NFL Week Eight Recap.
NFL Week Eight Previews
Sunday's Short Round Of Football underwhelmed Some Fans, according to my “X” Feed On A Day Bloated With Blowouts, with only one Game Coming down to a Single Score As The Jets got their First Win Of The Season Over The Bengals By One Point. The Blowouts Mattered No Less As Several Upsets Rocked The League. The Colts are Not One Of Those Upsets as The Crush The Titans, as Indy’s Run Of Domination Looks Headed For A Collision Course With The Chiefs In The Coming Weeks. Jonathan Taylor Scores Three Total Touchdowns, Averages A Ridiculous 12.8 Per Carry as Indy Moves To 7-1 38-14 Over The Titans.
Broncos Vs Dallas
The Broncos looked Like The Most Dangerous Team In The AFC on Sunday. Not The Best, But The Most dangerous A Defensive team whose Defense Disappears Unexpectedly, But Not On Sunday Against The Cowboys. An Offense When Clicking Can Devour Yards and Points In Quick Succession, with the Quarterback Able To Hit Missiles From All Ranges, but it remains Erratic Through Two Seasons Of Pro Football. Bo Nix 19/29 247 Passing Yards Four Touchdowns, One Pick, a +2.3% CPOe 7/13 For 150 Passing Yards On Passes Of 10+ Air Yards Or Better, Three Touchdown Passes Over 15+ Air Yards. In The Second Quarter, Nix Hit Rookie Receiver Pat Bryant On 24 Yard Beauty That Put The Broncos Up 27-10 In The Second Quarter. Cowboys Backup Joe Milton, Who Saw Action After Dak Prescott Hit The Bench, hit a beauty on A 33 Yard Touchdown Pass To Jalen Tolbert With The Game Already In Hand For The Broncos. The Cowboys' Offense Didn’t Have Enough In This Game. Dallas Took Momentum With an Early Interception and A Couple of red-zone opportunities. However, the defense couldn’t slow Denver down, as the Broncos jumped out to an early 14-3 Lead and Continued Churning Out Points With Impunity. Only Two Denver Drives Ended With a Punt, Not Including The Two Drives To Close The First And Second Half.
Texans Vs 49ers
The 49ers finally had the standout game from Christian McCaffrey that everyone following the team had been hoping for all season. In Week Seven against the Falcons, McCaffrey recorded 201 total yards of offense and scored two touchdowns. However, in contrast to McCaffrey's impressive performance, Mac Jones struggled, finishing with a passer rating of 64.9. At the same time, His Play Remained Positive (+0.13 EPA Per Play). He’s thrown a 0:3 Touchdown To Interception ratio These Past Two Weeks. Brock Purdy’s Return Looks Imminent, But For Now, Jones leans Heavily On The Talent Around Him. But he’s Still Averaging 313 passing yards per game in his four starts, And He’ll Make His Fifth Start With Brock Purdy Still Progressing, Coming Off A Re-aggravated Toe Injury In Week. Purdy Commands Over $50 Million A Year, Too Much Money To Inspire A Quarterback Controversy When He Returns, Purdy Takes His Starting Position Back. Mac Jones Has Another Game To Rebuild His Resume and His Auditioning Tape For Re-Entry into The Quarterback quasi-starting Pool Of Quarterbacks Vying For New Jobs, Along With Drafted Quarterbacks. Jones faces a Texans defense with -0.23 EPA per play, a 57.8% completion percentage, and the defense hasn't allowed a positive EPA to a passer since Week Two. The Niners' defense has fluctuated throughout the season, struggling with key injuries to players like Nick Bosa and Fred Warner. After a tough game against Tampa Bay, the defense managed to bounce back a week later against Atlanta. However, a -0.01 EPA per play indicates some underlying issues. The Texans further exposed the Niners' weaknesses in Week Eight. C J Stroud threw together His Best Game Of The Season, 30/39 for 318 Passing Yards, two touchdowns, and One Interception, as the Texans didn’t Dominate The Niners, but Houston notched its most Impressive Win Of The Year. Stroud had an Easy Time Parsing Through The 49ers Defense That Didn’t Pressure Him, No Sacks, just two QB hits, and Open Holes Down The Field. For The First Time This Season, Stroud looked comfortable, Not Perfect In The Pocket, but not Antsy: He Looked Like The Guy We Believe He’d Become After His Rookie Season. Stroud Threw An Interception Late in The Second quarter, But Without Nico Collins, Stroud Got Others Involved. Xavier Hutchinson 5 Catches For 69 Receiving Yards, One Touchdown, rookies Jaylin Noel 5 Catches For 63 Receiving Yards, and Jayden Higgins four Catches For 34 Yards. A Big Win That Keeps Houston’s Wild Card Chances Alive. The AFC's bottom teams have opportunities, and Houston just needs to stay competitive.
