*some information courtesy of espn.com
Week 8 has wrapped up. Here’s a recap of the week’s games. Let’s begin.
Ravens @ Buccaneers
Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens finally got a win streak going with their victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. While Jackson was able to establish himself quickly in the game, Tom Brady was not. Final score 27-22, Ravens. Lamar Jackson threw for 238 yards and a pair of second-half touchdowns. The Ravens (5-3) ran for all but 27 of its 231 yards rushing in the second half, while Jackson finished 27 of 38 passes without an interception, including TD throws of 5 yards to Kenyon Drake and 10 yards to Isaiah Likely in the third quarter. Brady threw his TD pass to Jones with 49 seconds remaining, finishing 26 of 44 for 325 yards without an interception. This skid is certainly not something that Tampa wants to deal with as just last season they were battling it out in the playoffs. If anyone can save their season, it’s Tom Brady.
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Broncos @ Jaguars
Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos beat the Jacksonville Jaguars with a final score of 21-17. The victory snaps Denver’s losing streak and gives life to a struggling team. He finished 18 for 30 for 252 yards with a touchdown and interception. The Jaguars (2-6) lost their fifth consecutive game despite a career day from Etienne, who carried 24 times for 156 yards and a touchdown.
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Panthers @ Falcons
I didn’t expect the game between the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons to be an interesting back-and-forth affair with a nail-biting ending. But that’s exactly what we got. Final score 34-37, Falcons. Younghoe Koo kicked the game-winning field goal to give the Falcons the victory and boosted them into first place for the NFC South. For Carolina, DJ Moore is their only saving grace. He is head-and-shoulders better than anyone else on that team. As the trade deadline approaches I would expect him to demand a trade as soon as possible.
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Bears @ Cowboys
Chicago can’t catch a break. They are stuck in a catch-22 situation. when their offense does poorly, their defense does good and vice versa. Now that Roquan Smith has been traded to the Ravens it’s once again retooling time for Chicago. Justin Fields hasn’t had the talent around him to be able to be a productive quarterback yet but I think patience may be wearing thin. For Dallas, Dak Prescott looks like the 2016 version of himself in this game as he led his team to Victory with a whopping 49 points. Dallas legitimately has a chance to make a really deep push into the playoffs. final score 29 – 49, Dallas.
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Dolphins @ Lions
The Dolphins (5-3) have won two straight since Tagovailoa returned from a concussion. The third-year quarterback was 29 of 36 for 382 yards with three touchdowns. While Tua played great, all eyes fell on superstar wide-0uts, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Waddle and Hill are trying to firmly cement themselves as the league’s best pass-catching duo. Tyreek Hill had 12 receptions for 188 yards and Jaylen Waddle had eight catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns. Hill and Waddle have 1,688 yards receiving combined, setting a Super Bowl era record for two teammates through the first eight games of a season. The Detroit Lions are certainly trending upwards, but they still have an abysmal record of 1-6 so far this season. I’m a lot higher on Dan Campbell as a coach than most people and I think he is the perfect guy for a team to build around. That being said, there is still much needed work to be done in the Motor City.
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Vikings @ Cardinals
With the victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings are on a five-game win streak and are quietly one of the best teams in the NFL. Za’Darius Smith had three sacks to help a fired-up defense hang on against Kyler Murray, and the Vikings beat the Cardinals 34-26 on Sunday for their fifth consecutive victory. Dalvin Cook rushed for a season-high 111 yards and a touchdown, Kirk Cousins passed for two scores and ran for another, and the Vikings (6-1) remained unbeaten at home in coach Kevin O’Connell’s rookie year. To end the game the Cardinals mismanaged the clock and also picked poor play calls for the situation ahead. These mistakes ultimately cost them the victory. Final score 26-34, Vikings.
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Raiders @ Saints
Sadly there’s not a lot to talk about with this game. The Raiders got absolutely crushed by the Saints of all teams. Everything is going wrong out in Vegas. The gamble they decided to make this year did not pay off. I’m so confident that it will never pan out that I can say it’s probably one of the most regrettable things a franchise has done in the past 20 years. Give credit to the Saints, they played great. Even with the shaky play that Andy Dalton has had all season; they found a way to get the win. Final score of 24-0, Saints
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Patriots @ Jets
Belichick passed George Halas for second place on the NFL’s career victories list and the last-place New England Patriots continued their mastery of the surprising New York Jets by beating them for the 13th straight time, 22-17. Mac Jones finished 24 of 35 for 194 yards with a touchdown to Jakobi Meyers and an interception. Rhamondre Stevenson had 71 yards on 16 carries and caught seven passes for 72 yards. The Jets (5-3), who snapped a 12-game skid against AFC East opponents by beating Miami three weeks ago, couldn’t change their fortunes against the Patriots. After a promising start, Wilson made too many mistakes in the first 300-yard passing game of his career. While there are bright spots for the Jets to look back on in this game; I don’t think it outweighs the negatives that happened to this young squad.
