NFL picks against the spread, Week 8: SuperContest picks, all picks

Welcome back to another week of San Francisco 49ers football. After five weeks of close football, it all came crashing down last week in a 40-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers have shown they can play teams close, but mistakes will cost them. Against Dallas, the mistakes piled up from the first punt return attempt, and they never recovered.

This week, they head into Philadelphia as a 13 point underdog, according to Odds Shark. This marks the second largest spread the 49ers have faced this season. In Week 2, they were a 13.5 point underdog to the Seattle Seahawks.

For the fourth straight season, I am back for the Westgate SuperContest. SB Nation's partners over at Odds Shark are sponsoring my entry again. The contest requires selecting 5 games each week and picking them against the spread. This year's contest is expected to have over 2,700 participants, which is a new record for the SuperContest. SB Nation is represented by myself, Matt Ufford, and Jason Kirk, and there are folks from all over the blogosphere involved. I am flailing away right now, coming off a 1-4 performance. It’s not pretty. There is a running leaderboard here, but you can check how I’m doing against my Odds Shark teammates here. You can follow my standings under the name "Fooch.”

Here are my Week 8 SuperContest picks:

SAINTS (-9) over Bears
EAGLES (-12.5) over 49ers
WASHINGTON (+2) over Cowboys
LIONS (+3) over Steelers
Colts (+10.5) over BENGALS

Yep, I’m picking against the 49ers. I don’t like double digit spreads, but I’m looking at this in two ways. The first is my picks stink this year and I’m not winning anything, so why not go for the reverse jinx? The second is that I just see this ending up something like 34-17 or so as a final score in favor of the Eagles. I’m not overly optimistic about the gaame.

Here are all my picks for Week 8. I finished last week 5-10-1. That brings my season total to to 43-61-3. Not so good.

RAVENS vs. Dolphins (+3): Ravens
Browns vs. Vikings (London) (-9.5): Vikings
SAINTS vs. Bears (+9): Saints
JETS vs. Falcons (-4.5): Jets
BUCCANEERS vs. Panthers (+2): Panthers
EAGLES vs. 49ers (+12.5): Eagles
BILLS vs. Raiders (+2.5): Raiders
BENGALS vs. Colts (+10.5): Colts
PATRIOTS vs. Chargers (+7): Patriots
SEAHAWKS vs. Texans (+5.5): Seahawks
WASHINGTON vs. Cowboys (-2): Washington
LIONS vs. Steelers (-3): Lions
CHIEFS vs. Broncos (+7): Chiefs