Week 8 of the NFL season is already underway after Thursday Night Football, and now it’s time to gear up for Sunday. There are a ton of great matchups this week, which should provide us with a very entertaining week of football.

Hopefully, this week gives up some more upsets and tight finishes than last week, but we’ve got to wait to find out. So, here are some bold predictions to hold you over as we wait for Sunday.

Dallas and Denver combine for under 40 points

Everyone is expecting the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos to get into a shootout. The Cowboys have one of the best offenses in the league, but also one of the worst defenses in the league. Their lowest-scoring game of the year had 44 combined points, but on average, the Cowboys and their opponents are combining for 61.1 points per game.

That changes this week.

The Broncos have one of the best defenses in the league this year, and with their pass rush, I think they give Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ offense some trouble. On top of that, the Broncos’ offense has been far too inconsistent for me to fully trust them, even against a bad Cowboys defense.

There is 100 percent a world where these two trade scores the entire game, and it ends up being 40-35 or something like that, but I also don’t think it’s that unrealistic for this game to go far, far under the 51.5-point total Vegas put on this game.

Aaron Rodgers exposes the Packers on SNF

If you’ve read any of our stuff recently, you’d know that Tim Wood and I are not very big believers in the Green Bay Packers. Outside of their Week 1 win over Detroit, they haven’t wowed me all year, and they’re struggling to beat very average teams at the moment. This week, they have to travel to Pittsburgh to face a tough defense and, oh yeah, their former MVP quarterback who is REALLY going to want to beat them.

I think this will be a very entertaining game, and if Pittsburgh’s going to win, it will be on the back of Aaron Rodgers. I expect him to come out hot against his former team and throw for 250+ yards and two or three scores as he leads the Steelers to victory.

A road loss to the Steelers wouldn’t hurt their reputation too much, but maybe then people will start to realize Green Bay isn’t quite as good as everyone thought they were.

Saints upset the Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be without their top five offensive weapons this week. Emeka Egbuka, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Jalen McMillan, and Bucky Irving all could miss this weekend’s game, and we saw just how shaky the Bucs offense looked last week with most of their stars out.

This week, the Buccaneers have to go to New Orleans to face a 1-6 Saints team that’s given a lot of teams some trouble. Spencer Rattler had his worst game of the season last week, but he has played pretty well overall. Chris Olave looked really good last week despite some of the offense’s struggles, so if he can have another big game and the defense can play well, watch out for the Saints this week.

Mike McDaniel is fired after a big loss to the Falcons

In an ideal world, nobody would fire a coach midseason. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world, so coaching changes are made in the middle of the year all the time. Right now, the Miami Dolphins are on track to be the second team to fire their head coach midseason, and I think it could happen as soon as this week.

Tua Tagovailoa has questioned the leadership in the building, and it just seems like McDaniel has lost the locker room. His quirky, nerdy act is fun when they’re winning, but when they’re losing, it gets old very quickly. I just don’t see this team rallying behind him and turning things around, especially against a pretty good Atlanta team.

I see the Dolphins losing by 14+ this week and finally pulling the trigger on McDaniel.

Bears dominate Ravens in Lamar Jackson’s return

Lamar Jackson seems like he’s set to return to the field this week against the Chicago Bears. The Baltimore Ravens are 6.5-point favorites this week despite their 1-5 record, but I think the Bears get a statement win on Sunday.

I just do not trust Baltimore’s defense. They’ve given up over 32 points per game, which is the worst in the NFL by a decent margin. I know they could get some key playmakers back on defense, but I don’t think that’ll help all that much. The Bears’ offense is rolling with Caleb Williams, D’Andre Swift, Rome Odunze, and others.

I think the Bears could put up 30 this weekend, and I trust their defense to hold the Ravens to the mid-20s in Lamar’s return. For the sake of this, I’ll say the Bears win by at least a touchdown, if not more.

Bills score 40+ to remind everyone they’re still elite

The Buffalo Bills have sort of been forgotten about in recent weeks. They lost two games in a row before going on their bye week, but now return for a game against the 4-3 Carolina Panthers. I know the Panthers are playing some good football right now, but I still don’t trust their defense, especially against Josh Allen.

The Bills’ offense has had two weeks to prepare for the Panthers, and with everyone rested and healthy, I don’t think Carolina stands a chance. Allen is going to want to remind everyone he’s in this MVP race once again, and the Bills just need a big game offensively to get some confidence back.

I expect James Cook to play a big factor in this game, and if Josh Allen can just do Josh Allen things, 40 points is not out of the realm of possibility.

Eagles flip the script, beat Giants by 17+

Everybody loves to root for the New York Giants right now. Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo are one of the most fun duos to watch right now, but reality smacked them in the face last week, and I don’t think it will be any kinder to them this time around.

After blowing a 19-point fourth-quarter lead, the Giants must now face the Philadelphia Eagles, whom they just beat 34-17 a couple of weeks ago. However, the Eagles seemed to have unlocked something in their offense last time out, and if they can throw the ball as they did last week, the Giants are going to have an incredibly hard time stopping them.

I think the Eagles have something to prove this weekend. They want to show everyone in the NFC that they should still be the favorites to represent the conference in the Super Bowl, and they definitely don’t want to lose to the Giants for the second time in three weeks. I think they come out and stomp them by 17+, and how poetic would it be if it were 34-17?