Some of the biggest blunders that happened in Week 8 rarely happen throughout an entire NFL season. Anthony Richardson, Trevon Diggs, Tyrique Stevenson and Matt Eberflus might have regrets for the poor decisions that were made on Sunday.
Richardson did something that not many have likely seen before from an NFL quarterback after he took himself out of a game because of fatigue. The Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback probably shouldn't have revealed why he tapped his helmet before briefly exiting the game against the Houston Texans.
And Diggs probably should have never said anything to a reporter who criticized him for the lengthy George Kittle play that occurred in the Dallas Cowboys’ loss against the San Francisco 49ers.
But Richardson and Diggs should thank the Chicago Bears for keeping some of the national spotlight away from them on Monday morning. Eberflus and Stevenson made mistakes that led to Jayden Daniels’s 52-yard Hail Mary walk-off touchdown in the Washington Commanders’ wild victory over the Bears.
We also had a few winners from a chaotic Week 8, but our biggest winner technically isn’t working in the NFL. Let’s get to this week’s “winners and losers.”
Winners
Robert Saleh
What a week for former Jets coach Robert Saleh. He got to hang out with his close friend and Packers coach Matt LaFleur while serving as a consultant in the week leading up to Green Bay’s win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Oh, and Saleh did it while cashing checks from Jets owner Woody Johnson. The Jets could have used help from Saleh, you know, because New York has lost three consecutive games since firing Saleh, including last Sunday’s loss against the New England Patriots.
With Saleh, the Jets had an opportunity to take first place in the AFC East heading into the Week 6 meeting against the Buffalo Bills. But Johnson fired Saleh days before the Monday Night Football matchup and the Jets haven’t won since. The Jets (2–6) have a five-game losing streak and sit in last place in a division that has three teams with only two wins.
But Saleh probably isn’t gloating about the Jets’ failures without him. Why worry about your toxic ex-team when there are better days ahead? Many teams will be lining up for Saleh’s services in the offseason. Luckily for LaFleur, he got ahead of the line because of his friendship with Saleh. The Jets’ questionable decision to fire Saleh became the Packers’ gain. It also created valuable learning lessons for Saleh, who now has months to learn from his mistakes during his three-and-a-half seasons as the Jets’ head coach.
Saleh will likely get a few head-coaching interviews in the offseason and will be a hot commodity for defensive coordinator jobs. Saleh operated standout defenses in New York and did the same during his time as the defensive play-caller for the 49ers.
Saleh should go back to the grocery store and tell the TMZ cameras he’s doing much better without the Jets. But that’s probably not his style.
Patriots coach Jerod Mayo
As for another AFC East team doing better than Johnson’s team, the Patriots answered coach Jerod Mayo’s challenge by defeating the Jets to snap their six-game losing streak.
Many had a problem with Mayo calling his team soft, including former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who felt bad for his former players. But what many forgot was that Mayo has also coached many of the current Patriots for multiple seasons. He wasn’t a rookie head coach with a new team. As the Patriots’ former inside linebackers coach, Mayo knew better than anyone else that his team would respond to tough love.
Even the Patriots’ players agreed with Mayo’s criticism—they didn’t just stumble on six consecutive losses. But the team responded in the upset win, with New England’s defense recording crucial stops against the Jets to allow backup Jacoby Brissett to produce a 12-play, 70-yard go-ahead touchdown drive with 22 seconds left in regulation.
The Patriots (2–6) likely won’t be winning many games for the rest of this season, but at least Mayo is setting the standard and letting his players know what he expects on a weekly basis. Those that don’t fix the “soft” issues probably won’t be around in New England next season.
Commanders fans (again)
My TikTok feed was flooded with videos from confident Commanders fans who were sure their favorite team was going to pull out the last-second win.
Obviously, they were right and many didn’t have time to gloat to the nearest Bears fans because reality hit most Commanders fans after Daniels connected with Noah Brown for the last-second, 52-yard Hail Mary. It’s finally their year. And that's not the cliche version of the saying. It’s their year because they finally have a franchise quarterback who will keep them believing for many years to come.
