Week Eight Recap

Headlines and Notes from Week 8

The Jaguars traveled to London to face the 49ers in an effort to expand the NFL's fan base.
Their offensive line poses for a photo before the game. 

San Francisco 42, Jacksonville 10
The 49ers looked good in London, and the Jags looked as bad as anywhere they travel. This match was one-sided from the start, as the Jacksonville defense was unable to slow the run-game at all, and the Niners were up 28-3 by halftime.
Kaepernick threw for score and ran for two more, and the San Francisco offense clicked on many cylinders, good signs for a team anxiously waiting the return Michael Crabtree.  The 49ers have won five straight heading into their bye week, as the Jags sink to 0-8.

New York Giants 15, Philadelphia 7
In Sunday's least exciting game, New York emerged with a victory that no right-minded person would feel good about. The one-win Giants handed Philly its tenth straight home loss by kicking five field goals, but failed to find the end zone for the second time this year. The Giants have won two in a row, and incredibly have moved within two games of first in the NFC East with a record of... 2-6.

Meanwhile, quarterback problems have left the Eagles' offense flightless: starter Michael Vick looked miserable and was pulled in the first half due to a "sore hamstring", and with backup Nick Foles out with a concussion, third-string rookie Matt Barkley entered the game to fumble the football immediately. The former USC standout has officially started his NFL career with four turnovers in his first four possessions. Philly managed to score on special teams only when a snap went over the punter's head and all the way to the end zone. Apparently, the Giant's punter is a terrible kicker, because he completely whiffed when attempting to kick the football out of bounds, fell on his behind, and allowed an Eagles defenseman to recover the ball in the endzone for seven points.

Buffalo 17, New Orleans 35
Drew Brees continued to state his MVP case by throwing for five touchdowns and 332 yards, and the Saints improved to 6-1 on the season. Their only loss came last week via Tom Brady's vintage last-minute comeback. Jimmy Graham remains hindered by a sprained foot, but was able to enter the game situationally, and wound up grabbing three catches on three targets for two touchdowns. As the central piece of their passing attack, Graham and his health will be something to monitor closely. Buffalo continues to be... Buffalo, but at least Thad Lewis has looked good after an injury scare a few weeks back.

Miami 17, New England 27
The Dolphins started the season 3-0. Okay, stop laughing. The Dolphins also held the lead in this game for the first half, and held a miserable Patriot's offense to only 59 yards. Then the second half started, some switch somewhere was flipped, and the Patriots become the Patriots again, scoring 24 unanswered points and shutting out the Dolphins in the second half.
Tom Brady again seemed to piece together a passing attack, with the interchaning and movable parts that make up the roster, and inconsistencies in their offense have forced Bill Belichick to search the depths of his roster for a winning formula. Again, the Patriots did just enough to emerge with the win, but against better teams, improbable comebacks will likely not be enough.

Cleveland 17, Kansas City 23
The Chiefs remained unbeaten by another narrow margin, avoiding an upset by QB Jason Campbell and the visiting Browns. Alex Smith and the passing game was inconsistent, but shined when it needed to, and the Chief's defense was able to hold off an impressive Cleveland offense that rallied behind Jason Campbell in his first start as a Brown. Kansas City will next face the last-place Bills, and have a good chance at remaining undefeated as they enter their Week 10 bye.

Dallas 30, Detroit 31
The matchup was hyped all week long as the battle of the NFLs top receivers, Detroit's Calvin Johnson and Dallas's Dez Bryant. It did not disappoint. The Lions were able to score with 12 seconds remaining in the game and relied heavily on their star WR, who came seven yards shy of the NFL record with 329 yards and a score. Matt Stafford threw for 488 yards and snuck the final touchdown across the goal line on a fake spike play to finish off the exciting comeback.
Meanwhile, the Cowboy's added another classic "how could we possibly blow this" game to their resume. Interestingly enough, Tony Romo did not have any late turnovers (he finished with 206 yards and 3 TDs) but could not escape other stories of internal drama. Much attention was given to Dez Bryant's sideline tirades against his quarterback, his tight-end, and his head coach, which he characterized as signs of his "passionate play", but the Cowboy's will need more than passion to hold onto the lead in the NFC East: their 4-4 record has them up only a game in the division.

New York Jets 9, Cincinnati 49
The blowout of the week came at the hands of Andy Dalton and the Bengal's defense. The Red Rifle threw for a career-high 5 TDs to go with 325 yards in the rout, while his competitor Geno Smith had a rough day in the pocket, throwing two interceptions that we returned for touchdowns. The Bengals are emerging as a well-rounded team and a favorite to win the AFC North.

