NFL - Week Eight Preview

Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning square off on Thursday Night Football.

The NFL season gets into Week Eight with a good one on Thursday Night Football as AFC West rivals go at it in Denver when the San Diego Chargers take on the Broncos.
The Chargers (5-2) had a five game winning streak snapped last weekend when they lost at home to the Kansas City Chiefs, 23-20 that knocked them out of first place in the division. The Broncos (5-1) rolled over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, 42-17 as quarterback Peyton Manning set a new NFL record for career touchdown passes.
The Chargers are led by a high powered offense with Philip Rivers at quarterback and a stingy defense that is much improved from a year ago. The Broncos feature Manning and a plethora of weapons on offense and also boast a much improved defense that gets after opposing quarterbacks and also is among the best in the NFL against the run.
Look for a game that could go down to the wire as the teams split last season's two regular season games, with each team winning on the road. The Broncos won the third match in the AFC Divisional Playoffs, 24-17 in Denver last January en route to an appearance in the Super Bowl.
There is another game in London, England this weekend as the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons will go at it across the Atlantic Ocean with a 9:30 am (ET) kickoff.
The red hot Baltimore Ravens will travel to face the slumping Cincinnati Bengals in a big AFC North battle while the Pittsburgh Steelers will host the Indianapolis Colts in what should be a great game. Two teams with identical 5-1 records in the NFC will play each other as the Philadelphia Eagles travel to play the Arizona Cardinals. Two other NFC teams will be featured on the Sunday Night Football Game as the Green Bay Packers will play the New Orleans Saints in the Big Easy.
With Aaron Rodgers (18 TD passes and just one interception this season) leading the attack, the Packers can put up some points and the Saints are certainly capable of doing just the same thing with Drew Brees at quarterback.
All in all it looks to be another exciting weekend looming for the NFL as the season gets to the midway point as October is winding down. The Heftyinfo predictions follow up after another decent week, going 10-5 in Week Seven.

The Heftyinfo picks for Week Eight  . . .     (Home teams are listed in BOLD type and Lock of the Week is listed in BOLD CAPS)

San Diego over Denver
Detroit over Atlanta (Game is in London, England)
Kansas City over St. Louis
Houston over Tennessee
Tampa Bay over Minnesota
Seattle over Carolina
Cincinnati over Baltimore
Miami over Jacksonville
New England over Chicago
NY Jets over Buffalo
Philadelphia over Arizona
Cleveland over Oakland
Pittsburgh over Indianapolis
New Orleans over Green Bay
DALLAS over Washington

Last Week's Record:  10-5

SEASON RECORD:  70-35-1

Lock of the Week Record:  6-1