Week eight was an unexpected and wild start to November. We saw some surprising teams in first place while some playoff-seasoned teams continue to fade. The first two months of this season were anything but dull. It’s time to break down the week eight winners and losers.
Winners: Tony Pollard
This is one of the few times during the regular season where a standout player/performance makes the winners column despite his team going home with a loss. Tennessee runningback Tony Pollard had a fantastic game in Cincinnati and deserved to go back to Nashville with a win. Unfortunately for Pollard, his career day meant taking home a loss that had nothing to do with him.
Tony Pollard gashed the Bengals defense with 117 yards on 21 carries. He had both of the Titans touchdowns before the fourth quarter and was the most dangerous offensive player before quarterback Cam Ward got hot in the fourth.
Fans and analysts will talk all week about Cincinnati star quarterback Joe Burrow and his phenomenal performance for all the right reasons. Burrow carried the Bengals to a wild win. However, had Tennessee prioritized Tony Pollard on their last two offensive possessions, the Titans could have won the game and Pollard would have gotten more praise. At least Tennessee knows they have another good player they could use as trade bait before the deadline (should they continue to rebuild).
Detroit Lions
Compared to Tennessee and Cincinnati, most analysts and viewers will talk about Minnesota’s disappointing offense against Detroit’s defense rather than the latter playing a great game. Those who have watched the Lions this season know the offense and special teams are pretty good while the defense can be a sieve. Detroit almost had another complete game Sunday and got their second division win of the season.
The defense in particular was fantastic. Despite injuries to cornerback Brian Branch and rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder, and linebacker Jack Campbell, the Lions defense played mean, physical and aggressive. Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray was sacked three times and threw one interception. Murray didn’t crack 200 yards until the last touchdown Minnesota scored midway through the fourth quarter. The Vikings had 80 rushing yards from four combined runners. It was the third game in a row Detroit’s defense kept their opponent’s offense to under 25 points.
The Lions offense did what was necessary to take the lead multiple times and hold it. Quarterback Jared Goff completed 18 of 25 passes for 176 yards, an 88.1 passer rating, a touchdown and interception. It was Detroit’s running game that made the difference. Jahmyr Gibbs ran 23 times for 153 yards and a score, while Sione Vaki had 65 yards on 11 carries.
Despite the scary injury to Jack Campbell, the Lions locker room must be filled with confidence. The defense had been seen as the liability that could keep them out of the playoffs and from winning the NFC North. If the defense and offense mirror each other more like they did Sunday, Detroit could come out as the best team in the division.
Sean Payton
Many who watch the NFL had serious suspicions the Chiefs would use Denver as a punching bag on national T.V. yesterday after Seattle ripped Kansas City into ribbons in week seven. Not only did that not happen, the Broncos wound up splitting the season series and leaped into first place in the AFC West. That credit goes to head coach Sean Payton.
Payton had Denver ready to play almost a complete game. The Broncos got the first lead of the game and only trailed by four at the end of the first half. After Kansas City dominated the third quarter, the Broncos roared back and dominated most of the fourth. Head coach Sean Payton made sure Denver’s offense scored two touchdowns and the defense sealed the win with a goal-line stand. The Broncos ended the game with 15 unanswered points after trailing 24-13.
Not only did the Chiefs lose a divisional game at the goal-line via turnover on downs, but their special teams kicking issues continue. Sean Payton’s team played well and disciplined, especially on offense. Rookie runningback Jonah Coleman looks more like the featured back Payton wanted back in training camp. The defense is still one of the NFL’s best and now the offense is finally playing better. Denver could be a more serious threat if they keep their one game lead in the west. Despite being the AFC’s top seed last season the Broncos look more like a balanced threat. That’s bad news for the rest of the conference.
Losers: Baltimore Ravens offense
No team had worse luck Sunday than Baltimore. Confidence was high because of the return of two-time league MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson after he was out for almost a month. Then Jackson injured his throwing hand his first throw of the game. That meant backup quarterback Tyler Huntley had to play the rest of the game. Well, Huntley didn’t last long either.
That meant third stringer Joe Fagnano had to finish the game on his own. Fagnano had no chance of pulling out a win in Buffalo, even though the Ravens defense played well most of the game. At some point, viewers knew the Bills offense was going to break out and put the game away. Of course, that happened in the fourth quarter. Yet Baltimore’s game-plan was almost non-existent after Derrick Henry ran for a touchdown the possession after a Josh Allen interception.
It stuns that the Ravens had two runningbacks average (close to) five yards a carry and not get a spark on offense. Derrick Henry could wind up as the second best rusher in NFL history, but Baltimore doesn’t use him as much as they should. Head coach Jesse Minter has a lot of issues on the defense to fix. Wildly, the overhyped offense is what may cost the Ravens another shot at the playoffs and bring more questions on what to do with the roster after this season.
Cleveland Browns
But wait. Baltimore wasn’t the only AFC North disappointment on Sunday. Appearing not to wish to be outdone, Cleveland played terribly and got crushed against their division rival Pittsburgh. Not only were the Browns blown out, it appeared as if they hadn’t even practiced.
Cleveland’s offensive line was almost non-existent. Starting quarterback DeShaun Watson threw for over 325 yards but took eight sacks as punishment. It didn’t help the Browns had ~35 rushing yards. There was no commitment to running the football because the defense got shredded early and Cleveland had to play catch up the entire game. Although Harold Fannin Jr. had a 150+ yard game, the Browns missed a few chances to add more than six points onto the scoreboard.
The Browns had a chance to sweep the Steelers for the first time since 1988. Instead, they fell back in both the division and playoff race. Cleveland has won some close games this season, but they will regret not playing sharper in week eight.
Shane Steichen
Ever since quarterback Daniel Jones tore his Achilles last season, it’s been a nightmare for Indianapolis. The season is all but over for the Colts and playoff chances are non-existent. One has to wonder how soon head coach Shane Steichen will get fired.
Indianapolis was everything but competitive in a blowout loss in Jacksonville. After general manager Chris Ballard was fired, the Colts traded star offensive guard Quinton Nelson to Seattle and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to San Francisco. More trades are coming soon. Receiver Joshua Downs has gone public for asking to be traded, and word is star runningback Jonathan Taylor will be traded before the deadline. A big part of why things have fallen apart is because Steichen never recovered the magic from last season’s first half start. Now, even he looks lost and knows time is short.
Shane Steichen can’t be expected to shoulder blame for the off-field issues plaguing this franchise. On-field, he has no answers and was another popular name that got passed by both his division rivals and the rest of the league. Many names past and present can relate to this and his incoming fate.
Note: NFL’s Winners and Losers will not be published next week due to personal reasons for the writer, editor and publisher. Publications will resume around the conclusion of week ten.