The Texans' Defense pretty much wrecked the Niners, Known For Their Fierce Pass Rush And Corner Play. Houston Surrendered Just 48 Yards On The Ground, 25 Yards To CMC, and 23 Yards To Mac Jones on Scrambles. In The Passing Games, Jones threw two touchdowns, but he Faced Some Tight windows: His First Touchdown To George Kittle Came With Two Defenders Guarding George Kittle. Despite the “L,” The Niners Should Feel Good About Their Position In The standings, Still In the Division And Wildcard Range, Despite Injuries ravaging the Team. Mac Jones 19/32 193 Passing Yards, Two Touchdowns, One Interception, A Passer Rating of 84.5 With -0.28 Epa Per Play, 87 Yards lost On Drops, Just 62 Yards After The Catch For The YAC Merchant. The Niners' defense Produced Marginal damage to Stroud, just 11 Pressures.
Falcons Vs Dolphins
Kirk Cousins Makes His First Start Of The Season, Filling In For Michael Penix Jr, Who Suffered A Knee Injury In Week Six. In Starts This Season, Penix played inconsistently. He’s Pacing The League In Bad Throw percentage, 47.5 Success Rate, 85.2 Passer Rating, and A 47.7 QBR. He’s Got One Game Of More Than one Touchdown Pass. After Looking Good In Week Four Versus The Commanders, He Played Average Or Bad Most Of The Way. This Game gives Kirk Cousins The Chance To Audition With Teams Still Looking For Quarterback Options against A “Bad” Dolphins Pass Defense, 74.6% Completion Percentage Allowed, they’ve Passers Below 70% Just Once This Season, 0.25 EPA Per Play, and Just One Interception in 193 Pass Attempts Faced. Miami’s Defense Could Inflate Kirk Cousins’ Performance, Making Him More Attractive To Trade Suitors. I Expected The Falcons Offense To Play Discombobulated With Kirk Making The Spot Start Without Drake London On The Outside. The Falcons Held A Couple Of Key Advantages With Bijan versus one Of The worst rushing defenses and One Of The Best Passing defenses in Atlanta, facing a Dour Tua at Miami Quarterback. The Falcons didn’t Lean Heavily On Bijan Robinson, just 9 Carries For 25 yards Or The Rushing Defense at all. The Dolphins Committed To Letting Kirk Bear Them One On One, And Cousins and The Passing Attack Didnt Show Up. Once the Falcons themselves left the Field On three and Outs, three times over, Their First Four drives and Digging A 17-3 Hole At halftime, the Run game Went Off The board. Cousins, Penix, Matt Ryan, and Julio. No one Could Bring The Falcons Back Against A Hot “Hot” Tua. Tagovailoa, Coming In Off A 0 0-touchdown, three-interception game, puts Up Four Touchdowns, 20/26 205 Passing Yards, 76.9% Completion Percentage, As The Dolphins Snap a three-game losing Streak 34–10. Tua Had Zero Attempts Over 20 Air Yards, Two Attempts Over 15 With No Completions. Instead, He Hit The Falcons With Quick Darts That Kept The Dolphins ahead Of The Chains. Four Different Receivers For Dolphins Register A Touchdown, Including Jaylen Waddle, Who Finished With Five Catches For 99 Yards Receiving and One Touchdown. The Dolphins Rushed For 141 Yards On The Ground, Christian McCaffrey Dominated The Falcons A Week Before, and The Dolphins Followed Up With A Decent Game On The
Ground. Only The Second Win Of The Season For The Dolphins, So A lot About This team's Future Remains Up For Debate. The Falcons' loss drops The Team to 3-4, Falling Far Behind the division-leading Buccaneers. Kirk Cousins’ Bad performance Makes The mercurial performances of Michael Penix Look Steady. The Falcons Need Answers On Offense Because, Again, For The Fifth Straight Season, The Team Has Too Much Talent On Offense To Post 10 Points Against One Of The Worse Defenses In Football.
