2024 NFL: Previewing Week 8

There are two games remaining in Week 7 (including the Ravens at Tampa Bay tonight); but let’s go ahead and review the Week 7 action and then look ahead to Week 8.

Week 7 Quick Hits

Broncos 33 Saints 10 – Denver rolled in Sean Payton’s return to New Orleans. I still think Denver is more of a ‘good bad team’, than an actual good team; but they’re in the running for the 7th seed in the AFC Playoff race. Javonte Williams had 88 yards on just 14 carries. The Broncos defense came up with 6 sacks.  New Orleans has now lost 5 in a row, and it looks like Week 9 is the soonest that Derek Carr could return.

Jaguars 32 Patriots 16 – Jacksonville quickly got down 10-0, and then woke-up.  The Jags turned the game around when they decided to feed Tank Bigsby and allow him to run down hill. Brian Thomas had 5 grabs for 89 yards and a TD. Don’t see Jacksonville digging out of their 2-5 hole, but the win allowed Doug Pederson to be on the return flight from London.  This was the second start for the Patriots Drake Maye. 276 yards, 2 TD’s.  Can see the arm talent. Can also see he’s relatively raw. Most importantly you can see the surrounding offensive talent is horrendous. I believe NE has a lot of cap space. Another draft, some waves in Free Agency, and they’ll probably look closer to a legitimate roster next year.

Seahawks 34 Falcons 14 – Didn’t see Seattle winning by 20 on the road here. While they were coming off their bye, I was down on Seattle after Geno Smith had averaged 49 attempts his previous 3 games. Yesterday was a better approach for the Seahawks, with Smith having 28 attempts, and Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet combining for 22 carries. Atlanta had won their last two, and didn’t exactly have to push themselves the week prior vs. Carolina. Getting rolled at home by a decent, but not imposing Seattle team makes it hard to buy into the Falcons. Game stats pretty similar, but the Falcons had 3 turnovers and Seattle had none. That will do it. I’ll spend more time on San Francisco below, but sticking to Seattle here; the Seahawks are now in 1st in the NFC West. Should they be seen as the division favorite at this point?

Bills 34 Titans 10 – The Titans turned to Mason Rudolph to start at QB, and while 7 Titans caught at-least two passes, they still finished with just 10 points overall.  The Bills improved to 5-2 overall. Josh Allen had a strong game. Rookie Keon Coleman had has best game as a pro with 4 catches for 125 yards. New addition Amari Cooper had 4 catches for 66 yards and a score. Buffalo had 3 sacks and a pick. The Bills are 3-0 at home.

Bengals 21 Browns 14 – The most notable thing from this game is of course Browns QB Deshaun Watson suffering an Achillies injury. If I was a Browns fan, and I had been there, I wouldn’t have cheered for him being injured. But I would have been indifferent, and certainly wouldn’t mourn for him. I thought it was interesting that Dorian Thompson-Robinson got most of the snaps replacing Watson, as opposed to Jameis Winston.  Cleveland is 1-6. Their ’24 season is effectively over. But I would expect that with either DTR or Winston (and probably both) that they’ll look better going forward without Watson. With his contract, with the off-field issues, and with the Browns lack of performance (with he has impacted); Watson has been a lighting rod. With him gone, they’ll probably play freer. Nick Chubb also being back should also help (though just 22 yards on 11 carries yesterday).  On the Cincinnati side, the Bengals climbed to within a game of .500 at 3-4.  Trey Henderickson had 2 sacks, and now has 7 on the season.

Packers 24 Texans 22 – Green Bay won on a Field Goal as time expired.  Houston almost pulled out the road win vs. a quality team, with C.J. Stroud throwing for under 100 yards. That’s surprising. They did get a good game from RB Joe Mixon (25 carries, 115 yards, 2 TD’s). Jordan Love had 3 TD’s for the Packers, but was also picked twice. Josh Jacobs had 76 yards on 12 carries.  Seems like he could have been fed more. Green Bay had 4 sacks.

Colts 16 Dolphins 10 – Anthony Richardson was back for Indianapolis, while Jonathan Taylor remained out.  The Dolphins are completely inept without Tua Tagovailoa. He is supposed to be returning to practice Wednesday. The Colts are now 4-3 overall.  Their next 5 games are at Houston, at Minnesota, Buffalo, at New York Jets, Detroit.  I’m thinking they go 1-4 in that stretch. If they can manage to go 2-3, they’d be decent shape for that 7th seed in the AFC.

