9 1 4 0 4 8 2 4 2 8
Total Picks 12 11 12 8 12 11 11 9 13 9 11 13 6 13 9

Consensus Winners

  • There are two unanimous picks this week.
  • Tennessee has the most backers with 13 as they visit the Colts.

Toss-Up Games

  • There are four games with almost an even split in staff picks:
    • The Rams at Houston
    • Miami at Buffalo
    • San Francisco at Chicago
    • Jacksonville at Seattle
  • The game with the least number of picks is Washington at Denver, with only six total selections.

Odds and Ends

As always, the picks are due by Wednesday night. Most of the staff agree that picking this weekend's games on Wednesday night is very difficult because you don't have much information about injuries and practice. If your league allows you to pick the later games separate from the rest, take advantage of it and make your Sunday and Monday picks as close to the weekend as possible.

A reminder that these picks are against the Las Vegas lines – so getting above 50% is respectable, above 53% gets you into the profitable zone (accounting for the Las Vegas house odds of taking 10% of every losing wager) – and anything above 60% is outstanding. That may sound easy enough, but it is much, much harder than it might seem.

Good luck this weekend!

Photos provided by Imagn Images
Share This Article

Featured Articles

More by Footballguys Staff

 

Justin Fields: Overvaluing Rushing Upside

Jason Wood

Jason Wood deep dives on what Justin Fields rushing upside doesn't justify his ADP.

07/14/25 Read More
 

The Myth of Geno Smith

Jason Wood

Jason Wood takes a look at Geno Smith and how his reputation is living off one outlier season in 2022.

07/14/25 Read More
 

NFL Team-By-Team Fantasy Overviews

Our staff analyzes every team from multiple perspectives: projections, vibes, sleepers, busts, and IDPs.

07/14/25 Read More
 

Sleepers on the Jacksonville Jaguars

Sleepers can catapult your fantasy team to a championship. Our staff searches for them on the Jaguars.

07/11/25 Read More
 

Team Vibes: Arizona Cardinals

Team vibes refer to the overall mood toward a team's offense. Our staff shares their thoughts on the Cardinals.

07/14/25 Read More
 

Wide Receiver Tiers, Value Picks and Players to Avoid

Sigmund Bloom

Sigmund Bloom runs down the 2025 wide receivers by tiers with highlighted value picks and players to avoid

07/11/25 Read More