NFL Week Eight Preview.
NFL Week Eight Previews
A relatively uneventful week of games on the eight-game slate, with six teams on a bye, which is the most team absences at one time this season. The Colts ride into week eight with The Largest Point Differential In Football(+92), and That Could and should Expand Over The Next Week As They Face The moribund Titans, who haven't Given Any Reason this season to believe they can damage the Colts' Momentum. The Colts' “Easy-sih” Schedule Makes Them A Tough Evaluation, But For The Most Part They’ve Demolished All The Bad Teams On The Schedule, Thats Always A Positive and Tripped Over Their Own Feet Against The Rams. The Bengals, For The Tumult They Suffered This Season, Have A Chance To Get Back To .500 And Continue To sit Behind The Steelers In The Division As They Take On The Winless Jets. Joe Flacco Played as Good a Game As Any Forty Year Old Not Named Tom Brady Could Play Against The Steelers, Week 7. Is He Due a let down against A The Jets And Their Improving Defense?
Bills Vs Panthers
The Bills Return From Their Bye, Facing A Potential Three Game-Losing Streak, Nearly Unthinkable, Against The “Red Hot” Panthers, Winners Of 4 Of Their Last 5 Game, Looking To Win Four Straight Games, Put That In Your File Of Unexpected Occurrences In 2025. The Panthers normally don’t Look Like A Threat Even With An Injured Bryce Young In The Lineup, But The Bills Have The worst rushing Defense In Football, Giving Up 5.8 To Ball carriers and 156.3 Rushing Yards To Offense. The Jets Slowed Down Mr. Buckle Up, Panthers’ running Back Rico Dowdle Just A Little. However, He’s Still Averaging 5.6 A Carry For The Season—the Bills Defense Rebounded In the Second Half On Monday To Slow Down Atlanta’s Offensive Onslaught. The Defense Faces Andy Dalton, not The Scariest Foe As A Passer, making His Tenth Appearance As A Panthers 10 Touchdown 6-6-pick in his Panthers Career. The Bills still have Josh Allen, while the Falcons managed to limit the MVP to a total of -6.42 EPA, an average of -0.12 per play, along with 2 interceptions and just 180 passing yards, which are all season lows for him. The Panthers' offense ranks 22nd in the NFL in EPA per play over the span of their current win streak. However, they are second in overall success rate for the season and have achieved a 37% success rate on drop-backs since Week Four. The 2025 defense ranks seventh in yards allowed per game, 295.7, and 18th in points allowed per game, 20.7. No Easy Contest anymore. Will The Pass Defense Of Carolina slow down Allen For The Second Straight Week?
Patriots Vs Browns
The Patriots are currently 5-2, which places them in first place in the AFC and in contention for the top seed in the conference. One main, surprising aspect of this standout season for the Patriots is not how quickly Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye turned the team around, or the impressive victory against the Bills on the road, but one of their losses, which was their first, came at the hands of the Raiders. Even the most optimistic Patriots fan could not have predicted a 5-2 record, the breakout performances, and the MVP chatter surrounding Drake Maye in his first full season as a starter. The supporting cast has developed more quickly than anticipated alongside him. During the offseason, the Patriots were consistently ranked at the bottom for Receiving Group Quality by PFF, ESPN, and NFL.com. However, according to Sumer Sports Data, the New England Patriots lead the NFL in Expected Points Added (EPA) generated by their receivers, with a total of 105.24..The Patriots Emerged From The Offseason With a Diversified Unit, Stefon Diggs' Return From Injury, and it Looks Like The Elite Receiver From His Buffalo Days. ESPN ranks him second among receivers, According To Their Tracking Data,3.28 Yards Per Route Run, 40.06 EPA, and first Down Receptions. Second Year Receiver Kayshon Boutte Averages 17.8 Yards Per Reception, A 80.0% Catch Percentage, and He Leads The Team In Touchdowns(4), and 90.0% receptions produce first downs. The Patriots Have Three “Receivers” Stefon Diggs, Kayshon Boutte, and Hunter Henry All Over 300 Yards, All Better Than 20 Total EPA, Over 300 Receiver Yards, and 20 Receptions. The Browns' Pass Defense Put The Clamps On Tua, -0.83 EPA Per Play, 24.1 Passer Rating, 100 Passing And Three. The Cleveland Defense Ranks Fifth In EPA Per Play Allowed And second in Success Rate. Cleveland dominates The Run Game But Ranks Middle Of The Road Against Pass(15th in EPA Per Pass Play, and 18th in Passer Rating). A Favorable Matchup For The Patriots, Who Ranked Number One In Passing EPA But 28th In The Run. The Patriots' Pass Defense Gave Up 255 Passing Yards To Cam Ward, And 13 Passing First Downs, and The Pass Defense Has Struggled Most of The Season(7th Worse In Passer Rating Allowed 102.0, And Fifth Worse In Yards Per Completion 11.3). The Browns have a Weak Passing Attack, just 113 Yards Through The Air, 73.3% and 89.1 Passer Rating, Afro DILAN Gabriel. The Patriots Picked Up Four Sacks against the Titans. The Browns rank 29th in Pass Block Win Rate. The Patriots' Offense Ranks 21st In Pass Block Win Rate, Facing The Number One Pass Rush In Football, According To ESPN's Pass Rush Win Rate Metric In The Browns.
