The Winners and Losers of the NFL Week 8

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NFLNFLThe Broncos took control of the AFC West, the Cowboys collapsed late, and one team won without completing a pass on a thrilling NFL Sunday

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By The Ringer StaffNov. 2, 5:23 am UTC • 20 min

Every week this NFL season, we will break down the highs and lows—and everything in between—from the most recent slate of pro football. This week, the Broncos put in the goal-line stand of the year, the Colts seemingly prepared for a Jonathan Taylor trade, the Cowboys notched a vintage collapse, and Baker Mayfield won a game without completing a pass.

Control of the AFC West on Sunday came down to one play near the goal line. The Broncos had rallied from an 11-point deficit to take a 28-24 lead late in the fourth quarter on a rainy evening in Denver but had allowed Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to quickly drive deep into the red zone. 

Cornerback Patrick Surtain II got the stop on first down, tackling running back Kenneth Walker III at the 1. Mahomes’s second-down pass was incomplete. On third down, Denver reserve safety JL Skinner lowered his shoulders into Walker to drop the running back for no gain. That set up one final play, from the 1, to decide the game and first place in the division. “No matter what plays they made to get into the red zone, once they were in the red zone, we said, They don’t score. If they don’t score, we win,” Surtain said after the game. 

As the Chiefs lined up for that fourth-and-1, you could feel the stadium shake. The crowd was rocking. Mahomes took the snap and rocketed a quick pass to Rashee Rice in the end zone, just after a penalty flag landed in the grass next to the far sideline. False start, Jaylon Moore. It was the 11th penalty of the day for Kansas City, and the most costly.

With the Chiefs backed up to the 6 for the final snap of the game, the Broncos quickly got to Mahomes with a four-man rush, sacking him to end the game and flip control of the AFC West.

“We stood 10 toes down and found a way to finish,” Surtain said.

Denver, at 6-2, now holds a half-game lead over the 5-2 Chiefs, who have lost back-to-back games after going into their bye week undefeated. 

Most of this game felt like vintage Chiefs, with Mahomes finding ways to get the ball to a shifty young player wearing no. 10—now, that’s rookie running back Emmett Johnson, but as he scampered for explosive gains, it was hard not to picture early Tyreek Hill—and let him create after the catch. Johnson caught all five of his targets for 128 yards, including a 73-yard catch-and-run touchdown in the second quarter. His 44-yard kickoff return after Denver’s go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter helped set up the Chiefs for that final red zone series. 

But much like they did last week in their loss to Seattle, the Chiefs failed in clutch moments. Their 11 penalties were the most of any team in Week 8, and their mistakes included a wide-right miss by Harrison Butker on a 54-yard field goal attempt in the fourth quarter. Whether Butker keeps his job after another high-profile miss or whether the Chiefs turn to Justin Tucker, signed earlier this week to the practice squad, will be one of the most scrutinized decisions in the league in the upcoming week: Tucker served a 10-game suspension last year because the league found he violated the league’s personal conduct policy after 16 women told The Baltimore Banner that Tucker had committed sexual misconduct during massage appointments. Tucker did not play in 2025 and made only 73 percent of his kicks in 2024.

Butker’s miss came at a terrible time for Kansas City. A Denver offense that had sputtered through the third quarter, including three straight three-and-outs to open the second half, had finally come to life. And Denver cut the Chiefs’ lead to three after a touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle and a successful two-point conversion. The Broncos got the ball at their own 44-yard line after Butker’s miss, and on the first snap of the ensuing possession, rookie running back Jonah Coleman took a screen pass 51 yards, all the way to the 5-yard line. His touchdown run on the next play gave Denver its first lead of the day, just after the two-minute warning. (That two-play series may have cemented a change to the Broncos’ running back hierarchy and could lead to an even smaller workload for J.K. Dobbins in the coming weeks.)