Lions 31 Vikings 29 – Detroit pulls out the road win against their divisional rival, leaving both teams at 5-1. Detroit is now 3-0 on the road. I think I earned more that much more respect for the Vikings in this game.  They lost, but they won the 4th Quarter 12-3. The team stats were basically equal. They could have won here. 2022 6th round pick Jalen Nailor had 4 grabs for 76 yards. He’s averaging 17.8 yards per reception, and gives the Vikings another threat in their receiver game. I’m coming out of the weekend now on-board with those who think Detroit is the favorite in the NFC.

Eagles 28 Giants 3 – Saquon Barkley goes for 176 yards on 17 carries vs. his former team. Daniel Jones throws for just 99 yards, and gets replaced by Drew Lock. Rough day for the Giants who are now 0-4 at home. The Eagles improved to 4-2. Are they starting to find themselves, or do you write it off because the Giants and Browns (last week’s opponent) are that bad?  Philadelphia had 269 yards rushing. Jalen Hurts only had 14 passing attempts. The Eagles had 8 sacks.  I’m not saying Hurts shouldn’t throw the ball. He’s capable, and the Eagles have excellent pass catching options. I would suggest the Eagles are a better team if they pound the ball, and use that to open up the passing game.

Rams 20 Raiders 15 – LA got their second win, and Cooper Kupp should be back for Week 8.  Kyren Williams averaged 5 yards per carry last year, with 1,144 yards on the ground. This year, he’s been limited to 3.8 yards per carry. Part of that has been the Rams being without Kupp and Puka Nacua; and the focus from opposing defenses being on Williams. Yesterday was Williams’ fourth straight game with at-least 76 yards though. As Kupp gets back this week, and Nacua potentially gets back Nov. 3rd; maybe things start opening up for Williams?

Commanders 40 Panthers 7 – DC curb stomped a bad team. Which is exactly what good teams should do. It’s more impressive considering Jayden Daniels had to leave early on with a rib injury. Watching your young star have to leave the game could have been demoralizing. Instead, the Commanders didn’t let it faze them. Marcus Mariota seems like an ideal backup for the Commanders offense, and he performed admirably. 214 yards rushing for DC.

Chiefs 28 49ers 18 – Two very talented teams which are not at their best.  KC gets credit for continuing to find complimentary football, and finding a way to get to 6-0.  What I like about Andy Reid, is that he gives his team a chance based on what he has available. He adapts. Without their injured WR’s, and with RB Isiah Pacheco; this just isn’t a very strong KC offense, even with Patrick Mahomes at the helm.  That said, Kareem Hunt is giving them production at RB. An old Travis Kelce is still someone to account for. Noah Gray had a nice day yesterday (4 catches, 66 yards). Xavier Worthy is kind of a one trick pony right now as a rookie, but you can’t teach speed. Juju Smith-Schuster missed yesterday with a hamstring, but he’s usable. The Chiefs will add another WR before the trade deadline.  The defense is excellent. The special teams are strong. The coaching is as good as it gets. Mahomes (even when he’s 16 for 27, for 154 yards and 2 picks) is Mahomes. His stats might not look great this year, but that doesn’t make him any less great. They are not going to give any games to you. You are going to have to beat them.   San Francisco fell to 3-4.  Are they going to be able to turn things around? A healthy Niners team is threat.  But they’ve been without Christian McCaffrey all season (now targeting to get him back in Week 10), and Brandon Aiyuk was lost yesterday to an ACL.  Yesterday was really rough, because Aiyuk left early. Deebo Samuel dressed, but came down will an illness in warmups. Jauan Jennings was also unavailable. So it looked bad. Brock Purdy had 3 more picks, and now has 7 on the year. The one in the end zone was rough. Basically I think he’s trying to force things a bit. Get his guys back, maybe we see improvement there? I asked above should Seattle be seen as the favorite in the West? Maybe, but SF already has a head-to-head road win. Even if Seattle is the favorite, they’re not going to run away and hide. There is a path for SF to still win the West. I thought their defense looked good yesterday (yes, understand we just wrote that KC’s offense is limited). If CMac returns, and is ready to produce; I could see SF going on a run. Losing Aiyuk hurts, but they did get back 1st rounder Ricky Pearsall yesterday 7 weeks after the WR was shot.  Samuel, George Kittle, Jennings, Pearsall + McCaffrey, Jordan Mason, and Kyle Juszczyk is still a very capable group.

