Broncos vs Jaguars: Odds, Spread, Preview: NFL Week 8 Predictions

Players to watch:

Courtland Sutton: Courtland Sutton is the undisputed WR1 in Denver, but the Broncos’ inefficient offense has failed to make the most of his skill set. Still, he’s due for a big game every day now, and this might as well be it.

Travis Etienne Jr.: Travis Etienne Jr. continued taking reps away from James Robinson, and now that he’s no longer on the team, he’ll have an even bigger workload going forward. He’s turned a lot of heads with his lateral quickness and ability to break tackles.

Broncos vs Jaguars matchup preview and current betting lines

The Denver Broncos will hope to have Rusell Wilson back under center after missing one game with a hamstring injury. Although, all things considered, it’s not like their inefficient offense looked much different on Sunday.

Nathaniel Hackett is reportedly on the hot seat and could be coaching for his job if his new-look Broncos don’t get the job done overseas. It’ll be another primetime game for Denver, albeit in another time zone, so they can’t afford any more embarrassment.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are a much-improved team compared to last season. Doug Pederson has brought them back to life, and it seems like they’re finally heading in the right direction. However, they’re still not ready to compete at the highest level.

Trevor Lawrence was mostly solid in last week’s loss to the New York Giants. Nonetheless, the Jaguars still couldn’t close the game out despite leading late in the fourth quarter, and they may need another year before being a contender.

Week 8 Predictions: NFL Bet of the week on Broncos vs Jaguars

Jaguars -2.5

The opening Broncos vs Jaguars spread has the Jaguars favored by 2.5 points, which seems right on point. For starters, the Jacksonville Jaguars actually have a strong following in London, as the team has historically played there at least once per season for years now. So, you know the home advantage will be there.

More than that, the Denver Broncos are just a bad football team, simple as that. They’re both 2-5, but the Jaguars have fought hard and competed for the most part. The Broncos’ offense has been dead in the water for most of the season, and Russell Wilson looks like a shell of himself right now.

The Jaguars have one of the best running backs in the game in Travis Etienne Jr., and Trevor Lawrence has done a better job of taking care of the football. He’ll have a tough time against the Broncos’ physical defense, but he should still be able to move the chains.

We don’t expect this to be an exciting game by any means. Wilson will miss his wide-open receivers over and over, and there will be some costly turnovers from both sides. But the Jaguars should fly back home with the win here.

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Over 39.5

The opening Broncos vs Jaguars odds have this game sitting at just 39.5 projected points. That makes perfect sense, considering how inefficient and boring the Broncos’ offense and decision-making have been thus far.

But we have to consider that the NFL is trying to sell its product overseas. That means they can’t afford to have another 17-14 kind of game, not this time. So, we expect the officials to try and contribute to a high-scoring matchup.

We expect multiple questionable pass interference calls favoring both teams, and both QBs have enough arm strength to sling the football downfield every now and then. So, there could be at least a couple of big plays.

So, even though we don’t think this will be a 35-30 kind of game, we believe 39.5 points aren’t enough for two teams trying to put on a show and do the league’s PR job in Europe. Even if they struggle, the refs will help them go over the total.

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