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  Casino City's Week 8 NFL Circa Million V 2023 Pro Football Contest Picks27 October 2023
Jacksonville -2.5 over Pittsburgh Since a 37-17 loss to the Houston Texans over a month ago, the Jaguars have rattled off four wins in a row, with the most impressive victory coming against Buffalo in London. Last week, Trevor Lawrence wore a knee brace for his injury that he suffered two weeks ago as he was sacked by Indianapolis, and his status for the game was in question. However, Lawrence took the field and ended up being the team’s leading rusher with 59 yards. He also threw for over 200 yards in the air en route to a 31-24 win at New Orleans. His protection was a big reason for his success. The offensive line for Jacksonville has done well to protect its young QB. Last week, the New Orleans Saints recorded a pressure rate of just 8.6%, the lowest by any team so far this season. The numbers in this game are in favor of Jacksonville. The Jaguars gain roughly 60 yards more per contest than Pittsburgh, while the Steelers allow around 40 more yards per game on defense and struggle against the run. Travis Etienne could have a big game on the ground for the Jags against the front seven of Pittsburgh, which is much better at pass rushing than run stopping.
Houston -3 over Carolina The theme for the Texans coming out of their bye week is “keeping the foot on the gas,” and they’re going to do exactly that this weekend against the Panthers. Houston enters the road game with a 3-3 overall record following a 20-13 home victory over New Orleans prior to its week off. Rookie quarterback back C.J. Stroud leads the way for the Texans as he’s thrown for 1,660 yards and nine touchdowns, while only throwing one interception. He’s complemented by running back Dameon Pierce, who’s rushed for 281 yards and one score. Wide receiver Nico Collins rounds out the offense as he’s hauled in 547 yards and three touchdowns. Not to be overlooked though is Houston’s defense as it ranks sixth in the league with four interceptions and five fumble recoveries. There’s a reason the Panthers had the opportunity to choose signal caller Bryce Young with the first pick in the NFL Draft, and that’s because they’re not that good. In fact, it actually appears as if Carolina is worse than last year as it enters this weekend’s game with an 0-6 overall record and 0-5-1 against the spread, following last weekend’s 42-21 loss in Miami. Bryce is definitely not picking up where he left off in college as he’s only thrown for 967 yards and six touchdowns to go along with six interceptions. To make things worse running back Chuba Hubbard and wide receiver Adam Thielen have only totaled a combined five scores. Not that Stroud needs any extra motivation to continue his great season thus far, but he’ll get it as he faces the only player taken before him in this year’s draft in Young. This time, Stroud will end up on top as the Texans improve on their 5-1 ATS over their last six road games.
Philadelphia -6.5 over Washington We’ve seen this matchup already this season as Philadelphia barely snuck away with a 34-31 overtime victory at home. Now in Washington, many may think the Commanders have an advantage since they took the Eagles to OT on the road. The big issue is that the Commanders, despite starting 2-0 on the year, are struggling and have dropped four of their last five, including a very disappointing 14-7 road loss against the New York Giants last week. The Eagles know how to get to the quarterback and apply pressure, which doesn’t bode well for Washington as it has arguably the worst in football. The Commanders have allowed 40 sacks this season, which is the most in the NFL, and if they stay at that pace, QB Sam Howell will be sacked more times in a season than any quarterback in history. Former Texans quarterback David Carr holds the record as he was sacked 76 times in 2002. Getting the ball out quickly and trying to establish the run will be key for Washington, but Philly knows that and will be playing up on receivers to force Howell to hold the ball longer and allow the pass rushers to get home. I really do not want to be Howell come Sunday because I can see it being a long afternoon for him.
Minnesota pick’em over Green Bay Similar to the Commanders, the Green Bay Packers had a promising opening week, but since then, they have lost four of their last five games. The offense has been the issue as the team has failed to score over 20 points in the last four games and is barely averaging 300 yards of total offense for the season. Aaron Jones has been practicing and gearing up to be used to his full capability soon but with a hamstring injury, you need to be careful. Jones will relieve some of the pressure on QB Jordan Love who despite throwing any interceptions in the first two weeks has thrown seven picks in the last four games. On the other side of the field, the Minnesota Vikings came to play against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. In fact, the entire Monday Night crew picked the 49ers to walk away with a win. With the Vikings being without Justin Jefferson, that wasn’t a crazy prediction by any means. It was next man up for the Vikings as their WR2, Jordan Addison, took the lead receiver role in Jefferson’s absence and went off for 123 yards and two touchdowns against an impressive San Fran defense. Kirk Cousins and the Vikings offense showed they can still move the ball and put points up on the board despite missing one of the best receivers in the NFL. And even though Deebo Samuel was out for the 49ers, they still had a hefty arsenal of weapons like Christian McCaffrey, who has scored a touchdown in 16 straight games, George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk to name a few. The Minnesota defense was able to hold this high-powered offense to just 17 points and make things very uncomfortable for Brock Purdy. Expect more of the same from the defense against Jordan Love on Sunday.
Chicago +8.5 over Los Angeles Chargers The NFL is definitely a next player up league. Enter rookie quarterback Tyson Bagent and veteran running back D’Onta Foreman. The undrafted Division II signal caller led three scoring drives last weekend for the Bears in his first-ever start enroute to a 30-12 home victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. Bagent, who was filling in for injured starter Justin Fields, finished 21-of-29 for 162 yards and one touchdown. Then there’s Foreman who went off for 89 yards to go along with two rushing scores and one receiving touchdown. He was filling in for rookie Bijan Robinson, who only saw limited action due to undisclosed headaches. As of today, Fields is listed as doubtful for this weekend, while Robinson doesn’t appear on the injury report; however, he didn’t appear on it last weekend either. You know how sometimes something just isn’t right? That appears to be the phrase that can sum up the Chargers this season. Los Angeles will enter this weekend with a 2-4 overall record following last weekend’s 31-17 loss at Kansas City to the Chiefs. Quarterback Justin Herbert, who’s dealing with a fractured left middle finger on his throwing hand, is in the midst of one of his worst stretches of his career with four interceptions and under 60% completion rate over the last three games. He’s also been sacked 15 times, including five last week, due to a poor offensive line, thus cutting down on the rushing threat of Austin Ekeler and Joshua Kelley who have only totaled three scores. Regardless of who starts this weekend for the Bears, they will improve to 3-5 as the Chargers clearly have regressed this year.
Week 7 Results: 0-5 Season Record: 11-22-2
Casino City's Week 8 NFL Circa Million V 2023 Pro Football Contest Picks
is republished from Online.CasinoCity.com.
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