14 Thoughts from Sunday's Week 8 Games
The Bengals did anything they wanted to on offense against a very good 49ers defense. They ran with ease, racking up 134 yards and averaging 5 yards per carry. Joe Burrow executed with surgeon-like precision, completing 28 of 32 passes for 283 yards, 3 TDs, and 0 INTs. The explosiveness also came back into the passing game with Burrow completing 4 passes of 20 yards or more (Cincy entered the game with just 7 through their first 6 games). Is it safe to say the Bengals are all the way back?
The Seahawks found a way to beat a tough Cleveland team with a last-minute touchdown pass from Geno Smith to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. They’re now 5-2 and staring down at the 49ers in the standings.
The Jaguars have won 5 in a row and that officially makes them the hottest team in the NFL. While the offense has played well, it’s the defense that’s made the biggest difference. They’ve allowed just 16.2 points per game during their 5-game winning streak and lead the NFL in takeaways.
Rookie Will Levis put on a show in his NFL debut, completing 19 of 28 passes for 233 yards and 4 touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, Desmond Ridder was benched at halftime, leaving questions about the future of the Falcons’ QB position. Atlanta has a lot of good happening on the team this year, but they should be getting more out of that offense with the weapons they have.
The Saints offense looked the way they hoped it would after signing Derek Carr this offseason. Carr threw for 310 yards and 2 touchdowns. The big play-maker of the day was 2nd-year wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, who had receptions of 44, 51, and 58 yards to help the Saints put 38 points on the board.
There was some truly terrible football on display in the Meadowlands between the Jets and Giants on Sunday. The two offenses somehow combined to go 0-for-18 on 3rd down in the first half. The only real entertainment from the game came from the fact that we had some great 1980’s movie references to draw on. The Jets’ quarterback looks like the bad guy in every 80’s teen movie and the Giants quarterback who finished the game had the same name as Joe Pesci’s character from Goodfellas (Tommy DeVito). This game was funny. Like a clown. It amused me.
The Vikings got the win in Green Bay but lost Kirk Cousins for the season to an achilles injury in the process. It’s too bad because this team was starting to put things together on both sides of the ball. The Packers, on the other hand, continue to struggle on offense. While Jordan Love is not the biggest problem with this team, his performance has been underwhelming for 4 straight games now. This front office had been in a rush to move on from Aaron Rodgers since 2019, all in an effort to get their next quarterback and avoid a rough transition post-Rodgers. I’m beginning to think they could have gone all in to try and win a Super Bowl with Rodgers and worried about the transition later. How much worse than 2-5 would they really have been?
The Broncos have played the Chiefs tough twice this year, and on Sunday, they finally ended Kansas City’s 16-game winning streak against them. I don’t think we should be concerned about the Chiefs offense, but they’ve been a bit of a roller coaster this season.
The Patriots were in this game until a back-breaking interception from Mac Jones. Stop me if you’ve heard that before. New England never really recovered. Tua Tagovailoa is now 6-0 in his career against the Patriots.
A.J. Brown set an NFL record with his 6th straight game of 125+ receiving yards on Sunday, and the Eagles pulled out a hard-fought win agains the Commanders for the second time this season. They’re 7-1 but staring a tough gauntlet of 6 straight games in the face (Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, 49ers, Cowboys, Seahawks).
The Cowboys had everything working on Sunday against the Rams. Offensive touchdowns. Defensive touchdowns. Blocked punts on special teams. Dallas dismantled L.A. 43-20, and that blowout loss to the 49ers 3 weeks ago now feels like it was 3 years ago.
The #1 pick (Bryce Young) and #2 pick (C.J. Stroud) in the 2023 NFL Draft squared off on Sunday, and it was Young who came out on top with a last-minute game-winning field-goal drive. This was his best game so far and hopefully it kickstarts the Panthers for the rest of the season.
The Ravens offense fell back down to earth after a dominating performance against the Lions in Week 7. They finished with just 268 total yards and averaged 4.5 yards per play, but give them credit for taking advantage of good field position and putting 31 points on the board. They’re now tied with all the other division leaders in the AFC at 6-2.
That’s the Justin Herbert we want to see: 31-40, 298 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 122.7 passer rating. He’s capable of doing that every week. On Sunday night against the Bears, he put the game far enough out of reach that the head coach and defense couldn’t find a way to lose it.