The last 100% record in the National Football League disappeared on Thursday, but by the merest whisper. With 15 seconds to play, Arizona QB Kyler Murray looked to find receiver AJ Green with a fairly routine pass from around the Green Bay 10-yd line to win the match, and land our 'over' the total bet.

Inexplicably, the emerging playmaker and the veteran wideout were spectacularly and expensively on different pages for a crucial split-second, and Murray's would-be match-winning pass was readily intercepted. Game over.

Cruel, cruel business, sport. But fantastic, heart-stopping, dramatic off the charts, too. A cracking game that sees both outfits now at a healthy 7-and-1 for the season, eyeing the playoffs with more than just a little hope. Green Bay looked an abject, disjointed, spent force in Week 1, but have followed that loss with 7 straight wins. Respect.

A brilliant start then, to Week 8 hostilities – and a cracking programme to follow today, Sunday. As per, we'll put three under a little more scrutiny and try to find a winner here and there.

Just a reminder – there's 18 regular season weeks this time around, as each team now plays 17 matches, instead of 16, with a 'bye' week for all built-in. Then the cream go forward to postseason, and dream of lifting the Lombardi at Super Bowl 56, Feb 13th 2022, at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California - home of the LA Rams.

Not far off the halfway mark then, and for all those flying high like the Pack and the Cards, there are many still searching for that consistent, winning formula.

First up - Gone With The Wind territory, and two such midtable scrappers ...

 

Sunday 5pm UK

Carolina Panthers @ Atlanta Falcons

Must readily confess to a long-standing admiration for equally-enduring Falcons' QB Matt Ryan. Great to watch, and should have a Super Bowl on his CV. Who can forget that horrible late capitulation to Brady's New England in Feb 2017? Anyway, these two have at all to do and more in the NFC South against the Bucs and Saints, more of which later.

Carolina found points very hard to come by against the Giants last time, as the offense collectively had a day to forget. They might find the Falcons a little more accommodating, but the Panther D is perhaps their relative strength right now, attempting as they must to keep Ryan, Kyle Pitts and company quiet.

This could go any which way, frankly, but Ryan, at home in the magnificent Mercedes-Benz Stadium, can get the Falcons over the line - fingers crossed - and cover, too.

Falcons -3.5 @ 21/20

 

Next - Indiana wants me ...

Sunday 5pm UK

Tennessee Titans @ Indianapolis Colts

The Titans are on a run and then some. Last two weeks, last two victims - the Bills, then the Chiefs. Wow. AFC South rivals clash here of course, and the Colts could sure use a win against their hottest Divisional competition.

Interesting to see that despite Tennessee's recent heroics they're 2.5 point underdogs at the Lucas Oil Stadium, and this is seen very much as a 'must-win' for the Colts if they are to overhaul the Titans. The Colts and especially QB Carson Wentz have improved steadily after a shaky start to their season, and in truth this has all the hallmarks of an absolute classic.

Derrick 'King' Henry is carrying all before him, quite literally almost, for the Titans, and how Indy handle this Rolls Royce battering ram will go a long way to deciding the eventual outcome. I can't desert Tennessee after their last two fantastic displays, and take them to thwart the Colts on their own patch.

Titans to win, money line, @ 6/5; and a few bob too for me on Titans +2.5 @ 21/20.

 

And finally - the Big Easy ...

Sunday 8.25pm UK

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New Orleans Saints

The game of the weekend for me. The clocks will have spun back, gloom will increasingly be the order of the day, but here's a real tonic of a match to lift the spirits (spooky or otherwise). Tom Brady is having an MVP-type season so far at Tampa, and having won one Super Bowl in Florida, is threatening to do it all over again.

Saints are still adjusting to life after their own QB legend Drew Brees brought the curtain down on his own glittering career, but a real tough scrap is envisaged here at the Superdome. Bucs are around the -4.5 mark on the spread, with a total set circa 48.5.

These two of course are Divisional rivals in the NFC South, unsurprisingly occupying the top two spots. The 6-and-1 Bucs have it over the 4-and-2 Saints right now, and if this was a postseason clash I'd have no hesitation in nominating Tampa as by far the most likely winners. In regular season though, with no knockout blow considerations, little turn-ups are far more commonplace.

Two really good defenses here against aerial threats, so expect to see lots of pounding runs, potentially eating up plenty of clock. Given that, and one or two key injury absences, I'm playing 'under' that total of 48.5 @ 10/11, hoping for a tight thriller (cue Michael Jackson video ....)

Have a great weekend of NFL fun.

Alan Firkins

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