NFL Viewer Guide for Week 8: Ranking the Matchups and Predictions

Each week we count down the Sunday-Monday games in terms of viewer appeal, and it's again a case of best for last when it comes to the top matchups of Week 8.

The Week 8 slate of games isn't particularly exciting, and the best matchup already took place when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night.

Here's the countdown of the most attractive Sunday-Monday games (the Raiders and Ravens have their bye):

14. L.A. Rams (6-1) at Houston (1-6), 1 p.m. — Really nothing interesting about this matchup. If the Texans keep it close for even a half, it'll be a surprise.

13. Jacksonville (1-5) at Seattle (2-5), 4:05 p.m. — Let's see if the Jaguars can build off their win against the Dolphins in London against a Seattle team that's just plain bad without Russell Wilson.

12. Washington (2-5) at Denver (3-4), 4:25 p.m. — Remember when the Broncos started off 3-0? Remember when Washington was supposed to have an elite defense in 2021?

11. Cincinnati (5-2) at N.Y. Jets (1-5), 1 p.m. — The Bengals have become a really fun team to watch with Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase leading the way, but the Jets will be starting Mike White in this one. Yawn.

10. New York Giants (2-5) at Kansas City (3-4), Monday, 8:15 p.m. — Even with the Chiefs struggling at 3-4, does anybody expect Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to NOT blow out the Giants? Not sure how the schedule-makers ever thought at one point this would be a good matchup to stick on Monday night.

9. San Francisco (2-4) at Chicago (3-4), 1 p.m. —The 49ers have been one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL (not as much as the Dolphins obviously) and they have a moribund Chicago offense.

8. Philadelphia (2-5) at Detroit (0-7), 1 p.m. — This might be worth watching only to see if this is the game where former Dolphins interim head coach Dan Campbell gets its first win with the Lions.

7. Miami (1-6) at Buffalo (4-2), 1 p.m. — The biggest attraction to this game is the curiosity factor involving whether the Dolphins can finally be competitive against the Bills, as well as whether Tua Tagovailoa continue his hot streak at quarterback.

6. Carolina (3-4) at Atlanta (3-3), 1 p.m. — Matt Ryan and the Falcons will try to make it three in a row, while the Panthers are looking to end their four-game slide while hoping for a bounce-back effort from Sam Darnold.

5. New England (3-4) at L.A. Chargers (4-2), 4:05 p.m. — While the Chargers look like the clearly superior team, let's not forget the Patriots humbled them (as well as QB Justin Herbert) to the tune of 45-0 last season.

4. Tampa Bay (6-1) at New Orleans (4-2), 4:25 p.m. — Hey, imagine that, the Bucs in the prime doubleheader game. Sorry, but this just doesn't look like a marquee matchup despite the teams' combined record and the fact the Saints routed Tom Brady and company twice in the regular season in 2020.

3. Tennessee (5-2) at Indianapolis (3-4), 1 p.m. — This has the makings of a good game because the Colts have been playing much better of late, but Derrick Henry and the Titans can pretty much wrap up the AFC South title with a win here.

2. Pittsburgh (3-3) at Cleveland (4-3), 1 p.m. — The AFC North is the best division in football and this should be a good game with the Browns as banged up as they are.

1. Dallas (5-1) at Minnesota (3-3), 8:20 p.m. — This actually should be a pretty good game because the Cowboys are really good and the Vikings always seem to play close games.

GAME PREDICTIONS

In a different way of doing this, here are projected winners, and they are ranked in order of confidence that the projection will be accurate with No. 1 being the most confident. Note that the Dolphins game will not be included in this exercise; the Dolphins prediction will come in a Saturday column.

Last week's record: 8-4 (not bad)

1. L.A. Rams over Houston

2. Kansas City over N.Y. Giants

3. Cincinnati over N.Y. Jets

4. Tampa Bay over New Orleans

5. Cleveland over Pittsburgh

6. Denver over Washington

7. Atlanta over Carolina

8. L.A. Chargers over New England

9. Seattle over Jacksonville

10. Chicago over San Francisco

11. Indianapolis over Tennessee

12. Minnesota over Dallas

13. Detroit over Philadelphia

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