The 6-1 New England Patriots and 4-3 Buffalo Bills renew their rivalry in Week 8. The AFC East clubs meet for the 114th time since the American Football League’s inception in 1960. The Patriots lead the series 69-43-1 and would love to avenge their sole loss on the 2016 season. The game kicks off at 1:00 pm eastern time at ~~Ralph Wilson Stadium~~ New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York.

On Monday the Patriots were listed as 6½ point road favorites.

CBS will broadcast the Pats’ game. I am hoping that CBS will send their top broadcasting crew of Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson to announce the contest, though that has not been officially announced. The reason I say ‘hope’ is because if they are given Sunday off since CBS only has the single game then that means it will once again be Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts.

The game is scheduled to air throughout almost all of the east coast, as well most of the southeast. As of Monday WBZ’s transmission problems have been fixed, so hopefully for Patriot fans that will not be an issue this weekend.

FOX owns the ~~doubleheader~~ tripleheader next weekend and two games dominate their distribution plans. Seattle at New Orleans will be broadcast by most all of the FOX affiliates in the early time slot. Green Bay at Atlanta is the only late game on FOX, and will be available everywhere except for Denver.

Originally the Packers-Falcons was to be an early game but ten days ago the league moved it to the late time slot. Part of that was due to the Falcons’ hot start, but the biggest reason was the underwhelming performances of two other teams. Arizona and Carolina were expected to be two of the best teams in the NFC, but right now they are a combined 4-8-1. As a result the Cardinals-Panthers game was demoted from the late time slot to an earlier kickoff.

The third and final London game of the 2016 season happens Sunday morning, with Washington taking on Cincinnati.

The prime time games are Jacksonville at Tennessee on Thursday, Philadelphia at Dallas on Sunday and Minnesota at Chicago on Monday. For Dallas this marks the seventh time in seven games that the Cowboys will receive nationwide or near-nationwide broadcast distribution this season.

The Dolphins, Ravens, Steelers, Rams, Giants, and Forty Niners are all off with a bye in Week 8. The Patriots will receive their bye next week, followed by games against Seattle and San Francisco.

As always, these broadcast listings are preliminary. Between now and Sunday there will be changes for some network affiliates.

NFL Week 8 Television Coverage and Odds

? 2-4 Jacksonville Jaguars at 3-4 Tennessee Titans
Thursday, October 27 at 8:30 pm ET on NFLN; Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson
Titans -3½ . . . . over/under 44½
Broadcast in all markets.

??? 4-3 Washington Redskins ‘at’ 3-4 Cincinnati Bengals in London
Sunday, October 30 at 9:30 am ET on FOX; Kenny Albert, John Lynch and Pam Oliver
Bengals -3 . . . . over/under 46½
Broadcast in all markets.

??? 4-3 Detroit Lions at 4-3 Houston Texans
Sunday, October 30 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Chris Myers, Ronde Barber and Jennifer Hale
Texans -3 . . . . over/under 45½
Broadcast in Illinois, Indiana (except Indianapolis), Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Jacksonville FL, Toledo OH and Nashville TN.

???? 4-1-1 Seattle Seahawks at 2-4 New Orleans Saints
Sunday, October 30 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Justin Kutcher, Charles Davis and Chris Spielman
Seahawks -3 . . . . over/under 48
Broadcast in all markets with the following exceptions. Markets listed above for the Detroit-Houston game. Markets listed below for the Arizona-Carolina game. Buffalo, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Tampa will also not receive this game due to NFL/FCC rules.

??? 3-3-1 Arizona Cardinals at 1-5 Carolina Panthers
Sunday, October 30 at 1:00 pm ET on FOX; Sam Rosen, Daryl Johnston and Laura Okmin
Panthers -2½ . . . . over/under 48
Broadcast in Arizona, North Carolina, South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and western Virginia.

????? 6-1 New England Patriots at 4-3 Buffalo Bills
Sunday, October 30 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; announcers TBD; probably Ian Eagle/Dan Fouts
Patriots -6½ . . . . over/under 47½
Broadcast in New England, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, DC, Florida (except Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers), Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana (except Baton Rouge and New Orleans), Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York (except NYC), North Carolina (except Charlotte), Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin (except Green Bay), Chicago IL, Cincinnati OH and Las Vegas NV.

? 2-5 New York Jets at 0-7 Cleveland Browns
Sunday, October 30 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; announcers TBD; probably Andrew Catalon/Steve Beuerlein/Steve Tasker
Jets -4½ . . . . over/under n/a
Broadcast in Ohio and New York City. (The Albany station which nearly always airs Jet games thought this was such a dumpster fire they went with the Pats-Bills instead.)

?? 5-2 Oakland Raiders at 3-3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sunday, October 30 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; announcers TBD; probably Kevin Harlan/Rich Gannon
Buccaneers -1 . . . . over/under 49½
Broadcast in northern California, central Florida (Tampa, Orlando, Fort Myers), southern Oregon and Reno NV.

??? 4-2 Kansas City Chiefs at 3-4 Indianapolis Colts
Sunday, October 30 at 1:00 pm ET on CBS; Spero Dedes and Solomon Wilcots
Chiefs -2½ . . . . over/under 50
Broadcast in Illinois (except Chicago), Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee (except Memphis) and Fargo ND.

???? 3-4 San Diego Chargers at 5-2 Denver Broncos
Sunday, October 30 at 4:05 pm ET on CBS; announcers TBD; probably Greg Gumbel/Trent Green
Broncos -6 . . . . over/under 44½
Broadcast in Arizona, southern California, Colorado, Idaho, southern Louisiana (Baton Rouge and New Orleans), Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Charlotte NC, Bismark ND, Portland OR, Houston TX and Green Bay WI.

????? 4-2 Green Bay Packers at 4-3 Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, October 30 at 4:25 pm ET on FOX; Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikman and Erin Andrews
Falcons -3 . . . . over/under 52½
Broadcast in all markets except for Denver.

???? 4-2 Philadelphia Eagles at 5-1 Dallas Cowboys
Sunday, October 30 at 8:30 pm ET on NBC; Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya
Cowboys -4½ . . . . over/under 43½
Broadcast in all markets.

?? 5-1 Minnesota Vikings at 1-6 Chicago Bears
Monday, October 31 at 8:30 pm ET on BSPN; Sean McDonough, Jon Gruden and Lisa Salters
Vikings -6 . . . . over/under 40½
Broadcast in all markets.

Early Week Eight Prediction:

? 2-4 Jacksonville Jaguars at 3-4 Tennessee Titans (-3) [NFLN]
Thursday, October 27 on NFLN; Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Tracy Wolfson
Titans -3 . . . . over/under 43½ . . . . TEN -150, JAC +130
Broadcast in all markets.

This week we once again have a real clunker on Thursday night. Preseason predictions of Jacksonville progressing to become a playoff team look absurd right now. Tennessee has improved, but that is not saying anything. Last year the Titans were the worst team in the NFL. Jacksonville’s offensive line cannot open up any holes in the running game. Blake Bortles has thrown as many picks as touchdowns (nine) and has an abysmal 76.4 passer rating. To make matters worse the Jaguars have lost NT Roy Miller for the rest of the season due to a torn Achilles heel.

Prediction: Titans 23, Jaguars 13
Titans -3 (two units) . . . . under 43½ (one unit) . . . . Tennessee -150