The NFL has been waiting for week 8, because it finally gives them a Sunday Night Football Game between two popular teams in the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles; a division rivalry, between two teams that are doing well this season. Fireworks have a shot of happening in Atlanta where the Falcons play the Packers, while the Patriots will try to avenge their only loss of the season in Buffalo against the Ryan brothers and the Bills.
Here are our thoughts about the 13 games in week 8:
- The Titans playing the Jaguars on Thursday Night will bring 3 talking points: How awful the color rush jerseys look, how bad the AFC South is, and the continuing decline in NFL ratings
- A big test for both teams as the Washington Redskins travel to play the Cincinnati Bengals on the road. The Bengals have a great opportunity with Roethlisberger’s injury to take over the AFC North, and the Redskins & Cousins have a chance to show us how serious they are
- If the Indianapolis Colts can get Andrew Luck to T.Y Hilton going early, they have a shot of making the Kansas City Chiefs chase them, which isn’t something they do very well
- The Oakland Raiders playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers means plenty of yards and touchdowns. The difference maker here will be Latavius Murray. Good games from him often mean wins for the Raiders
- The Seahawks defense is good enough to make life very difficult for Drew Brees, even in the Superdome. However, Russell Wilson continues to play injured, and so he might struggle taking advantage of the awful defense in front of him
- The Lions are one of the weirdest teams we’ve seen this season, currently at 4-3, like their opponents, the Houston Texans. If Bill O’Brien can find a way to limit the number of hits Osweiler takes, he can get his quarterback back to the necessary level of confidence, while the other parts of the team do the rest
- Jets at Browns is as good of an opportunity the Browns will have to get a win (0-7 so far). However, turns out the angry version of Ryan Fitzpatrick isn’t bad at all, which is bad news for Cleveland
- The Patriots were shut out by the Buffalo Bills in the first game, but Tom Brady didn’t play. Now, in Buffalo, things could get chippy, but I doubt that Rob Ryan has an answer to Rob Gronkowski
- The Cardinals coming to play the Carolina Panthers is interesting because it could be another perfect reminder of how quickly things change in the NFL. The Panthers beat up Arizona last season in the playoffs. They might fall to 1-6 against them now
- Anything can happen with the San Diego Chargers, especially against the Denver Broncos. Philip Rivers has a shot at creating a little bit more chaos, and Joey Bosa can make life a living hell for Trevor Siemian
- As the Green Bay Packers travel to play the Atlanta Falcons, one wonders whether Atlanta are in the middle of their annual mid season collapse, or prepared to duel it our in an air-raid kind of game, which they actually have more firepower in
- Eagles at Cowboys is the Sunday Night Football game the NFL has been waiting for to help its ratings. Two rookie quarterbacks, with one who hasn’t had a good game in a while, while the other is coming off a bye week, and could cement his place as the #1 guy on the team
- It’s just hard to believe there’s anything the Chicago Bears can do to stop the Minnesota Vikings from getting back to winning, even if their offense isn’t as efficient as it looked through the first few weeks