Atlanta 13, Arizona 27
Atlanta's nightmare season continues as they were beaten in Arizona by a shaky Cardinals team. The offense looked flat without WRs White and Jones. Even with Steven Jackson in the backfield, they were unable to run the ball and ineffective in the passing game. Arizona has to feel good about the win, which featured a breakout game from rookie RB Andre Ellington, and a dominant performance from their defense, which intercepted Matt Ryan 4 times on the day. Arizona improves to 4-4, while Atlanta falls to 2-5, ahead only of the winless Buccaneers in their division.

Pittsburgh 18, Oakland 21
Steve Suisham missed two FGs of under 35 yards, and that was pretty much the type of day it was for Pittsburgh. Terrelle Pryor took the first play from scrimmage 93 yards for a touchdown, setting an NFL record for longest TD run by a QB, and led a potent Raider offense for the first half. In the second, the Raiders were completely unable to move the ball, and went three-and-out on 5 of 7 drives (the other two drives were six plays before punting and two plays before fumbling). It was a sloppy game, and the Raiders did everything they could to keep Pittsburgh in it. But in the end, Pittsburgh was unable to protect their QB, unable to secure important passes, and unable to transfer their efforts into points, and would up falling to 2-5 on the year. The Raiders improve to 3-4 and face a struggling Eagles team in Oakland next week.

Washington 21, Denver 45
At one point, Washington was up 21-7 IN Denver, and looked poised to pull off the upset of the season. Then Peyton Manning took over, and Denver scored 38 unanswered points, including 31 in the fourth quarter, to cap a dominant performance at home and improve to 7-1 on the year. RG3 did not finish the game, leaving to tend to an injured left knee. His status for next week is questionable, but his history of playing through injuries makes me wonder about his availability and the cumulative impact of these traumatic hits. He has already raised eyebrows this season for looking less explosive than last year. I would not be surprised to see him out on the field next week against San Diego, and I would not be surprised to see him exhibiting signs of lingering injury.

Green Bay 44, Minnesota 31
Aaron Rodgers shined, despite the absence of three of his top receiving targets, and the Packers defeated their division rivals in Minnesota on Sunday Night. Christian Ponder temporarily holds the starting job in Minnesota, though for how long is anybody's guess, and was largely ineffective, as usual. Adrian Peterson was held to 60 yards and was out-shined by his Green Bay counterpart, Eddie Lacy, who rushed for 94 yards on 29 carries and has added much needed dimension to an injury-plagued offensive attack. Lacy is averaging 102 rushing yards in the three games since his return. At 5-2, the Packers look poised for another solid playoff run, while the Vikings (who made the playoffs last year!) are putting together a solid pursuit of the number one pick in the draft. They fall to 1-6.

*Thursday Night*
Carolina 31, Tampa Bay 13
I'm running out of creative ways to announce that the Buccaneers still have not won a game. They fell at home to a mildly surprising Panthers team, and yet no one was that impressed with them either. The NFL is pushing to extend their Thursday night market, but even as it stands now, seems unable to deliver relevant games consistently. Carolina improves to 4-3 on the season, but has upcoming games against the 49ers, the Patriots, and the Saints twice. Still, they look like they could emerge as wild card contenders for the first time in a long time.

*Monday Night*
Seattle 14, Saint Louis 9
After losing their starting QB for the season last week, the St. Louis Rams were heavy underdogs against their division leading rivals. However, they played Seattle to the very end, ultimately coming up short and stalling at the three-yard line on what would have been the game-winning drive. A great pass-rush by the Seahawks defense pressured QB Kellen Clemens into an overthrow as time expired, giving Seattle the win and boosting them to 7-1 on the season.
The Seahawks looked mostly unimpressive in the win, and is a bit shocking for a team many consider to be the best all-around contender in the NFL. The defense bent but did not break (arguably disappointing to even bend to a backup QB on a last-place team) but the Seahawks offense struggled to maintain drives and hold the ball. Seattle had possession for only 21 minutes, giving the Rams 39 minutes on offense, and a normally dangerous attack was hampered. Russell Wilson threw for only 139 yards, and the Beast Marshawn Lynch was held to 23 yards on the ground. It was a good effort from St. Louis' defense, but ultimately not enough to earn the victory.

*On the Bye*
Houston, San Diego, Baltimore, Chicago, Tennessee, Indianapolis