As if anyone needed a reminder that the NFL is ever unpredictable, look no further than the two quarterbacks who lead our Week 8 Winners list.
Written off (by us and others!) just a week ago and seeming destined to move into the journeyman career backup phase of their careers (also called the Andy Dalton Track), the Dolphins Tua Tagovailoa and the Jets’ Justin Fields delivered by far their best games of the season.
Go figure.
Let’s get into more on that, two surging MVP candidates, the most meme-able QB and the rest of the highs and lows from Week 8 of the NFL season.
NFL Week 8 Winners
Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Fields
Hey, credit where credit is due.
Yes, we’ve been ragging on both these beleaguered QBs in recent weeks, but a big tip o’ the cap to both for rising above the noise Sunday and looking the best they have all season.
Tagovailoa went from three interceptions and a mid-game benching the previous week to completing 20-of-26 passes for 205 yards, 4 TDs and 0 INTs (despite playing with a swollen eye) in a 34-10 road win over the Falcons. That was the third time in his six-year career he threw for 4 TDs with 0 picks.
Meanwhile, it was a surprise Fields even retained the starting job last week after being held under 50 yards passing the previous two games. But the Jets stuck with him and were rewarded with their first win of the season, 39-38 at Cincinnati, as Fields completed 21-of-32 passes for 244 yards and a TD to overcome a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
While running back Breece Hall was actually the star of the game, Fields did his part too. He was 4-4 for 41 yards on the game-winning drive and delivered on two key 2-point conversions in the fourth quarter.
Resurgent RBs
Speaking of Breece Hall …
The Jets’ running back didn’t have a touchdown in the first seven games and really had been held in check overall with only three games of at least 60 rushing yards. Sunday was a different story.
Hall rumbled for a season-high 133 rushing yards and 2 TDs on 7.4 yards per carry. He also had a passing TD.
Hall wasn’t the only running back to enjoy a long-overdue breakout Sunday.
Eagles star Saquon Barkley didn’t just get his first 100-yard game of the season, he rushed for 150 yards (on 10.7 YPC) and scored TDs rushing and receiving against his former team in a 38-20 win over the Giants. Barkley pulled his groin late in the game, but he is expected to be fine after the Eagles’ bye this week.
Dark horse MVP candidates
Anyone who watched Drake Maye’s rookie season in New England last year would have expected the talented quarterback to only get better and better, but few could have expected he’d be a true MVP candidate already in his second season.
Maye has surged to the third-best MVP odds (+550), per BetMGM, behind only former MVPs Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen.
And with good reason.
Maye remained remarkably efficient in the Patriots’ 32-13 win over the Browns, completing 18-of-24 passes for 282 yards, 3 TDs and an interception while also rushing for 50 yards. He’s completed at least 73 percent of his passes in six of eight games and leads the NFL in that category at 75.2 percent overall.
Maye is up to 2,026 passing yards, 15 TDs and 3 INTs with 250 yards and 2 TDs rushing.
Last week, we debated whether Maye was already a top-10 NFL QB — he’s sure making a strong case for such status.
Meanwhile, the non-QB with the best MVP odds is not surprising Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (+1400).
The argument goes that is Barkley didn’t win the MVP last season while rushing for over 2,000 yards then how can any running back be taken seriously in the MVP discussion?
Well, Taylor may not rush for 2,000 yards (or he may — he leads the NFL with 850 rushing yards in eight games), but he’s already up to 14 TDs (12 rushing, 2 receiving). Barkley had 15 combined TDs all of last season.
The 7-1 Colts keep winning, led each week by their prolific offense, and it’s a rare case where the running back is going to get more credit for that than the quarterback. No offense to Daniel Jones, who is having a great season as well.
Jordan Love vs. Aaron Rodgers
Is it a coincidence that Jordan Love played his best game of the season against Aaron Rodgers’ Pittsburgh Steelers?
Love, who spent three years on the bench developing behind Rodgers in Green Bay, completed 29-of-37 passes for a season-high 360 yards and 3 TDs in a 35-25 Packers win. Love also tied Brett Favre’s franchise record with 20 consecutive completions.
Ravens rally hopes
The Ravens weren’t a typical 1-5 team, everyone understood that, but there also comes a point where the hole gets too deep even for a two-time MVP like QB Lamar Jackson to overcome.
So it was absolutely huge that Baltimore snapped a four-game losing streak with a 30-16 win over Chicago in the final game Jackson is expected to miss with his hamstring injury.
Tyler Huntley completed 17-of-22 passes for 186 yards and a TD and rushed for 53 yards, while Derrick Henry had 2 rushing TDs to get the Ravens to 2-5 ahead of Jackson’s return.
Jackson, who was injured in a Week 4 loss to Kansas City, confirmed he’s ready to play in Baltimore’s Thursday night game at Miami.
The Ravens are just two games behind AFC North-leading Pittsburgh and have two games still to come vs. the Steelers. Baltimore’s playoff hopes are very much alive.
