Sometimes, look-ahead bets are impacted by bad luck. (See last week's lament on injuries -- in this case, to Seattle QB Russell Wilson.) And sometimes they are just flat-out dumb.

Houston's Week 5 loss to New England 25-22 was widely viewed as an indication that the Texans were improving. The look-ahead line for its Week 7 matchup with Arizona was 14.5 points.

Those who jumped on it -- hand raised -- cringed as the spread crept up point by point to where it reached 20 by game day. Before kickoff, the bet-on-Houston camp already was a loser. The mega-underdogs raised false hopes by going ahead 5-0 -- what was this, an Astros game? -- before reverting to the true Texans in a 31-5 defeat.

Let's hope the spreads on these three look-ahead picks, none of which is based on a team's single performance, do not experience a massive swing. Unless, of course, it's in the right direction.   

Week 9 lookahead lines

Jets at Colts (-14), O/U 44
Texans at Dolphins (-7), O/U 45.5
Broncos at Cowboys (-7.5), O/U 49
Vikings at Ravens (-6), O/U 49.5
Patriots (-2.5) at Panthers, O/U 43.5
Bills (-10.5) at Jaguars, O/U 49.5
Browns at Bengals (-3), O/U 45
Raiders (-3) at Giants, O/U 47.5
Falcons at Saints (-5.5), O/U 45.5
Chargers (-3) at Eagles, O/U 50
Packers at Chiefs (-2.5), O/U 54
Cardinals (-3) at 49ers, O/U 47
Titans at Rams (-4), O/U 52
Bears at Steelers (-5), O/U 40.5

Which Week 9 sides make for great plays before Week 8 kicks off? And which underdog is being severely mispriced by the market? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Week 9 lookahead picks from the expert who returned more than $2,500 on his NFL picks from 2016-20 and hit 56 percent of his ATS picks last year!