NFL Week 8 Picks: Game Odds, Props, Lines and Over-Under Predictions

The list of teams that look like Super Bowl contenders in Week 8 is quite different than the list we started with at the beginning of the season. 

Halfway through the season, certain favorites have fallen. The defending NFC champion Carolina Panthers are the last-place team in the NFC South with a 1-5 record. The Denver Broncos haven’t looked like defending Super Bowl champions in their 5-2 start, with only one of those wins coming against a team with a winning record. 

Intriguing contenders have broken out as surprise contenders in their stead. After the Dallas Cowboys picked in the top five of the draft, few would have counted them as a potential champion, but here they are on a five-game win streak and with one of the best records in the NFL at 5-1. 

Here’s a look at the latest Super Bowl prop odds, per Odds Shark:

The Week 8 slate is marked by another set of games that appear to be close. No game has a spread of more than a touchdown, per Odds Shark. Teams will have to earn their wins this week, as each matchup is fairly close. 

Do or Die for the Carolina Panthers

Simply put, time is running out for the Panthers to salvage their season. 

At 1-5, Cam Newton and Co.’s margin for error has dwindled to nothing. As Bleacher Report’s Chris Simms and Adam Lefkoe discussed on The Simms & Lefkoe Podcast, the Panthers probably need to finish 10-6 to have a shot at winning the division (the Panthers’ discussion starts at the 9:20 mark): 

The problem for the Panthers has been late-game execution. As Jim Wyatt of Titans Online noted, Carolina is one of a few teams who have had every game come down to the fourth quarter; however, it can claim just one victory this season:

Seven teams – Ravens, Panthers, Lions, Colts, NYG, Redskins & @Titans – have had all of their games within 1 score in the 4th Q this season.

— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) October 25, 2016

That will have to change if the Panthers are going to right the ship in time to make a playoff run. The NFC South is much more competitive than it was last season, when the Panthers went 15-1 and no one else finished with a …

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