Dolphins Vs. Falcons
The Falcons can’t seem To Figure Themselves Out Offensively. Through Six Games, They’ve Presented Themselves As A Mercurial and Volatile Unit Laden With Talent and Bored With Execution. The Falcons Bounced Back From Their worst game Of The Season, that Point Game Against The Panthers, by scoring 34 Points Against The Commanders. Atlanta Followed That Performance With another promising outing Against The Bills, Where The Passing Offense Struggled(-0.42 Per Pass), But Who Needed Passing Offense With Bijan Robinson Playing Out Of His Mind, the Falcons Could Ride That Momentum. The Falcons' Offense Froze In The Second Half Against Buffalo -2.93 Offensive EPA In The Third Quarter, -1.53 Offensive EPA in the Fourth Quarter. The Niners in Week 7 slowed Bijan Robinson Down Just 40 Yards On The Ground, Forcing The Falcons to 54 Yards, 2.8 yards A Carry On The Ground. Michael Penix 21/38 241 Passing Yards, Seven Explosive Passes(15+ Air Yards), -0.12 EPA Per Pass Play. Michael Penix Ranks 25th in Passer Rating(85.2), 27th In Completion Percentage, 22nd In QBR, 20th in EPA, and 19th in Passing EPA By ESPN Metrics. The Falcons' Second Year Passer Plays Well In The First Quarter(105.3 Passer Rating In The First Quarter) Before His Play Steadily Declines Over The Course Of The Game. The Falcons Faced The Dolphins, And Beyond the Lefty Quarterback Conflict, the Dolphins' Defense struggled to defend anything. The Pass, Worse In The League In Pass Defense By Most Metrics, EPA, Passer Rating, and Completion Percentage Allowed. The Falcons Have An Opportunity To Bounce Back Through The Air and On The Ground. The Dolphins Have Allowed 159.3 Yards To rushers, the worst in the NFL. The Falcons' Defense Has Held Passers In Check All Season, 141.2 Yards Passing, Passer Rating 75.1, and A completion Percentage Of 59%, an 8.8% Sack Rate, and Fourth In EPA Per Pass -0.11. The Held Mac Jones threw for 152 passing yards on 17/26, and 64.9 Passer Rating. At 1-6, The Dolphins' Season Looks Over. They’ve Played Games Where The Offense Put Them In Position To win and The Defense Let Them Down, but Tua Exited Week Six With The Stench Of His worst performance Of The Season. If You Think Tua and Mike McDaniels Might Want To Get The Offense Going downfield against Atlanta, Erase Those Thoughts. Atlanta’s Defense -0.23 EPA/play, 26.3% completion rate allowed, and 10.5% Interception Rate on Deep Passes. The Premier Of The League. The Falcons, at 3-3, Have A Favorable Schedule Going Forward, but they Need To Return To The Win Category And stay There Beyond A Week.