Steelers 37 Jets 15 – New York fell to 2-5, and Pittsburgh improved to 5-2.  I think the Ravens are going to win the AFC North.  If that’s the case, Pittsburgh’s in-line for a Wild Card, and Jets are now 3 games back of Pittsburgh, and have lost the head-to-head.  NY’s schedule could still have them in the Wild Card chase, but they’ve got issues.  This was their 4th straight loss. They’ve fired their HC. They made the move for Adams. NY is all in for this season. They have to be with a 40 year old Aaron Rodgers. Their path for improvement starts with running the ball more. Run the ball, and hope that Haason Reddick returning sparks the defense. I’m not going to put everything on Rodgers. If has to be at his former MVP level for the Jets to be a playoff team, that was never going to be realistic. He does need to be good. He’s up to 7 picks after 2 last night, though one of those two picks was obviously the fault of WR Garrett Wilson. The defense was supposed to be elite. It’s not. Can they go 8-2?  That feels like a bit much. I think they could go 7-3 though, and finish 9-8 and be right in the mix for that last playoff spot.   With Pittsburgh, I didn’t think moving on from Justin Fields to Russell Wilson was the right call, but it certainly worked last night. That was the most points the Steelers have put up since late in the 2021 season. Wilson was pushing the ball down the field, and while the Steelers don’t have a ton of weapons outside of George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth; the group collectively did look friskier with Wilson under center.  Maybe the WR’s also looked better because RB’s Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren combined for 33 carries and 146 yards which gave the Steelers a playaction game.

Week 8 Games

Thursday October 24th

Minnesota at LA Rams –  How do the Vikings respond after losing their first game? Traveling half way across the country on a short week. Potential for surprise?

Sunday October 27th

Philadelphia at Cincinnati –  Both teams on two game winning streaks. Cincinnati is 0-3 at home.  Do the Eagles take another step forward and again look like the favorite in the NFC East? Do the Bengals get back to .500?

Baltimore at Cleveland – Short week for the Ravens on the road against a division rival. Who is under center for the Browns?

Tennessee at Detroit – Going to go out on a limb and predict a Lions win.

Arizona at Miami – Kyler Murray needs to be able to win this game against a depleted Dolphins team.

New York Jets at New England – Imagine the stories coming out of NY if the Jets lose here.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay – Tampa Bay is 4-2 before facing the Ravens tonight.  The Falcons are 4-3. Atlanta beat Tampa Bay at home a few weeks ago. The Bucs need to win at home and hold serve.

Green Bay at Jacksonville – The Jags return from England, and figure to get run off their home field by the Packers.

Indianapolis at Houston – If the Colts are going to surprise me and push the Texans in the South, winning here would be a huge step. I suspect Stroud rebounds from a tough week, and the Colts slide begins.

New Orleans at LA Chargers – The Chargers are 3-2 prior to their game tonight at Arizona. By next Sunday night, they could be 5-2, and well positioned for the post-season.

Buffalo at Seattle – The NFC West leading Seahawks hosting the AFC East leading Bills.

Carolina at Denver – The Broncos should improve to 5-3.

Kansas City at Las Vegas – The 2-5 Raiders hosting the 6-0 Chiefs.

Chicago at Washington – Caleb Williams vs. Jayden Daniels for the first time. Probably.   Probably because it’s not 100% clear that Daniels will be able to suit-up. The Bears are 4-2, which has them in last place in the strong NFC North. They’ve won their last 3 games, and they are coming off the bye.

Dallas at San Francisco – The Cowboys are coming off a bye. Maybe a couple of their defensive players are back this week.  Who’s available for the Niners?  I think this is a game SF needs to win, regardless of who they have available.

Monday October 28th

New York Giants at Pittsburgh – The scenario for a close game is that the Giants get a lot of pressure on Wilson, and the Steelers stumble around to 20 points. That possible, but even then I’d expect the Steelers to find a way to win and improve to 6-2.