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Steelers @ Eagles
While the Pittsburgh Steelers are not the League’s most dominant team; I think it’s time that we crown the Philadelphia Eagles as the second-best team in the league, only behind the Buffalo Bills. Final score 16-35, Eagles. Hurts threw three touchdown passes to Brown in the first half and finished with 285 yards and four TDs overall as Philadelphia raced past Pittsburgh 35-13 on Sunday. Brown had six receptions for 156 yards and helped the Eagles win their first seven games for only the second time in franchise history and first since 2004.
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Titans @ Texans
The Titans and Texans game looks like a close game on paper, but it couldn’t have been any more one-sided. Derrick Henry was once again the star for Tennessee as he had a historic outing. It was Henry’s fourth straight 200-yard game against the Texans, making him the first player in NFL history to have at least 150 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in four consecutive games against the same opponent. The 28-year-old has six 200-yard games in his career, tying O.J. Simpson and Adrian Peterson for the most in NFL history. This game was also important for the two-tone blue as it was rookie Malik Willis’s first NFL start. He was slotted into QB1 for the injured Ryan Tannehill. It was obvious early that he wasn’t ready for the starting gig, but he did his best and helped secure the win. The last-place Texans (1-5-1) weren’t just terrible on defense Sunday. They also couldn’t get anything going on offense and didn’t crack 100 yards until late in the fourth quarter. They finished with 161 yards and were 2 of 14 on third down. Mills was 17 of 29 for 152 yards with an interception and a touchdown. Final score 17-10, Titans.
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Commanders @ Colts
First off, give the Commanders some credit for the season they are having after their horrible start. The change at quarterback is certainly to thank but the simplification of the offense is key. The game plan was basically “Air Raid” style. Lots of passing and grind-it-out running thrown it at times. Secondly, the Colts are a dumpster fire. Sam Ehlinger replaced Matt Ryan after the aging quarterback’s terrible play as of late. Ehlinger passed 23 times, completing 17. If you had to try to find a good thing about Indy, I’d pick Ehlinger, even if there’s really not anything special to what he is doing.
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49ers @ Rams
Christian McCaffery looks right at home in San Francisco. He dazzled everyone with what was basically a “hat-trick” Sunday. McCaffrey became the 11th player in NFL history with a rushing touchdown, a passing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in one game, and the 49ers extended their regular-season mastery over the Rams to four full years with a 31-14 victory over Los Angeles on Sunday. The Rams all-in mindset for last-year’s Super Bowl has definitely come back to bite them this year. Do I blame them for going all-in? Absolutely not! They got some bling! However, risks have consequences. Now we are clearly seeing those come to light.
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Giants @ Seahawks
Wait, so the Seahawks are good? That wasn’t in the script when they traded long-time franchise superstar Russell Wilson this past offseason. The Seahawks keep on proving teams wrong. They added to their resùme by defeating the very competent New York Giants 13-27. While Seattle played well as a team, wide-out Tyler Lockett was uncharacteristically bad for most of the game, to the point where he was benched. Tyler Lockett had a steady stream of visitors on the Seahawks bench — coach Pete Carroll, DK Metcalf, Quandre Diggs — all reminding the standout wide receiver he’d get another chance after two uncharacteristic mistakes. The opportunity emerged, and Lockett seized it, securing a 33-yard touchdown catch that provided the decisive points in Seattle’s 27-13 win over the New York Giants on Sunday.
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Packers @ Bills
The Packers better figure out how to get out of this rut or they will be “packing” up and watching the postseason from the couch. Things got chirpy before the game even kicked off. Bills receiver Stefon Diggs says he’s not the one who started the verbal exchange he and Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander had in the tunnel before and after pre-game warmups. Whatever the case might be, Diggs and the AFC-leading Bills sure got in the last word on Sunday night. Diggs had a game-high six catches for 108 yards and ran a perfect route in making a 26-yard touchdown catch in a 27-17 win over the Packers, who are off to their worst start eight games into a season under Aaron Rodgers. Personally, I love pettiness. I’ve always disliked the buddy-buddy aspect that sports employ these days. Glad to see some personal pride and competitive fire back in the spotlight.
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Bengals @ Browns
Cincinnati saw a scary sight on Halloween as they got smacked by the Cleveland Browns on Monday Night Football. For the first time this season, the Cleveland Browns put it all together and played like a complete team — offense, defense and special teams. Nick Chubb ran for two touchdowns on 23 carries for 101 yards. If you like dominant defense, Myles Garrett is the guy for you. Garrett led a fired-up defense that sacked Burrow five times and held the Bengals (4-4) to 229 total yards — 100 in the first half. The Bengals looked uncoordinated on offense, which is abnormal for the Joe Burrow led offense. Granted, I’d feel unsure if my favorite and best target wasn’t on the field with me. Without Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins tried his hardest to carry the scoring load but he couldn’t get it done.