Dallas Vs Denver
A Matchup To Crown The Winning Team The Real “Big D” Yes, I Just Wrote That and Clicked Post. One Team Known As An Offensive Team and Another Team Known For Defense and Some Hair-Brained Fourth Quarter Antics, The Dallas Cowboys and The Denver Broncos. Both Team Have Wins In The Rearview Heading Into Week 8. The Cowboys Drop 44 Points On The Commanders In A Convincing NFC East Matchup. The Broncos Faced An NFC East Foe and Needed 33 Forth Quarter Points To Escape The Giants 33-32 In A Dramatic Comeback. The Broncos Held Giants Rookie Quarterback Jaxson Dart below 50% Completion But Gave Up 283 Passing Yards, 9.5 Yards Per Completion, and 12.3 Average Depth Of Target. The Denver Pressure Sack Dart 4 Times, but The Quarterback Had Time Behind The Line Of Scrimmage With 2.9 Seconds to Throw. In the past four games (weeks 4-7), the Broncos have allowed a 54% completion percentage while generating a pressure rate of 47.9% and averaging 5.5 sacks per game. The Eagles, led by Jalen Hurts, and the Giants, with Jaxson Dart, have emerged from their game against the Broncos with positive expected points added (EPAs) despite comeback losses. The Broncos Have One Pick In That span Coming Against Jaxson Dart. The Broncos Rank Tenth In Scoring Drive Percentage. The Cowboys Rank Second In Points Per game. The Broncos Will Face Maybe The Hottest Quarterback On The Planet, 0.25 EPA per pass play, 71.4% completion percentage, 1,881 Passing Yards, 16 Touchdowns, 3 Interceptions, 1.43% Interception Rate. Prescott Hasn’t Turned The Ball Over In Four Games and Hasn’t Generated A Passer Rating Below 120 In The Same Span. The Cowboys Got Their Rushing Game Back, 150 Yards on the ground, 4.9 Yards Per Carry, 114 Rushing Yards on 19 Carries, 6 Yards Per Carry For Javonte Williams As He Prepares To face His Old Team. Denver gave 106 Yards To Giants Rushers Cam Skattebo and Tyrone Tracy, with Tracy taking a 31 Yard Run To The House. Denver Slowed The G-Men Down On The Ground In The Second Half, just 2.8 yards per carry In The Fourth Quarter For The Giants, Trying To Protect Their Lead Late. Bo Nix won't match Prescott as A Passer,87.3 Passer Rating, 62.5 Completion percentage, 11 Touchdowns, 4 Interceptions, but we Know He Can Come Alive In The Fourth, 25.78 total EPA, 68.2% Completion Percentage, and 0.39 EPA per pass. The Dallas Defense Ranks Near The Bottom In Opposing Passer Rating, Completion Percentage, The League Bottom 260 Yards Passing Per Game, and Third Worst Rushing Yards To Defenses In The League, 141.3 Rush
Yards. The Denver Defense Needs To Turn The Cowboys Over And Steal Extra Possessions For Bo Nix. The Cowboys Have A top-three Blocking Unit, according to ESPN’s Win rate. The Denver Secondary That Features Both Pat Surtain And Riley Moss Will Contend With Both George Pickens and Ceedee Lamb, Who Average +0.859 EPA Per Target, 2.33 Yards Per Route Run, and 2.74 Yards Per Route 0.394 EPA Per Route Run, Respectively. Ceedee returns from Injury Against The Commanders, Five Catches For 110 Receiving Yards, 60 Yards After The Catch, and A Touchdown. George Pickens has Four Catches For 82 Receiving Yards, 20.5 yards Per Catch: The Two Make up Easily One Of The Better Outside Duos In Football. Tight End Jake Ferguson Two Red Zone Touchdowns. The Broncos Have Struggled Defending Tight Ends, 1.13 EPA Per Catch ranks 32nd(last) in the NFL, 1.35 Yards Per Route Run 22nd In The NFL. Giants Tight End Daniel Bellinger 5.50 YPRR, 88 yards, 16 routes, 3 receptions, 4 targets, 1 touchdown, 1.80 EPA per target, 2.63 EPA per catch. The Giants' Other Tight end, Theo Johnson, Added Three Catches For 66 Yards, and a tipped pass (not intended for him), a 41-yard touchdown. Prescott Likes To Get His Tight Ends InVolved If The Denver Defense Proves More Than Capable Of Holding Down His Two Top Receivers.
Tampa Bay Vs New Orleans
We enter Week Eight, and Tampa Bay gets its first Game Against A Team With a Losing Record Since Week Three When They Face Division Rival Saints. The Bucs Come In Off Just Their Second Loss Of The Season and their worst game, Scoring Just Nine Points against the Lions in Detroit, After A high-octane thrill Ride Saw The Bucs Escape With a narrow Win. The Bucs Remain Command Of The Division But Don’t Need To Let Up Against New Orleans. The Saints Tackled Another Loss In Week Seven, This One To The Bears, And Fall To 1-6, and Stand As One Of The Teams Clearly Looking Towards Evaluating Their Future. Do They Have A Quarterback In Spencer Rattler? His 1,450 Passing Yards Places Him 13th In The League, Completing 67% Of His Passes with Eight Touchdowns and 88.4 Passer Rating For The Season, but he Threw Three Picks Against The Bears. The Tampa Bay Defense is Fairly Generous To Passers, 20th In EPA Per Dropback, 25th In EPA Success Rate, 20th In Passer Rating Allowed, and 25th Incompletion Percentage Allowed. Spencer Rattler could produce a bounce-back game If He Avoids Throwing in The Direction Of Tampa Cornerback Jameel Dean. The Bucs safety Who Have Played Up And Down This Season Will Have To Lock In Rank Seventh In EPA On Deep Passes, 0.11 EPA/play, 28.6% completion rate. The Saints Have Two Dynamic deep Threats On The Outside In Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave, Both Strong receivers beyond Ten Yards Downfield. The Saints' Offense Only Produces 10% Explosive Pass Plays At A 10% Rate, but a +0.17 EPA Per Attempt, +0.22 EPA Per Play On Intermediate Routes, Both Good Figures For Rattler Heading Into Battle Against. Baker Mayfield also needs A Bounce Back, And Again He’ll do so, Facing The Adversity Of Injuries. The Bucs Lost Wide Receiver Mike Evans For Most Of The Season with A collarbone Injury, Which Will Keep The Franchise’s Leading Receiver Out Until The Final Weeks Of The Season. Chris Godwin, Bucky Irving, and Rookie Superstar Emeka Egbuka Remains Limited With a Hamstring. The team hopes to give him some rest before their bye in Week 9. The Saints have a slight edge in pressure rate, while the Bucs will be without an outside linebacker.
