So much happens during one singular week in the NFL. How could one possibly cover everything thing that goes on from the NFC East to the AFC West, from Thursday to Monday, from injury wire to biggest fantasy implications?
Verge tries to wrap up each game and blanket the important storylines in only four sentences, or four quarters. Week eight is over, let’s get to it.
NFL Sunday
Philadelphia Eagles 31 – Buffalo Bills 13
The Philadelphia Eagles have already had two must-win games this early in their season. They’ve gone 2-0.
Philadelphia’s sub-par defence exposed Josh Allen quite a bit, and their offence may not have been extremely explosive but Carsen Wentz played extremely well with a limited number of throws. Considering how great Jordan Howard and Miles Sanders were, they looked a lot like they did against the Packers.
Seattle Seahawks 27 – Atlanta Falcons 20
The Falcons have turned into the team you play after a tough loss to help get your mojo back. Last week it was the Rams, this week is was the Seahawks.
Russell Wilson bounced back nicely against Atlanta. The running game dominated and DK Metcalf is becoming Wilson’s red zone target with two touchdowns.
Los Angeles Chargers 17 – Chicago Bears 16
Philip Rivers and the Chargers would love the story from Sunday’s game to be that they got a huge win to keep their season alive. Unfortunately, the story is another Bears kicker missing a game-winning field goal attempt.
Chicago had a chance to move the ball closer for Eddy Pineiro but decided to settle on a 41-yard attempt. Head coach Matt Naggy didn’t want to risk a turnover and Pineiro couldn’t come through in the clutch.
New York Giants 26 – Detroit Lions 31
Detroit was in need of a win after some brutal losses in the first half of their season. They took advantage of a struggling and rebuilding Giants team.
To New York’s credit, they hung in there and kept it competitive down the stretch and their rookie QB gave his team a chance to win the game. Daniel Jones has worked through bad breaks and has remained impressive during all the growing pains.
Denver Broncos 13 – Indianapolis Colts 15
For all the struggles from the future Hall of Famer this year, Adam Vinatieri made the biggest on the biggest stage against Denver. He’s made a living doing so, and it’s the reason he’ll wind up in Canton the moment he decides to retire.
The Colts are now 5-2 without Andrew Luck. It’s difficult to know what time of long term success Jacoby Brissett will bring Indianapolis moving forward, but he’s winning games and that’s all that matters right now.
Arizona Cardinals 9 – New Orleans Saints 31
Drew Bress is back! If there was anybody questioning how he would fare coming back from his thumb injury, those questions have been answered.
The real winner in all of this is Teddy Bridgewater. Filling in for Brees, Bridgwater went 5-0, was stellar in every one of his starts for the Saints and with many teams ready to make a change at QB will be in line for a huge payday this offseason.
New York Jets 15 – Jacksonville Jaguars 29
Yes, they lost to the Jaguars in an ugly way, but the story here is not what happened on the field for New York. The Jets were the talk of the NFL at the trade deadline for none of the right reasons.
First-year GM Joe Douglass has been under fire for taking calls about some of his star players, and even though players such as Leveon Bell, Jamal Adams and Robbie Anderson remain on the roster, consider the locker room a current disaster. Adams, who has already clashed with management earlier this year, was nowhere close to pleased about how the situation was handled.
Carolina Panthers 13 – San Francisco 49ers 51
Their 7-0 and put up 51 points on a solid Panthers defence and held Carolina to only 13 points. San Francisco is for real, officially.
The Niners play in arguably the best division in the NFL and remain undefeated behind an explosive yet balanced offence and the outright best defence in the league. The San Francisco 49ers are back.
Cleveland Browns 13 – New England Patriots 27
With Baker Mayfield, OBJ, Jarvis Landry, Nick Chubb and all the other great young talent on this roster, a 2-5 start for the Cleveland Browns is simply not where this team wanted to be. The Browns misfortune continued with a 27-13 loss to the undefeated Patriots.
Mayfield has been the main target of criticism, and that criticism might be getting a lot worse for the foreseeable future. The struggling second-year QB snapped at Cleveland Media on Wednesday and walked out on his media availability.
Oakland Raiders 24 – Houston Texans 27
Deshaun Watson is so good at football he threw a game-winning touchdown pass after getting kicked in the eye, on the same play. It will compete for the play of the year when the season comes to an end.
Following their late-game victory over the Raiders, Houston will be off to London for the final overseas game of the season. Watson and the Texans will face off against the Jags on Sunday with AFC South implications at hand.
Green Bay Packers 31 – Kansas City Chiefs 24
Even with the result being a loss, Kansas City faired pretty well in their first game without Pat Mahomes. The Packers were huge favourites on Sunday Night Football and only won by a single touchdown thanks to late game Aaron Rodgers heroics, including an absurd throw to Jamaal Williams in the back of the endzone that Rodgers later admitted was intended for TE Jimmy Graham.
The Chiefs moved the ball nicely with Matt Moore under centre. That being said, they are anxious for the reigning MVP to come back from his knee injury.
Monday Night Football
Miami Dolphins 14 – Pittsburgh Steelers 27
As dysfunctional as the season has been for Pittsburgh, the Steelers find themselves in the hunt for a playoff spot after week 8. They still have an uphill battle, to say the least.
Another week of losing and the Dolphins are that much closer to the number one overall pick. With Miami and Cincinnati still winless, the question is who cracks first and ruins their tank?