In a vacuum, winning like this feels like it should be unsustainable for the Broncos. But by now, this sort of performance feels baked into Denver’s DNA. We can just assume that Bo Nix will stink early on and that the offense will stall out for long stretches but come to life later. We can just assume that the defense will get the stop when it matters most, even when lined up at its own 1-yard line against the greatest quarterback of his generation. 

The Broncos spent 48 days stewing about their Week 1 loss to Kansas City—Sean Payton wrote that number on a whiteboard in the practice facility this week. That was an embarrassing night for the offense and defense, and it forced the Broncos to do some very early soul-searching. Now, after giving up a double-digit lead in this game and squandering their early edge in the division, the Chiefs are the ones who must find a way to regroup. —Lindsay Jones

There were weeks of discourse centered on quarterback Lamar Jackson’s standing in this league—as there always are when Baltimore loses games, even if Jackson isn’t playing in those games. And with Jackson finally on the field this week, things were shaping up for an ideal “I’m back” showcase against Buffalo’s shoddy passing defense. Those hopes were cooked after just one offensive snap. Jackson’s hand hit the helmet of Bills edge rusher Greg Rousseau, injuring his thumb and ending his day right then.

It might also have ended his season and any hopes Baltimore had of becoming a legitimate AFC contender. Jackson will have surgery on his thumb and go on injured reserve, meaning he’ll likely be gone until mid-December at the earliest—and the Ravens could be too far out of the playoff picture by then to justify bringing him back even if he makes a complete recovery. Even backup quarterback Tyler Huntley’s status is up in the air after he suffered a potential turf toe injury during Sunday’s loss. Huntley is scheduled to get an MRI to determine what his recovery timeline might be. Undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano is the only available quarterback on the roster right now, leaving Baltimore almost no choice but to look for trade options in the next week.

The Ravens just can’t seem to avoid these kinds of gut punches. After a strong 3-1 start, Jackson sprained his ankle, and Baltimore’s defense forgot how to get late-game stops again. It seems like head coach Jesse Minter and his staff are calling the right plays and crafting good game plans, but the execution hasn’t been there, and the gap between Baltimore and the rest of the AFC’s playoff hopefuls has grown each week. Without Jackson to come to this franchise’s rescue again, it seems likely that Baltimore will retool its roster rather than try to squeeze one more shot at a championship out of this group. Aging veterans like tight end Mark Andrews, left tackle Ronnie Stanley, and cornerback Marlon Humphrey just don’t make the kind of game-changing impact they once did. Young players like linebacker Trenton Simpson, safety Malaki Starks, and edge rusher Mike Green haven’t given this team much juice since Baltimore drafted them, either. Without Jackson, there isn’t much keeping this roster afloat.

If Jackson’s season ended on Sunday, there will be an uncomfortable shift in tone: away from what could’ve been in 2026 and toward whether Baltimore will sign Jackson to a long-term extension in the offseason, as his deal ends after 2027. If his last contract negotiation with Baltimore taught us anything, it’s that we might have another contentious saga at yet another inflection point in his career. —Diante Lee

An onside kick is a death knell for NFL teams. Since 2024—when the league changed kickoffs so that surprise onside kicks are no longer possible—teams came into Week 8 of this season with a 1-108 record when even attempting an onside kick in a game. Even if a team successfully recovers the kick, it’s a long shot. Teams have successfully recovered onside kicks in just eight games in this stretch, and they have a record of 1-7 in those contests. (The one win is the Bears beating the Packers in Week 16 last season.)

Put simply, if you need to get possession via an onside kick, you’ve almost surely already lost the game. It’s the ultimate desperation move, and desperation rarely works in the NFL or anywhere.

So this is how I can put into context how bad Sunday’s Cowboys loss was. Their opponent, the Arizona Cardinals, attempted an onside kick with 2:11 remaining, failed to recover, and still won the game. 