Bills Vs Panthers
The Bills entered Charlotte with the worst defense in football, but instead, the Panthers, who typically play well against the run, were overwhelmed by the Bills' rushing offense. James Cook 216 Yards On The Ground on 19 Carries, 11.4 Per Carry With Two Touchdowns, 7 Explosive Runs of 10+ Yards Or Better, Including A 64 Yard Touchdown, and 121 Yards Over Expected. Josh Allen played second Fiddle as the Bills rebounded from a game-losing streak In What turned out to be a trap Game. I Think The Panthers Could Look Less Average Offensively Without Bryce Young Already Setting The Bar Pretty “Average," but Andy Dalton looks Right Helter-Skelter, 16/24 175 Passing Yards, No Attempts Beyond 20 Yards Downfield, One Pick, One Loss Fumble, truly Ineffective. Panthers Rookie Receiver Tet McMillan 7 Receptions, 99 Receiving Yards. Bills Receiver Kahlil Shakir had 6 Catches For 88 Yards and A touchdown. The Bills Get A Sigh Of Relief And Stay In Stride With The Red Hot Patriots In The Division.
Jets Vs Bengals
Justin Fields Narrowly Avoided An Unceremonious Benching For The Rest Of The season After The Team Reported To The Media That Backup Tyrod Taylor Would Miss Sunday’s Week Eight Matchup With the Bengals with a Bone Bruise. Tyrod Has Filled In For Fields Twice This Season, Once Due To Injury(Concussion) and Once Due To Injurious Play, In Week Seven. Fields Has Posted A Posted EPA Per Play Just once In The Past Five Games, and His Capacity To Throw Deep Or Scramble Hasn’t Altered his Effectiveness Because Defenses Have Committed To Play Shallow
Shells' Defense And Attacking Fields In The Trenches As His Sack Rate Climbs Higher As The Season Progresses. No Quarterback Can Fall Far Beyond Repair, As We’ve Seen Over And Over Again Through Quarterback Redemption Trails. Could Fields Be Next? Maybe Fields needs to Return To Ohio, Not For The Buckeyes, but Zach Taylor, head Coach, as he Squeezed The Last Drags Of Toothpaste Out Of Joe Flacco. The 40-year-old Old Looked Like One Of The Worse Quarterbacks In Football In Three Starts For The Browns. Flacco 561 Passing yards, five touchdown passes, posting positive EPA Per Play Values with no interceptions in two starts. With the Bengals, Two Touchdowns, Six Interceptions In Four Starts With The Browns. No Quarterback looked Or Read Worse Than Flacco Statistically, Other Than Bengals Incumbent Jake Brownings, But The Bengals loved Flacco On Film. The Film Didn’t Deceive On The Jets' Offense. They’ve Looked Bad All Season, but New York, Facing Improbable Odds and A Double Figure Lead against the Bengals, scored 15 Unanswered Points in The Final Ten minutes to Pull Off the 39-38 Upset and get Their First Win Of The Season. The Bengals Held A 10-0 Lead In The First Quarter, which Ballooned Into a 24-13 Lead At the Time As Joe Flacco stayed Hot, accounting For Three Of Cincy’s Five Touchdowns, Including A QB sneak in the First Quarter. Without Forcing Any Turnovers, The Jets Didn’t Look Like They Could Fight Their Way Back Into The Game. After Amassing A 38-24 Lead With 10 Minutes Left In The Fourth, The Game Looked Over. The Jets' Offense Moved The Ball Early In the Game But had To Settle For Multiple Field Goals, Finishing 3/5 In The Red Zone. The Jets Run Off Three Touchdowns In The Fourth Quarter, Convert For Point Conversions Twice, and score the game's Touchdown In The Most Improbable Way. Breece Hall, One Of The Hottest Names On The Trade Market, Rushes For Two Forth Quarter Touchdowns, One For Five Yards and another For 27 Yards. The Jets Run Hall Again Inside The Five, On 1st And Goal, This Time, the Bengals Play The Run Dead To the Right, But Instead, Hall Cranks Back And hits rookie Tight end Mason Taylor in The Back Of The End Zone, And In Less than 10 Minutes, With Over A Minute To go In The Game. Jets Owner Woody Johnson Said, "If we could just complete a pass." Well, he got an A Pass, which he probably wasn't expecting From A Running BACK.