Hasson Reddick.
Packers Vs Steelers
Aaron Rodgers Get His Second Dosage Of Revenge Game This Season As The Steelers Take On The Green Bay Packers in Pittsburgh. Aaron Rodgers' Hail Mary Attempt Fell Short Against The Bengals in A Game Pittsburgh Should Have Walked Out Of Cincinnati With A Double. The Steelers' Defense Gave Up 33 Points, 470 Total yards, and 342 Passing Yards to Joe Flacco, Making His Second Start For The Bengals. Rodgers Left The Packers three seasons ago. The Man That Took over Jordan Love is Looking to Sustain His Generally Positive Play This Season. Love ranks 7th in QBr, 10th in EPA, +0.39 Per Pass, 10 Touchdowns all In The Red zone, 69.3% Completion Rate, 5:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and A 60.4% Third Down rate. He’s Reached Close To Peak Performance Thus Far This Season. The Steelers' Defense Has Allowed Positive EPA To Five Of The Six Passers They’ve Faced, including Justin Fields, Carson Wentz, and Joe Flacco. Not exactly Elite Company. The Defense Has Also Allowed 30 Or Better Three Times And 350 Plus Total Yards Or More All But Once, With The Pass Rush Generating 22 sacks through 6 games (3.7 per game). The Steelers also struggled against the run versus the Bengals, allowing +0.237 expected points added per rush, their first positive EPA surrendered on the ground since Week Two. Packer's Running Back Josh Jacobs, Not elite Production, 3.7 Yards Per Rush, -0.01 EPA Per Rush, But eight Touchdowns On The Year's Second To Jonathan Taylor. The Packers Offense Posses a lot Of Pass Catchers, Eight players With A Positive EPA Per Catch, Tight End Tucker Kraft Leads The Team In Receiving Yards, Yards Per Reception, Tied For The Lead In Touchdowns and Second In EPA Per Catch, He and Receiver Romeo Doubs, Who also Has Four Touchdown +1.18 EPA Per Catch; they Stand As The All around Threat On The Team. Rookie Matthew Golden Leads THE Team In EPA per Catch, and He’s The Dangerous one deep, 4 catches, 66.7% Catch Rate, 146 yards, +1.76 EPA Per target. The Packers have struggled in recent weeks. They allowed a positive passing EPA in three straight games, but after being dominated by Dak Prescott, no other passing attack has significantly challenged the Packers’ defense. The Packers Put Together Six Sacks On The Cardinals, 33 Pressures Total. That Micha Parsons Guy Remains Strong, Four Sacks, 31.3% Pressure Rate. The Steelers' Offensive Line Will Have To Accommodate Parsons’ Presence Along The Line. The Steelers Offense Goes The Way Aaron Rodgers Can Carry Them Coming Off Of One Of His Better Games Of The Season: Four Touchdowns, 103.7 Passer Rating, 67.7% Completion Percentage, Five Passes Completed Over 10 Air Yards Or Better, Three For Touchdowns. The Packers Defense Will Have To Pay Special attention To DK Metcalf +1.73 EPA Per Catch, 10.9 YAC Per Reception, +0.83 EPA Per target On Deep Passes. The Packers Defense Has Played Pretty Stingy On Deep Passes -0.01 EPA Per Pass. The Packers Have The Edge Defensively, As The Steelers Give Up The second-most passing Yards To Offenses Despite A High sack Rate. The Number Yards After The Catch Defense(Green Bay) Versus The Number Yards After The Catch Offense(Pittsburgh), The Offense Usually Wins Out.