Some more contextual information: 

Yet the Dallas defense absolutely imploded down the stretch, allowing four straight touchdowns by the Cardinals in the second half of the game. The Cowboys secondary had looked improved early in the game, but Minshew carved them up and made them look, once again, like the worst unit in the league.

In fact, the Cowboys were lucky that this game even went into overtime. After Arizona’s final touchdown of regulation—which came with just six seconds left on the clock—kicker Chad Ryland missed the go-ahead extra point. 

And the offense wasn’t able to put the game away, either. That failed onside kick attempt that gave Dallas the football on the Cardinals’ side of the field? The Cowboys turned it into a possession that netted –3 yards and took just 1:02 off the clock. Brandon Aubrey’s subsequent 41-yard field goal gave Dallas a 30-24 lead, keeping the game in striking distance for the Cardinals when a single Cowboys first down would have ended it.

Despite all this, Dallas had a chance to win in overtime. It won the coin toss, elected to kick, and finally managed to stop Arizona’s offense thanks to a first-down sack of Minshew. But Prescott got sacked on the Cowboys’ subsequent possession, and their offense sputtered as a result. Thus, they punted the ball away to Arizona with more than seven minutes left on the clock. Minshew wasn’t even the hero on the final drive. He threw just one pass, as the Cardinals offense gained 36 yards on the ground before Ryland redeemed himself by booting through the 42-yard game-winner.

The result is a clear disaster for the Cowboys, who came in as seven-point favorites but have now seen their odds of winning the NFC East slump to 27 percent even though the team ahead of them, the New York Giants, lost their starting quarterback in Week 2. 

Yet it may not even be the most crushing loss of Dallas’s season. In Week 3 it gave the ball back to the Ravens with just seven seconds left on the clock, only to let Lamar Jackson connect with Zay Flowers for 27 yards to set up a game-winning field goal for Baltimore. Just how bad has this season been going for Dallas? I’ll let Jerry Jones sum it up:

—Riley McAtee

Even though the Vikings have the best defense in the league and an elite special teams unit—and had an undefeated record entering Week 8—there’s been a ton of skepticism about their ultimate ceiling this year. All praise of Brian Flores and his historic defense is couched with “yeah, but” because of the anemic offense. A group with T.J. Hockenson, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and a competent offensive line should not struggle as much as the Vikings have this year. 

When the Vikings needed to score just 20 points indoors against the Lions defense—one of the worst in the league—they couldn’t do it. Minnesota got the ball down four with a chance to win the game and went three-and-out for the fourth time in 10 possessions. The offense, which now ranks 28th in points per drive, looks more and more like an anchor weighing down a football team that’s ready to compete for a Super Bowl.

Detroit finally found a way through the previously impenetrable Flores-led defense with its own run game in the second half. The Lions’ 19-15 win pulled them within a game of first in the NFC North. The Lions, Bears, and Packers are all humming offensively right now, and Minnesota won’t be able to hold them off unless the Kevin O’Connell–Kyler Murray marriage starts trending in the right direction. Each passing week makes that feel less and less likely. 

You could excuse Minnesota’s early-season struggles because Murray missed time, Jefferson was out, and the offense was still growing with a new quarterback. But Minnesota’s running backs had 14 carries for 46 yards against a stout Detroit front. The Vikings were unable to consistently exploit matchup advantages down the field against a Detroit secondary that has struggled all season long. Minnesota has tried different running schemes with little success. There’s been no synergy between the quarterback and the outside receivers, especially Jefferson. 

Murray’s offense looks capable through the air only when he’s throwing up the seams to his tight ends. He hit Hockenson for 22 yards on third-and-3 in the second quarter when Hockenson ran a stick-and-nod route that juked a Lions defender. The drive ended with a touchdown pass from Murray to Jefferson, but it took an incredibly acrobatic play by Jefferson.