Or as Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr put it, Commanders fans should enjoy every moment of this year whether it ends in the Super Bowl or not. The dark days of the Daniel Snyder era can finally be put aside thanks to how quickly the new decision makers in Washington got the Commanders (6–2) to be NFC East contenders.
That’s the power of having a franchise quarterback and competent decision makers. There’s always a chance to pull out wins and contend for the postseason with those two main ingredients. That’s why four Commanders fans immediately bought Daniels jerseys. The Hail Mary was enough for them to drop more than $100 for a fresh No. 5 jersey. Some Commanders fans might have had hesitations about buying a new jersey because of what happened with Robert Griffin III after a similar special rookie season.
But again, enjoy the ride, Commanders fans. You’ve earned the right to savor every moment of this year after decades of chaos for Washington’s football team.
NFC West teams
The NFL prefers to have the final week of the regular season filled with divisional matchups because it increases the odds of getting at least one winner-take-all game for Sunday Night Football.
Don’t be surprised if the Arizona Cardinals’ home matchup against the 49ers or the Los Angeles Rams hosting the Seattle Seahawks gets slotted for prime time on the final day of the regular season. The NFC West is wide open and there’s a strong chance this comes down to Week 18.
The Cardinals beat the Miami Dolphins, the Rams had an upset against the Minnesota Vikings and 49ers handled the Cowboys to give the three NFC West teams impressive victories in Week 8. The Seahawks weren’t as fortunate vs. the Bills, leading to a three-way tie atop the division with Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona all having 4–4 records.
The Rams (3–4) only sit half a game behind the pack, one week after many expected Los Angeles to be sellers for the Nov. 5 trade deadline because of how quickly the Cooper Kupp trade rumors picked up. Coach Sean McVay called out the reports that said the team is shopping Kupp and referred to them as not true. The Rams merely listened to offers, but McVay expects Kupp to remain in Los Angeles for a NFC West race that is only getting started.
Bills’ AFC East title streak
Might as well give the Bills (6–2) their fifth consecutive AFC East title now. They’re four games ahead in the win column over the trio of two-win teams in the division, including the Jets, Patriots and Dolphins.
It would require a total meltdown for the Bills to lose first place in the AFC East. They were an unstoppable force in the blowout win against the Seahawks last week and can now create more separation in the standings by beating the Dolphins this week. Miami dropped to 2–5 after losing Tua Tagovailoa’s return game against the Cardinals—a record that’s good enough for second in the AFC East.
But the Bills are playing for more than just the AFC East crown. That’s why they went out and acquired wide receiver Amari Cooper, whose presence quickly got the Bills’ passing game to improve. Josh Allen is back to playing like an MVP candidate and rookie wide receiver Keon Coleman has found his footing after logging at least 70 receiving yards the past two games.
The Bills will likely continue racking up wins playing in a poor division, but we’ll soon learn more about them as contenders when they face the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions down the stretch.
Losers
Bears’ Matt Eberflus, Tyrique Stevenson
It’s tough deciding who had the biggest blunder between Bears coach Matt Eberflus and cornerback Tyrique Stevenson during the Hail Mary loss against the Commanders.
Stevenson should be the clear winner because he made one of the dumbest decisions the NFL has seen in recent memory after trash talking with Commanders fans instead of boxing out Brown, who was wide open on the tipped pass that won the game for Washington. But then Eberflus made some head-scratching comments that made many question whether he’s fit to make late-game decisions.
Eberflus told reporters that it “doesn’t really matter” when asked about his team playing prevent defense to allow the Commanders to gain an extra 13 yards on the play before the Hail Mary. Either Eberflus doesn’t want to take accountability for the poor coaching decision or he truly believes the extra 13 yards didn’t help the Commanders pull off the improbable walk-off victory.
It will also be a bad look for Eberflus if he doesn’t bench Stevenson for Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. These were two egregious mistakes by the coach and cornerback and someone needs to be held accountable.
Colts QB Anthony Richardson
Richardson taking a breather in the middle of a drive rounds out the top three biggest mistakes of Week 8, but his poor decision might have a longer impact than anything the Bears did in the final seconds against the Commanders.