The Jets Take Their First Lead Of The Game. Justin Fields Had His Moments In The Pass Game, but Justin Fields had 21/32 244 Passing Yards, one touchdown, and Made His Fair Share Of Big Plays In The Passing Game. Breece Hall Carried The Offense 18 Carries For 133 Yards On The Ground, Three Touchdowns Total, Two Touchdowns On The Ground. The Jets amassed 502 yards of total offense; their previous high was 402 total yards. The Jets Suffered At Least One Turnover In Six Of Their Previous Seven Games, and the Bengals didn’t Manage To Steal A Possession. The Jets Head Into Their Bye With Their Head Somewhat High. The Defense Gave Up Five Touchdowns and The Team Doesn’t Need To Win Needless Games and Lose Position ON The Too pick For Next Season. However, The Offense Doesn’t Have Questions At Quarterback For Another two Weeks Or So. The Bengals Lose Momentum Here with a Bad Loss Despite a Solid Offensive Showing From The Offense. The Bengals' Defense Didn’t Sack The Most Sackable Quarterback In The Sport. The Bengals Had A Chance Late with Under Two Mimutes To Goe With All Their Timeouts Got a Drive Going To Mid Field But Stalled Out as Joe Flacco Threw a Number off Errant Passes and The Bengals With One Of The Better Kickers In Football Didn’t Give Get A Shot Late . a win in Week 8 and A Pittsburgh’s loss would’vePut Cincy In The AFC North Drivers’s Seat. Cincy Now Falls To 1-2 With Flacco, 3-5 Overall With Time To Bounce Back In Following Weeks. The Season Is Not Over, But This Loss Will Linger.
Eagles Vs Giants
The Giants Have Out The League On Notice This Season That When You See The “NY” Emblem Or Any Giants Insignia, Those Teams Have Entered Upset Territory, and The Eagles Know First Hand Philly Suffered Their First Loss To The Season At The Hands Of the G Men. The Former Giants Star Saquon Barkley, A Combination of Defensive Attention and Philly Offensive Disharmony, Has Resulted In a Quiet follow-up to Saquon’s record-breaking 2024: He got Philly’s Offense In The End Zone. Barkley Score: The Eagles' First Two Touchdowns, Including A 65 Yard Rush To Get the Philly Offense Started. The Pummel The Giants in a Revenge Game 38-20. Saquon Barkley 174 Yards Of Offense 14 Carries For 150 Rushing Yards, 24 Through The Air Against His Former Team. The Eagles' Rushing Produced A breakout Game, Running All Over The Giants 276 Yards On The Ground. Back running Back Tank bigby added another 104 On Nine Carries For Himself As The Giants' Defense Really Had No Answers. The New York Pass Rush Sacks Hurts Four Times But Still Surrender A 141.5 Passer Rating, Four Touchdowns on 15/20, 179 Yards Passing. Hurts’s 40 Yard rebound Ball Touchdown To Jahan Dotson Put The Final Touches On The scoreboard for the Eagles. The Giants lost their Fan Favorite Running back and Difference Maker Cam Skattebo to a Dislocated Ankle. Philly Pass Rush Awakened In This Game, Sacking Dart Five Times. Five Players Recorded One Sack Each. Jaxson Dart accumulated 14/24 193 passing Yards, one Touchdown. The Giants had No Run Game After Skattebo Went Down. With Nothing To Lose In Losing, The Giants Have An Interesting Drive The Rest Of The Season. The Eagles Make A statement, Win Against A Lesser Team, albeit without AJ Brown.
