Week 8 of the 2023 NFL regular season brought 16 games with no teams on bye weeks which made for an action-packed weekend with some surprising results.
After eight weeks, the AFC East still has one team at the top of the division – the 6-2 Miami Dolphins.
Miami downed the New England Patriots in a division battle that saw the home team outlast some key injuries, while the visitors dealt with some of their own. The Dolphins welcomed Jalen Ramsey to their team, as he made his debut in aqua and orange, recording an interception to set his team up with solid field position. As they get healthier, Miami will be a problem for some of the top teams around the league.
For the Patriots, they may have pulled off an upset in Week 7, but they fell back down this weekend. Injuries to key players like Kendrick Bourne and DeVante Parker, two of their top three wideouts, led to some struggles offensively. On top of that, their defense had a hard time keeping up with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, but not many teams can say they’re great at that. With the loss, New England falls to 2-6 at the bottom of the division.
The Buffalo Bills played on Thursday night and earned a victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There still seems to be something missing from Buffalo’s offensive game, but Josh Allen completed 77.5% of his attempts and finished with a 106.7 passer rating. Baker Mayfield wasn’t as accurate, completing just 59.5% of his passes, but he finished with 237 yards, two touchdowns and a 91.1 passer rating. Sean McDermott’s team may look for some defensive help soon with all of the injuries they’ve had on that side of the ball.
In one of the worst games of football you’ll ever watch, the New York Jets defeated the New York Giants in overtime. The Giants, who entered the game without Daniel Jones, saw Tyrod Taylor go down, leading to significant playing time for former Syracuse quarterback Tommy Devito. They wouldn’t let him throw the ball, and the Jets were still only able to win this game 13-10 in overtime. Zach Wilson completely less than 50% of his passes, and the running game was non-existent, and both of those things can be at least partially contributed to poor offensive line play. Either way, they’ve somehow crawled to a winning record (4-3) through eight weeks despite losing their quarterback in Week 1.
Week 9 AFC East matchups:
- Miami Dolphins (6-2) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (6-2) – in Germany
- Buffalo Bills (5-3) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (4-3)
- New York Jets (4-3) vs. Los Angeles Chargers (3-4) – MNF
- New England Patriots (2-6) vs. Washington Commanders (3-5)
