The NFL season just keeps getting crazier and crazier by the week. In Week 8, we saw unlikely heroes step up in the absence of starters and some of the league’s best teams go down. Here is a full recap of Week 8 of the NFL season.
The week began with the undefeated Arizona Cardinals taking on the 6-1 Green Bay Packers. Green Bay entered the game without their biggest offensive threat, Davante Adams. Kyler Murray and the Cardinals went back and forth throughout the game. On the last drive, Arizona made drove the ball down to the Redzone, but a miscommunication cost them the game. Murray threw a fade to A.J. Green, but Green never looked up. The pass bounced off of his helmet and was intercepted, consequentially ending the game. Green Bay won 24-21, handing Arizona their first loss of the season.
The Buffalo Bills maintained their dominance over the Miami Dolphins. Josh Allen threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns, all while rushing for 55 yards and a touchdown. Their defense held the Dolphins’ defense to under 275 total yards as well, as they cruised to a 26-11 win.
Matt Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and the Los Angeles Rams keep up their stellar play with a win over the Houston Texans. Stafford threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns, with Kupp accounting for 115 of those yards and one touchdown. The Texans fall once again by a score of 38-22. The Rams improve to 7-1.
The Atlanta Falcons hosted the Carolina Panthers in a low-scoring battle. Neither team managed to throw for more than 150 yards on the game, but the difference was the Panthers’ ground game. Carolina rushed for over 200 yards as a team, while Atlanta only managed to gain 82 on the day. Carolina won by a score of 19-13, to end their losing skid.
Jimmy Garoppolo looked to redeem themselves after taking a bad loss to the Indianapolis Colts last week. This time around, they traveled to Chicago to play Justin Fields and the Bears. The rookie QB for Chicago Justin Fields had an impressive outing, throwing for just 175 yards, but he did run for 103 yards, including a sensational 22-yard scamper for a touchdown. Unfortunately for Chicago, the effort came up short as the 49ers won 33-22. Deebo Samuel caught six passes for 171 yards, while Elijah Mitchell ran for 137 and one touchdown. Jimmy G even ran for 2 two touchdowns on the day as well.
The Cleveland Browns’ turmoil continues, as they took yet another loss to their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland offense have been very inconsistent, and this game was yet another example of their woes. The Steelers took advantage of the Browns’ lack of continuity and won the game 15-10.
For the eighth week in a row, the Detroit Lions have suffered the same fate, this time, being the victim of the Philadephia Eagles. The Eagles ran for 236 yards and four touchdowns. Darius Slay recovered a fumble and scored as well. The Eagles steamrolled to a 44-6 victory. Detroit is now 0-8.
The Titans won in an emotional game vs. the Colts this Sunday but had a major price to pay for it. Tennessee won in an OT over Indianapolis 34-31 but lost their superstar RB Derrick Henry to a foot injury. Ryan Tannehill threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns on the day. A.J. Brown caught ten passes for 155 yards and one touchdown as well.
The New York Jets season hasn’t been great, but this past Sunday was a special week for the Jets. Matt White made his first NFL start vs. the Cincinnati Bengals and performed like a veteran. Matt White threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns. White also caught a 2-point conversion to give the Jets a three-point lead. The Jets’ defense held the Bengals off to give them a 34-31 win.
Justin Herbert and the Chargers looked to get things back on track, but the New England Patriots had other plans. Adrian Phillips caught two interceptions for New England and ran one back for a touchdown. Justin Herbert completed just 51% of his passes on the day. The Patriots kept the Chargers out of rhythm and they took the victory by a score of 27-24.
Geno Smith led the Seahawks to a win over the Jaguars after losing three straight in the absence of Russell Wilson. Smith threw for 195 yards, two touchdowns, and completed 20/24 passes. Tyler Lockett accounted for 12 of Smith’s 20 completions and 142 yards. DK Metcalf caught the two touchdowns for Smith. For Jacksonville, Trevor Lawrence and the crew still cannot get things in motion. Lawrence threw for 238 yards but completed just 32 of 54 passes. The Seahawks won 31-7.
The Denver Broncos faced the Washington Football team in a game that almost turned bad for Denver. In the waning moments of the game, after their defense just got a stop, the Broncos tried to run the clock out. The WFT forced a fumble and recovered it in Broncos territory. The WFT tried to score, but it wasn’t enough time. The WFT failed to score a touchdown as time expired. Teddy Bridgewater threw for 213 yards and one touchdown for the Broncos victory. The final score was 17-10.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been rolling past teams all season, but whenever they play the New Orleans Saints, you can expect a dog fight. In the game, Saints starting QB Jameis Winston went down with a knee injury, which was later diagnosed as a torn ACL. New Orleans inserted Trevor Siemian in the game to replace Winston. Tom Brady threw for 375 yards and four touchdowns, but the interceptions he threw we detrimental. Late in the game, as the Bucs attempted to make a game-winning drive, Brady threw a pass that was intercepted by P.J. Williams and returned for a touchdown. The play ended the game as the Saints win 36-27.
The Dallas Cowboys were coming off of their Bye-week on a five-game win streak and looked to continue, but they were without star QB Dak Prescott. In place of Dak, Cooper Rush made the start for the Cowboys. The Minnesota Vikings looked to take advantage of Prescott’s absence with a lot of blitzes and mixed coverages, which was effective in the first half. Rush and the Cowboys’ adjusted and were effective on both sides of the ball. In the final few minutes, Dallas drove down the field, and Cooper Rush threw a fade to Amari Cooper to give the Cowboys a 20-16 lead. The Vikings failed to get anything going as they lost with the time expiring. Cooper rush threw for 325 yards, with 122 going to Amari Cooper and 112 going to Ceedee Lamb.
The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t looked like the Chiefs of the past seasons. Patrick Mahomes hasn’t looked to great his self either. This week, the same struggles continued, they were just fortunate that they were playing the New York Giants. Patrick Mahomes threw for 275 yards, one touchdown and yet another interception, which brings his total to ten on the season. The Chiefs held the Giants off just enough, as Harrison Butker made a field goal with 1:07 left to lift Kansas City to a 20-17 lead, that eventually was the final score.