Browns Vs Patriots
The Patriots' Offense Got off To A Slow Start With Three Field Goals and an Interception Against this Cleveland defense In The first Half. Myles Garrett wreaks constant Havoc ON Drake Maye In The Pocket, but shout Out To Cleveland’s Offense And Dylan Gabriel for getting the Patriots' Offense Going In The Second Half. Browns Quarterback Dilan Gabriel hasn’t Made A Notable Mark On The Browns Offense With His Performances, But He Avoided The Big Mistake, throwing two third-quarter interceptions, both of Which The Patriots Converted Into Touchdowns On The Following Drives, a part of a Stretch Of Three Straight Drake Maye Quarter Touchdowns. The Patriots' First Drive Of The Third Quarter Went 7 Plays 77 Yards, Two Standout Plays: A 27 Yard Run By Rookie Treyveon Henderson and a Double Pass From Drake Maye To His Running back Before Going Back To Maye, Who Connected with Receiver Mack Hollins. Patriots Play Calling Had to Reach into Their Bag a Little Bit to Get the offense Moving Against Cleveland Before Maye Connected With Tight End Hunter Henry for the Seven-Yard Touchdown. The Patriots' Offense Went Touchdown, Touchdown, Touchdown. The Brown Went Punt, Pick, Pick. The First Of Gabriel’s Interceptions Went To Linebacker Robert Spillane Across The Middle Of The Field. Spillane Set The Patriots up In Their Own Red zone, and Drake Maye Connected With Stefon Diggs For The Wide receiver's First Touchdown Of The Season. In Half The Quarter Time, The Patriots ' Point Lead Ballooned To 16, 23-7. Gabriel's Second Interception Came On His First Deep Pass Attempt. He Averages About one Deep Pass Attempt A Game, And The Patriots Made Him Pay For This One. Jaylin Hawkins Pulled The Impressive Pick In Patriots Territory. No Problem For Drake Maye, caps Off A 5 Play Drive with a 39 Yard touchdown Reception To Kayshon Boutte, all air Yards To The Back Of The end zone. The Browns' Defense Came Back Down On The Patriots In The Fourth, Holding The Offense To 38 Yards and Forcing A Fumble. Gabriel Registers His Second Touchdown Of The Game in Fourth, But The Patriots Nailed This One 32-13. Myles Garrett Had Five sacks, Three With Will Campbell As The Primary Blocker. Drake Maye finished 18/24, 282 passing yards, Three Touchdowns, One Pick, A Passer Rating of 135.8, 11.8 Per Attempt. Maye Now Has Seven Straight Games Over 100 Passer Rating and Four Games With Double-Figure Average. The Patriots compiled 422 Yards of Offense, including 177 Rushing yards, 50 from Maye, Who Looks The part of an MVP.