Bo-mentum
You know it’s catchy …
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is absolutely rolling now with 4 TDs in back-to-back games (two of those were rushing TDs vs. the Giants two weekends ago). Nix tossed for all 4 TDs this time in a 44-24 win over the Cowboys, passing for 247 yards.
As its young QB gets better and better, Denver looks more and more like a true contender. The Broncos (6-2) have won five straight games while both of their early losses came on field goals as time expired.
The Bills are back
It’s not anyone was writing off the Buffalo Bills after back-to-back losses to the Patriots and Falcons, but they sure weren’t playing like Super Bowl contenders during that stretch.
After a timely bye week, the Bills looked more like, well, the Bills in a 40-9 road win over the Panthers.
James Cook rushed for 216 yards and 2 TDs on a whopping 11.4 YPC, Josh Allen rushed for a pair of TDs and, most encouraging, the Bills defense held Carolina to 244 yards after getting gashed by Atlanta last time out.
Buffalo is 5-2 and has the fourth-best Super Bowl odds at +750 behind Kansas City, Detroit and Green Bay.
C.J. Stroud cleared for takeoff in Houson
C.J. Stroud has struggled along with the rest of the Texans offense this year, due in large part to a undependable offensive line, but the 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year returned to form Sunday in a 26-15 win over the 49ers.
He set season-highs with 30 completions and 318 yards and passed for 2 TDs (with an INT) despite star receiver Nico Collins missing the game. Without his top target, Stroud spread the ball around to nine different pass-catchers.
Houston has now won three out of four games since an 0-3 start.
NFL Week 8 Losers
Carson Wentz becoming a meme
It’s hard to remember the last time an NFL quarterback received so much collective sympathy during a game.
Carson Wentz had a bulky wrap on his non-throwing shoulder/arm and spent four quarters getting knocked around, grimacing and looking like it was the single most miserable night of his career in a 37-10 loss to the Chargers last Thursday.
Images of Wentz’s pained face became popular fodder for social media jokes.
Wentz was put on injured reserve this week and will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, but he clarified that he did not want to come out of that game to counter the criticism lobbed at Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell.
Falcons offense
What exactly happened to that Atlanta Falcons offense that put up 443 yards against the aforementioned Bills?
Since then, the Falcons have been held to 10 points in back-to-back losses to the 49ers and reeling Dolphins — managing just 213 yards in a 34-10 home loss to Miami on Sunday.
Atlanta was without starting QB Michael Penix Jr., who sat out with a bone bruise as veteran Kirk Cousins threw for 173 yards and 0 TDs.
But more perplexing is star running back Bijan Robinson being held to just 65 rushing yards combined over those last two games (and 75 receiving yards), averaging under 3.0 YPC in both losses.
The Falcons have tumbled to 3-4.
Spencer Rattler’s Saints career
Honestly, Spencer Rattler probably exceeded expectations purely by making 14 NFL starts as a fifth-round draft pick. Unfortunately, he went 1-13 for the Saints in those starts and got benched Sunday in a 23-3 loss to the Buccaneers.
The Saints are turning to 2025 second-round pick Tyler Shough at QB this week.
That’s not to say Rattler won’t ever start a game in New Orleans again, because Shough is anything but a sure thing himself, but this move signals that the Saints have decided Rattler is indeed not their quarterback of the future. He has passed for 1,586 yards, 8 TDs and 5 INTs for the 1-7 Saints.
Giants’ feel-good optimism
When QB Jaxson Dart and fellow rookie RB Cam Skattebo took over as the face of the New York Giants’ youth movement, it delivered a jolt of energy through the fan base.
It all peaked in a momentous 34-17 win over the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles a few weeks ago.
Then came the epic collapse against the Broncos, blowing an 18-point lead in the final 6 minutes in a 33-32 loss, followed by a 38-20 loss in the rematch with the Eagles on Sunday.
Worse, Skattebo sustained a gruesome ankle injury and is done for the season.
The Giants are now 2-6 and two of their best players (also WR Malik Nabers) are out of the season.
Mac Jones’ next contract
There was a stretch there where 49ers quarterback Mac Jones was pulling from the Sam Darnold/Baker Mayfield playbook and reinventing himself as a former first-round pick bouncing around to several teams before re-establishing himself as a coveted starting QB.
But Jones has just 2 TDs and 4 INTs over the last three games, going 1-2 in that stretch while being held under 200 passing yards the last two games.
Jones may get more starts in place of injured starter Brock Purdy, but he’ll need to reclaim the form of his first few starts for the 49ers if he wants another team to offer him the chance at a starting job next year.
Referees officiating the Tush Push
The momentum to reconsider banning the ‘Tush Push’ after this season will get stronger if refs continue to struggle to properly officiate it.
There have been complaints about the Eagles linemen moving too soon or lining up illegally, but the frustration with the NFL’s most divisive play reached new levels Sunday when the Giants were denied a clear fumble as the refs ruled QB Jalen Hurts’ forward progress had already stalled — which is absurd considering the entire concept of the Tush Push is that Hurts just keeps getting moved forward until the play’s conclusion.