12 Nov Week 8 Recap with Matthew Lownes
With a Halloween hangover, I sat back and watched the New York Jets and NFL RedZone on the last Sunday before Election Day. While perusing Twitter throughout the day, I saw a mix of football updates and political ads on my timeline, something that is unignorably frustrating when trying to escape the real world for roughly 10 hours. Vote.
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Time for the Week 8 recap!
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs made a mockery of the Jets, going up 14-3 fairly quickly and eventually winning 35-9. The Jets are historically bad, and have had a total of 67 combined yards in both the 2nd halves of their Bills and Chiefs games. What is ironic is Adam Gase is still the head coach, while general manager Joe Douglas is trying to trade any piece possible before this week’s trade deadline. More on the deadline later.
LET DALVIN COOK COOK
Dalvin Cook and the Vikings had the upset of the week, beating the Green Bay Packers 28-22, strip sacking Aaron Rodgers on the final play of the game to seal the win. While the Packers started the season hot, you have to question their depth as they have struggled without Aaron Jones and clearly do not have elite weapons outside of Davante Adams to help Rodgers.
Are the Packers the best NFC North team? Yes. Will they win the division? Yes. Will they win the NFC? I will say no, as I am not confident in their ability to go score for score versus the Seahawks or Bucs. As for the Vikings, you have to appreciate their fight for not being one of the worst team in the NFL, that is the difference between Mike Zimmer and someone like Adam Gase.
One has their team motivated. The other does not.
IT’S TUA CLOCK
While the Vikings pulled off the upset of the week with Cook rushing for 163 yards, and three touchdowns, (as well as two catches for 63 yards and a touchdown), the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals also pulled off upsets. In Tua Tagovailoa’s debut, he did not do anything too special or exciting, but the Dolphins defense rallied around him, forcing four total turnovers versus Jared Goff and the Rams.
Again, a good football coach on a bad team finds ways to win games. That is Brian Flores, one of the best motivators in football. The Bengals completely controlled the Titans for most of the game, and rookie Joe Burrow got his second win of his career in a mostly boring game. Same for the Colts destroying the Lions and the Raiders winning a windy, boring game in Cleveland.
LEAVE BAKER ALONE!
This brings me to Baker Mayfield. We have all seen the Baker Mayfield chart going around the internet – he plays a good game, then is bad, then is motivated and wins, then loses again. It is a cycle Browns fans do not deserve nor can continue to endure. Yes, he is playing hurt, but you have to ask yourself, at what point do the Browns continue this charade? Is he a franchise QB or not?
I think Mayfield is, and the Browns would be crazy to move on from him in the future given their QB history. He has the talent, it is just about consistency and it is infuriating to even think about the fact they still have the Ravens and Steelers in their division at the top. I think we should give some slack to Baker.
WEST COAST QBS
The 49ers are injury-plagued and need to decide if Jimmy Garropolo is their guy or not. These are just facts at this point and I will not dive into this any further….for now. Meanwhile, the injured defense of the Seahawks prevailed and will only get better when Jamal Adams returns.
The Denver Broncos had a thrilling game-winning touchdown pass from Drew Lock to beat the Los Angeles Chargers. Justin Herbert must get used to the fact that the Chargers never play a normal game and lose in the most painful way possible.
ARE THE SAINTS SUPER BOWL MATERIAL?
The Saints are good, but this is not a Super Bowl winning team via the eye test. I have watched football long enough to know what an elite team looks like, and this just is not one of them. Prove me wrong please, because I want to see Drew Brees win again. Offensively, they are not consistent enough to hang with the best, but please go ahead and prove me wrong.
CHAUNCEY GARDNER-JOHNSON GETS PUNCHED (AGAIN)
The Chicago Bears are the worst offensive 5-3 team I have ever seen, and wide receiver Javon Wims should be suspended for the remainder of the 2020 season after punching Saints Chauncey Gardner-Johnson twice in the weirdest fight you will ever see on the gridiron. NFL needs to make an example out of him.
A MOMENT ON THE NFC EAST
The Eagles are trash, just like the NFC (L)East. That is all that needs to be said about that. The Bucs will destroy the Giants on Monday Night Football.
FANTASY FOOTBALL
Fantasy-wise, Dalvin Cook, D.K. Metcalf, Davante Adams, Robert Woods, and Corey Davis went OFF. They went just as hard as John Mulaney’s SNL Monologue this weekend, (I highly recommend watching).
Meanwhile, DeeJay Dallas found success with Seattle while Chris Carson has been hurt, and the Cowboys weapons are pointless right now, a painful reminder of how hard fantasy can be on a year-to-year basis. Nyheim Hines had two touchdowns in his return, and also had the most badass celebration ever with a gymnast-esque routine.
NFL TRADE DEADLINE
Bengals wider receiver John Ross, Texans wideout Will Fuller, Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore, and numerous other players across the league could be traded this week. The issue here is with the NFL cap about to decline due to COVID-19, better teams may not want to take on more salary while worse teams will be trying to do exactly the opposite. I expect a few trades to occur, but nothing major aside from the names above.
2021 NFL DRAFT
The Jets own the first pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, and it should stay that way barring an unlikely win streak. Last night, the Jets traded linebacker Avery Williamson to the Steelers while swapping fifth and seventh round draft picks in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Trevor Lawrence will be the first overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft . It is nearly written in stone that the Jets are on the clock for the opportunity to add him to their roster.
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I want to shine some light on Florida receiver Kadarius Toney. Regardless of his size, he is now moving up wide receiver rankings and could end up being a first round pick when it is all said and done. The Florida wideout has 22 catches for 297 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 13.5 yards per catch.
Toney passes the eye test and if he stays healthy, I am willing to say right now that he will be a top 32 pick in April.
POWER RANKINGS
Top 5
- Chiefs
- Seahawks
- Steelers
- Bucs
- Ravens
Bottom 5
- Jets (it’s not even close, this is probably the worst team of all time)
- Jaguars
- Cowboys
- Giants
- Falcons
MVP RACE
Russell Wilson > everyone else. Stats aside, just watch him play and he’s the best he’s ever been. He may not lead the league in every stat come the end of the season, but without Wilson the Seahawks are simply not this good. This man is electric and we must let him win an MVP once in his career.
MATT’S LIFE ADVICE
Breathe. It’s gonna be long week for everyone, just breathe, and remember to be positive and help someone out. Do a good deed for someone, karma will repay you. Thanks for checking out the Week 8 recap. Have a great week everyone!
Diehard Penn Stater, and unapologetic Jets fan.
Graduating from Penn State in 2019, his love for football is as strong as his hatred for Ohio State and the New England Patriots. “I’ll name my first-born son after Sam Darnold if he can win us a Super Bowl.”