Week 8 In Review – Broncos Stun Chiefs, 49ers Lose Again & A Shocker In New York

Week 8 of the NFL season featured the good, bad and the ugly as the Broncos stunned the Chiefs, the 49ers lost their third straight game, and the two New York teams played out a shocker.

McCaffrey Ties NFL Record With 17th Consecutive Game With A Touchdown

But the San Francisco 49ers suffered their third consecutive defeat…

It’s the third game on the bounce that the defence has really struggled.

There have been other areas of concern: Brock Purdy played out the worst game of his NFL career in one of the losses; they’ve been dealing with injuries all of the way through; George Kittle hasn’t been the offensive force many would like him to be. However, the poor performance of the defence has been consistent throughout.

The 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals – at Levi Stadium, no less – has the 49ers going into their bye week on a three-game losing streak. It wasn’t long ago that this team scored 30 points without breaking a sweat. As the defence struggles to concede 395 yards per game throughout the losing streak, the offence is suffering.

It’s not panic stations for the 49ers. They dug themselves out of a hole last season to put themselves well into the Super Bowl conversation. Just as much as the sentiment following their 5-0 start was that the season is long and there is a lot of football still to play, the sentiment remains. The 49ers have plenty of time to dig themselves out again. Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel returning will help, too.

They’ve drifted out to $6.50 in the Super Bowl LVIII market from $5.50 before the streak started. Outside of the Philadelphia Eagles ($5), though, no team has really started to pull away during San Francisco’s struggles.

For the Bengals, it’s all finally coming together. It’s not unexpected. This team is too good to have struggled all season and we knew Joe Burrow was carrying an injury early on. He completed 19 straight passes in this one and is looking back to his best. There is still a lot of improvement if they’re to compete for Super Bowl LVIII but $17 could be the best of the number moving forward.

Broncos Stun Chiefs

We’ve said it here a few times already, but the Denver Broncos defence was never as bad as the historically bad numbers ever suggested. Conceding ten touchdowns in a single game will do that to a small sample size. That idea cashed in as +1.5 underdogs against the Green Bay Packers in Week 7. In Week 8, they ended their 16-game losing streak to the Kansas City Chiefs with a stunning 24-9 win.

Mahomes entering today:

25-0 vs teams 2+ games under .500
16-0 vs the AFC West on the road

Not anymore. pic.twitter.com/VzBNDfUxka

— StatMuse (@statmuse) October 29, 2023

Russell Wilson wasn’t asked to do an awful lot across his 19 throws but found teammates in the end zone on three of them. Notably, Javonte Williams rushed for 85 yards on 27 carries and scored his first touchdown since coming back from a serious knee injury.

It’s not a major loss for the Chiefs. A shocker. But not a major in their quest for Super Bowl glory. Patrick Mahomes was clearly underdone while carrying the flu and they’re going to drop games along the way. They’re still on the second line of betting to win it all at $6.

A Shocker In New York

It will go down as one of the ugliest wins and worst games of the NFL season, but the New York Jets managed to claw their way to a 13-10 overtime win over the New York Giants in Week 8.

The match was an eyesore. Don’t bother with the highlight videos if such things exist. It’s a game that anybody unlucky enough to watch or play in should forget.

If you watched that entire Jets Giants game you may be entitled to financial compensation.

— Nooner (@noonernation) October 29, 2023

It’s a game of great significance here, through. As backers of the Giants at +2.5 (or +3 for those that could get it), it’s a bad, bad beat.

With a 4th-and-1 on the Jets 17-yard line, the cover looked relatively comfortable. Saquon Barkley had carried the ball 36 times already for 128 yards. One more would all but secure the win, right? Wrong. Brian Daboll chose instead to send Graham Gano out for a field goal – missed.

The Jets proceeded to work up the field in four plays without a timeout to tie the game before winning it in overtime.

A large reason behind backing against the Jets came down to the idea of the defence being overrated. We didn’t get to see it tested in this one. Looking ahead, the Los Angeles Chargers -2.5 looks like it will end up in Red Zone Returns for Week 9.

Welcome To The NFL, Will Levis

There have been some big-name quarterbacks enter the league this season, but only one threw for four touchdowns in his first career game.

Will Levis joined Frank Tarkenton (1961) and Marus Mariota (2015) as the only players in NFL history to find the end zone four times on debut, connecting with DeAndre Hopkins on three of them. It’s one of the great starts to a career.

Starting in place of Ryan Tannehill, Levis completed 19 of his 29 attempts for 238 yards. Chigoziem Okonkwo dropped a simple catch that would have put Levis a lot closer to 300 yards for the game, too. He looked comfortable in the pocket. When the opportunities arose downfield, he took them. The Tennessee Titans moved up from #41 to #33 to draft Levis and, while very early days, it looks to be a good move following his performance in this 28-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

Every Will Levis pass attempt from his dazzling NFL debut for the #Titans pic.twitter.com/4jz47XHU7J

— Justin Graver (@titansfilmroom) October 30, 2023

It remains to be seen what the Titans do next week against the Pittsburgh Steelers as $2.18 and +2.5 underdogs, and moving forward. Levis seems to have a future in the NFL, but do the Titans have much of one this season? They’re not in the Super Bowl LVIII conversation at $101. Perhaps they would be better served rolling with the rookie for the rest of the year…

Commanders In Limbo

It beggars belief, but the Washington Commanders put the fate of their future in beating one of the best teams in the NFL.

A win and they carry on with the squad they have got through to the end of the season. A loss, and they anticipate being a big player at the trade deadline.

Unsurprisingly, the Commanders lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8.

So, now what?

They pushed the Eagles. The offensive line played out the best game of the season so far and a late interception and a couple of drops put an end to their chance of victory. The defence produced a couple of turnovers at key moments throughout the game and A.J. Brown dominated the whole way.

8 Qb’s threw for 3 or more TD’s this week. Only one of them (Howell) lost.

— Eric Sully (@CommandersRealm) October 30, 2023

Chase Young and Montez Sweat are two players that teams are reportedly calling about. Is Ron Rivera safe? He made a few poor decisions in this one and doesn’t have this team playing up to expectations.

The idea that one result is enough to determine the approach moving forward is somewhat mind-boggling, but it looks as though the Commanders are all but throwing in the towel.

We will learn a lot more about this group, or what remains of it, when they take on the New England Patriots as $2.08 and +2.5 underdogs in Week 9.

Other NFL Week 8 Notes

– Kirk Cousins’ NFL season appears to be over. Playing out one of the best seasons in his career to be 3rd in passer rating, 3rd in yards and 1st in touchdown passes, he couldn’t apply weight to his right leg after tumbling to the grass in Week 8.
– The Jacksonville Jaguars are now 6-2 and tied for the best record in the AFC after starting the season 1-2.
– Justin Herbert played another good one: 298 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions.
– Gus Edwards also managed three touchdowns this week.
– The Dallas Cowboys have won 11 straight games at home.
– The Detroit Lions are doing it for punters at the moment. They’re 15-3 against the spread in their last 18 games.