Flores bought the offense time to figure things out as his defense continued to flummox a dominant Lions offense. Detroit scored three total points on its next five drives, which stretched into the third quarter, and Minnesota retained the lead. A competent offense would have pushed that lead to multiple scores. But the Vikings do not have that. As Detroit’s offense sputtered, so did Minnesota’s. A false start put them behind the chains on one drive. A sack killed another. A Murray interception on an inaccurate downfield throw led to a Detroit field goal.

Minnesota eventually put together its second excellent drive to retake the lead in the fourth quarter, 15-12. It was spurred by a 51-yard completion from Murray to Addison. That was the rare bright spot in another inefficient day of targeting the wide receivers. Addison and Jefferson were targeted 17 times on Sunday. They had eight catches. 

O’Connell faced a difficult decision on fourth-and-5 at his own 33-yard line with 3:01 remaining. He had so little belief in his offense that he punted the ball away, implying that the Vikings coach had more faith in the defense to force another three-and-out. Instead, Detroit never gave Minnesota the ball back, and now the Vikings are no longer undefeated. —Anthony Dabbundo

The Buccaneers had a throwback offensive game plan against the Falcons. And by throwback, we mean waaaaaaaay back. To the 1930s. The Bucs won the game, 16-0, without completing a single pass. Baker Mayfield attempted just three of them. 

It didn’t take long for the Bucs to abandon the passing game completely. Mayfield’s final incomplete pass came 85 seconds into the third quarter. It was the first time since 1974 that a team finished a game without a single completed pass—and only the fourth time it’s happened since 1950. It’s truly hard to believe this box score is real in the year of our Lord 2026, in a game the starter completed, and a game the team won!

So how did they manage to pull off this affront to the modern passing game? While playing in miserable, rainy conditions at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, the Bucs absolutely ran the shit out of the ball, with 56 rushing attempts—the most in a game since 2010—and a combined 310 rushing yards from Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell. Mayfield had four rush attempts of his own for 14 yards. The Bucs defense did the rest. The Falcons failed to convert a single third down (0-for-12) and came up empty in their only red zone trip. 

No matter how they did it, the win puts the Bucs in control of the dreadful NFC South. At 3-5, they’re technically a half game back of Carolina in the standings, but they beat the Panthers by 30 points in Week 7. Even without a completed pass in Week 8, the Bucs are the team trending up. —Jones

There’s nothing inconspicuous about the Colts’ current fire sale, after the team fired GM Chris Ballard and traded away cornerstone players like Quenton Nelson to Seattle and DeForest Buckner to San Francisco. This weekend sent a blaring message to any team interested in trading for running back Jonathan Taylor: It's time to put in the best and final offers. Taylor had just eight carries in the Colts’ 42-7 loss to the Jaguars, both a season low and the fewest he’s had in a game since 2023, when he missed several games due to injury.

The loss and Taylor’s limited usage were arguably the most predictable outcomes coming into Sunday’s action. The Ringer’s Tom Pelissero reported that Indianapolis isn’t just shopping him, but aggressively seeking the biggest draft pick haul it can find. If a second-round pick wasn’t enough for the Colts to even entertain trading Taylor a week ahead of the deadline, they certainly won’t be risking injury or any unnecessary wear and tear that might depress Taylor’s market value. Just look at what happened in Washington: Commanders defensive tackle Daron Payne could’ve been a highly sought-after run-stopping force in the next week, but a foot injury ended his season and undermined Washington’s hopes of trading him.

The Colts already turned down a 2027 second-round draft pick plus an additional pick for RB Jonathan Taylor, making clear they’d want a premium to trade the face of the franchise.

All the trade updates you can handle in The Sweep Insider Notebook: https://t.co/2eiMVV6AJ1 pic.twitter.com/FDIrQ5k9gc

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 31, 2026

It feels like a trade is imminent, especially after Taylor spent most of Sunday on the shelf, but I’m fascinated by whether Indianapolis can actually extract more picks in a deal between now and the November 10 trade deadline. He’s the last marquee player the Colts have to dangle on the market—on a roster that’s already one of the NFL’s worst—so no stone can be left unturned before trading him. And because the Colts entered the season at a deficit in draft value thanks to last year’s trade for cornerback Sauce Gardner (which has been a total bust), any move they make now is as much about trying to wash away Ballard’s past mistakes as it is about trying to maximize a present-day deal.