Vikings Vs Chargers
Not a Break Game In Any Sense For The Vikings Or Chargers, Who Both Enter Thursday Night Following Losses. By Week Eight, Good Teams Have Figured Themselves Out And Started Hitting Their Stride, So Have Bad Teams. Neither The Vikings With Three Losses nor The Chargers With Three Losses Qualify As a Bad Team, As Bad Or Good, But Both Teams Have Pretty Glaring Holes In The Roster. Justin Herbert Looked Like An MVP candidate During The Chargers ' win Streak, and He Leads The League In Passing After Posting A career-high 420 Passing Yards Against The Colts. He’s Facing Protection Issues Upfront and The Run Game—Don’t Draft Running-backs In The First Round— Ranks 23rd In Rushing Success Rate, The Chargers’ Offense Has Dropped To 25 In EPA Per Play Since Week 4. The Defense Has Struggled Since Week Three, and Jesse Minters' Name No Longer Comes Up In Coaching Conversations. The Vikings have struggled with protection up front and cannot run the ball, ranking dead last in rushing EPA since Week Four. The Offense Got Aaron Jones Back After More Than Months Absence, Though He Looked Ineffective When He Played. The Vikings' Defense Got Exposed Against The Eagles, giving Up A Perfect Passer Rating To Jalen Hurts and Getting Exposed Deep, A Mistake They Don’t Want To Make against Justin Herbert.
Herbert Played Superb, MVP-level on Thursday Night As The Chargers rebounded, Zapping The Vikings 37-10. Last week against the Colts, the Chargers' Offense Got out Of The Gate slowly, and Despite A Herculean Effort From Justin Herbert, the Bolts couldn’t Fight Their Way Back Into The Game. On Thursday, The Chargers Left No Doubt in This One.
The Chargers Came Suited In Their Throwback Navy Blue Unis, But They Left The Vikings Blue and Purple. Los Angeles Generated 427 Yards Of Offense For Their Third Game Of 400 Yards Of Offense Or Better, and the First Time The Vikings Defense Has Surrendered Better Than 400 Yards to Any Team This Season.
The Chargers' Offense Riddled Off Three Touchdowns In The First Four Possessions. An Early Incompletion That Looked Like An Interception-Touchdown In The First Gave Minnesota Some Life On The Scoreboard.
However, The Refs Reversed The Call, And With The Ball Returned To Herbert, He drove the Chargers 83 Yards For His First Of Three Touchdowns In This Game. This Game Highlighted The Stark Difference Of A Super Star Quarterback Makes For A Team Versus a Replacement Level Guy. Herbert Finished The
Game 18/25 For 227 Three Touchdowns A Completion Percentage Above Expectation(+7.9%), 120.3 Passer Rating, and Herbert Made Plays All Over The Field. Completed Both Of His Deep Passes and Shredded The Vikings Over The middle Of The Field Going 11/12 162 Passing and Two Touchdowns Over The Middle Across all Ranges. Herbert Also Added 62 Yards On The Ground, all on seven Scrambles, but Gis Passing opened the Gate For The Rushing Game. The Chargers Aborted The Run Game against Indianapolis, But ran 42 Times against The Vikings, 206 Yards +0.10 EPA Per Play, 4.8 A Pop, Five Explosive Runs and Eight Miss Tackles Forced. The Charger Netted 42.7 Yards Per Drive, 3.7 Points Per Drive, 0.235 EPA Per Play. Both Teams Finished With 100% Red Zone Efficiency, But Only The Chargers Visited The Vikings' Red Zone Four Times. Minnesota’s Offense 164 Yards Of Offense Netted, -0.384 epa Per Play, -0.39 EPA Per pass. Carson Wentz Threw For Over 300 in Week Seven, but finished With Just 144(157 plus sack yardage), 15/27, 67.5 Passer Rating, One Touchdown, and One Interception. The Vikings' alone Touchdown Drive Came As A Result Of A Justin Herbert Interception That Gifted Minnesota A Short Field. Carson Wentz nearly suffered A Sack Fumble That Would’ve Given The Chargers The Ball Back, but again, he reviewed the Refs' Review and Wentz Connected With Jordan Addison A Few Plays Later For A Short Touchdown. In a game where Justin Jefferson reached 80,000 receiving yards, the Vikings experienced one of their worst offensive performances as a team, causing them to fall below .500 and slip out of contention in the NFC North. Meanwhile, the Chargers bounced back from their loss and maintained their slim lead in the AFC West, as every game is crucial now that the Chiefs have returned to form with their winning streak.