Initially, it appeared Richardson pulled himself out of the game because he sustained an injury while scrambling away from defenders during the Colts’ loss against the Texans. Richardson revealed after the game that he tapped his helmet because he was tired and needed a break. It’s tough to knock the second-year quarterback for telling the truth, but he would have been better off dancing around the question and just offering fluff responses.
Teammates might now question Richardson’s toughness and willingness to do everything he can to win games. Maybe it’s unfair that it’s frowned upon for quarterbacks to get one play off to catch their breath. But Richardson didn’t even allow Colts coach Shane Steichen to provide help for him by calling a few run plays to allow him to recover.
The decision was so bad that Steichen might now consider benching Richardson for Joe Flacco. I’m sure completing 44.4% of his passes didn’t help Richardson’s case, but Steichen could always preach patience for a player with otherworldly physical traits. It’s harder to do that when Richardson is taking himself out of games because he’s tired.
Perhaps this will remind Richardson that less is more because he’s struggling to play in a composed manner. He often tries to do too much and that leads to killer mistakes.
Ravens’ contender status
The Lamar Jackson doubters were out in full force after the Baltimore Ravens’ upset loss against the struggling Cleveland Browns.
Just when I thought the Ravens were the real deal to dethrone the Kansas City Chiefs, they go and deliver a dud to remind the football public of Jackson’s past failures in the postseason. Jackson has set a high standard for himself as a two-time MVP, but many have doubts about him delivering when it truly matters.
Maybe we can chalk this one up to a divisional rival getting the best of a familiar opponent. And it sort of helps that the Ravens had their five-game winning streak snapped against Jameis Winston and not Deshaun Watson. Brown coach Kevin Stefanski seems to have productive offenses with every other quarterback besides Watson, who sustained a season-ending injury in Week 7.
But the next time the Ravens rip off another five consecutive wins in the regular season, it’s going to be hard to brag about them as a real contender in the AFC. They’re not quite the Dallas Cowboys when it comes to yawning at their regular-season success. But these Ravens better be different in January or they will reach that point next season.
Cowboys CB Trevon Diggs
Welp, you know it’s bad when the Cowboys aren’t even having regular-season success. They tend to have meltdowns in January, but this year it happened in October thanks to Diggs’s outburst aimed at a reporter.
Diggs probably shouldn’t have checked social media immediately after another poor defensive effort in the Cowboys’ loss against the 49ers. I get being annoyed at reporters who think they know everything that’s going on the field. Unless you know the play call and everyone’s assignments on the field, you really don’t know the whole story and it's best not to criticize without at least asking the player about it. That’s something I learned a long time ago about covering the NFL. It’s better to ask what happened on the broken play and allow the player to explain himself instead of coming off as a know-it-all reporter on social media.
But there’s no excuse for Diggs to come out of the locker room before the cool down period—that’s why it’s called a “cool down” to avoid these situations between players and reporters. And Diggs definitely could have chosen his words better if he truly couldn’t contain himself from calling out the reporter. This situation was poorly handled all around.
Saints’ future
Alvin Kamara was a winner last week because the Saints agreed to give him more money. The two-year, $24.5 contract extension was a big get for the 29-year-old running back, but a bad move for the Saints’ future.
Once again, the Saints (2–6) don’t appear interested in a rebuild and continue to retain veteran players with a tight salary cap. They have had the same approach since Drew Brees retired in 2020 and haven’t made the postseason in that span. They likely won’t make it again this season after dropping six consecutive games.
A healthy Derek Carr probably won’t save the lost season in New Orleans and the team should really consider moving on from the veteran quarterback because not much has changed since he arrived in 2023. But at least there’s the option of making Carr a bridge quarterback for an incoming first-round rookie quarterback. It would be a monumental disaster if the team doesn’t use the high draft pick that will likely come from this poor season on a quarterback for the future.
New Orleans blew an opportunity to gain a valuable Day 2 pick after not placing Kamara on the trade market. The Saints have a handful of veterans that could gain draft picks from contenders. If the Saints don’t trade a few veterans before the Nov. 5 deadline, New Orleans fans should be very concerned about the future of the team.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Week 8 Winners and Losers: Cowboys, Bears Can't Get Out of Their Own Way.