Jim Nantz and JJ Watt are strongly hinting at Sean Payton making a move for Jonathan Taylor if they win today

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) November 1, 2026

There are several contending teams—namely, the Broncos and Packers—that could use a dynamic force like Taylor to anchor their run game. The Giants and Vikings also have a serious need at running back and a shot to make the playoffs with Taylor, and that’ll help drive up the asking price. Don’t be surprised if Taylor is traded for a Christian McCaffrey–esque haul, bringing back a pair of day two draft picks or more. Taylor said after Sunday’s loss that teams would be “foaming at the mouth” to get an easy win over the rebuilding Colts, and he should be foaming at the mouth to get the hell out of town as a result.

—Lee

I have a love-hate relationship with Las Vegas Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty. As a decades-long die-hard Raiders fan, I love that the Silver Surfer, fully healthy at his best, looks like former Jacksonville Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew. I hate how much he’s lost his mojo trying to play through ankle and foot injuries with the 10th-highest snap share of any back going into Week 8. There have been discussions in the building about resting Jeanty until Las Vegas’s Week 13 bye, per ESPN’s Dan Graziano, but Jeanty has been adamant that he wants to tough it out, and Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak never wavered on playing him. That was until Week 8, when Jeanty made some laughably bad comments calling out the New York Jets defense for bad tackling four days before playing them in East Rutherford. Seemingly as a result of that bulletin board material, Kubiak soft-benched Jeanty, giving the RB the rest his body so clearly needs. 

Jeanty played only 37 percent of the Raiders’ offensive snaps in their 38-33 win against the Jets, and he broke zero tackles on the two carries Kubiak called for him. He was used mostly as a passing-down back; Jeanty caught two checkdowns for 19 yards and then took a screen 45 yards for one of his biggest plays of the season … after falling on the ground. 

Rookie running back Mike Washington Jr., built much taller than Jeanty at 6-foot-2 and 228 pounds, carried the load decently in Jeanty’s stead. Washington averaged just 3.3 yards per tote on 25 carries, but he constantly fell forward, picked good rushing lanes, and didn’t put the ball on the turf. He was a reliable sledgehammer that wore on New York’s defense enough to find some successful runs and set up easier play-action looks. Kubiak’s offense recorded a 67 percent success rate against the Jets in Week 8, which is tied for the third-best mark for any game Kubiak has called in the past three years and is more than 12 percentage points better than any of his eight in Las Vegas. Part of that is because Aaron Glenn is at the bottom of an all-time-bad head coaching run, and he’s in charge of the Jets defense. Another part of it is that Kubiak is finally doing what he should have done games ago and soft-benching the banged-up Jeanty.

Jeanty hasn’t earned any room to chirp in the NFL. He’s a former no. 6 pick who's playing like a run-of-the-mill third-down back because he’s playing through injuries, so injuries can’t be an excuse. Kubiak telling his locker room that players play when players say they can play is probably a net positive, especially considering the Maxx Crosby blowup over not being able to play when he was hurt last year. But Kubiak’s offense suffered with Jeanty as the feature back, and it put up season-best numbers without him. Jeanty will have a bigger role next week in San Francisco, I imagine, but it probably won’t be as big as it was to start the season and maybe never will be again if Deuce can’t heal up and shut up (specifically to the media when talking about any future opponents). —Austin Gayle

Burrow became the fifth quarterback since 2000 to throw at least five touchdown passes and three interceptions in the same game. He joins Vinny Testaverde, Gus Frerotte, Matt Hasselbeck, and Patrick Mahomes on that list. The Bengals escaped with a 43-36 overtime win against the Titans, meaning that those quarterbacks are now 4-1 in those games. And while Burrow’s performance showcased how explosive Cincinnati’s offense can be, it also demonstrated how often it makes life hard for itself.

Sunday was the second consecutive week that the Bengals spotted their opponent a multi-score lead. Last week, the Bengals went into halftime down 13-0 to Baltimore, only to score five touchdowns in a row in the second half. It was a commanding offensive performance. 

This week was trending in that very same direction, but every time Cincinnati tried to pull ahead this Sunday, Burrow kept throwing interceptions. It wasn’t that the Titans were slowing Cincinnati down as much as that Burrow and the Bengals were stopping themselves with terrible plays. 

Amani Hooker accounted for all three interceptions. The first came in the opening quarter, with Cincinnati already down 10-0. Burrow bought extra time to throw by rolling left, but then he made the terrible decision to set his feet and launch a ball deep to a well-covered Ja’Marr Chase. The throw was 15 yards over Chase’s head and went into the waiting arms of Hooker. It wouldn’t have been a bad prayer attempt on third down, but Burrow had no reason to make that play on second-and-5. 

Burrow’s second interception came on a late throw to Mike Gesicki on the sideline in the opening drive of the second half. Hooker broke down hard to the ball and jumped in front of the pass. Again, a bad Burrow decision to end a drive early. 

Then, with the game tied at 21, Burrow had Chase breaking wide open for what should have been a 50-yard touchdown. He underthrew him by 10 yards, and Hooker had interception no. 3.

The extra possessions and a bad Cincy defense allowed 440 total yards to the Titans. That’s by far the most a Cam Ward–led offense has ever produced (the previous high was 376).

Other than the interceptions—big caveat, I know—Burrow had one of the best passing games of his entire career. He threw for 462 yards. He routinely played pitch-and-catch with both Tee Higgins and Chase, who tallied more than 140 yards each. Tennessee could not get consistent pressure on Burrow, and Cincinnati’s talent advantage against an overmatched Titans secondary was exploited repeatedly. 

On the last three full drives—all touchdowns—Burrow went 16-for-17, and 11 of those completions went for at least 10 yards. It was a master class in offense and yet another showcase of the elite football that the Bengals flash every week.

The problem is that Cincinnati is maddeningly inconsistent on both sides of the ball. Whether it’s the defense’s inability to cover tight ends, the lack of a run game, or Burrow’s bad decision-making, Cincinnati continues to flirt with danger against foes it should have no issue beating. The Bengals haven’t really gotten burned yet, and Burrow-Chase-Higgins is a hell of a get-out-of-jail-free card, but that won’t save Zac Taylor from the onslaught of questions about their slow starts. —Dabbundo

The left upright in the south end zone of Buffalo’s Highmark Stadium took a beating on Sunday. First, it was Tyler Bass banking in a 56-yard field goal in the first quarter to extend the Bills’ lead over the Ravens:

Then, in the second quarter, it was Tyler Loop bouncing a kick off the upright from 34 yards out:

I couldn’t find a database for doink statistics, but it doesn’t take a spreadsheet to tell you that two doinks in one game is extremely rare, to say nothing of two doinks coming off the same upright. But it sure was a treat to get them. Put on headphones and listen to these two doinks again—whoever set up the microphone on that post sure did their job right. Loop’s doink reverberates through the audio for at least three beautiful seconds.

Not long after that, another doink followed, this time in the Lions-Vikings game. A clear clip from the broadcast footage didn’t make it to X, but that one was also loud:

Then, in the Patriots-Dolphins game, we got yet another doink, which sounded like a shopping cart crashing into an electric fence:

We’re not used to hearing too much from the field of an NFL football game. Sure, you’ll get Dak Prescott’s “Here we go!” and the occasional hot mic moment, but the crowd noise tends to drown out everything else. Except when a ball finds a field goal post, and it’s the loudest noise in the world. —McAtee

The Winners and Losers of the NFL Week 8 | Readon News