Best And Worst Of NFL Week Eight

Week eight of the NFL season is now in the books. Things have looked a lot different then they did just a week before. Some big name players had their seasons come to an end, guys like Le'Veon Bell, Steve Smith Sr, Khiry Robinson, Ricardo Lockette, Matt Forte, Cameron Wake, and Reggie Bush all went down for the year with injuries. This week wasn't exactly kind to the Falcons, as they were upset by the Bucs. Bill Belichick introduced Dan Campbell to the real NFL, thanks to New England smacking around the Miami Dolphins. New England, Denver (upsetting the Packers), Cincinnati in tihe AFC and Carolina in the NFC are the lone unbeaten teams left in the league. Drew Brees and Derek Carr both had field days, while the Jets and Raiders both laid eggs this week. There was a shootout in New Orleans and an OT thriller on Monday night. A lot went down in week eight, and here's some of the best and worst from the week that was in the National Football League.

Best:
Drew Brees, Quarterback New Orleans Saints
You want to talk about a guy going off and having a record setting day, look no further then what Brees did against the Giants. In a wild shootout of a game, which saw the Saints walk away with a 52-49 victory, both starting QB's had a day. Eli Manning threw for 350 yards and six TD's. But Drew was that much better. Brees finished the day throwing 39 of 50 for 505 yards and SEVEN TOUCHDOWNS (yes he did throw two picks but that's overlooked by most) Seven touchdowns is an unreal freaking number for any QB. The fact that some people thought that Drew was washed up at the start of the season now seem like they have a little bit of egg on their face after this performance. Brees was felling it on Sunday.

Worst:
Aaron Rogers, Quarterback Green Bay Packers
Don't get me wrong this guy is still one of the elite QB's in the entire National Football League. Having said that, at least in week eight, he sure as hell didn't look like it. When the Pack took on Denver in the Sunday night matchup, Denver walked away with a 29-10 victory. Denver has the top overall and top pass defense in the entire league, and you saw that against the Packers. Riodgers had a tough go of it against that Denver defense. Rogers finished the day going 14 for 22 for 77 yards passing and was sacked three times. He was beaten down by the defense all night long. Like I said, he's still a top flight QB in the entire league, but he got run over by a top level defense on Sunday by the Broncos. 77 yards passing is a bad night, especially if your name is Aaron Rogers.

Best:
Oakland Raiders Offense
I guess I was wrong, the Raiders aren't a pushover as much as we thought they would be. They handled the Jets quite easily 34-20. New York couldn't make a tackle to save their lives. David Carr looked good, going 23 of 36 for 333 yards and four touchdowns. New York's pass defense had been fifth in the entire NFL coming into the week, and Oakland lit them up like a cheap cigar. Latavius Murray ran for 133 yards, Michael Crabtree had 102 yards receiving, Taiwan Jones had a 59 yard TD catch where he broke three tackles, and Andre Holmes had a pair of touchdown receptions. Yeah it was that bad a day for the Jets defense and that great a day for the Oakland offense.

Worst:
New York Jets Quarterbacks
Neither QB in New York green and white had anything going in the game Sunday. Yes I know Fitzpatrick got hurt, injuring his thumb. There's no time table for how long he's going to be out. He went 4 of 5 for 46 yards before he got hurt. Then in comes Geno Smith for his first snaps of the season and well, nothing has changed with Geno. He is still making the same mistakes he was making three years ago as a rookie. There was little hope of a comeback, but Geno made sure the hope was down to zero by taking a sack and not running out of bounds on key plays with little time remaining. And now to add salt to the wounds, it looks like Geno got hurt too, a chest and shoulder injury. If Bryce Petty is the Starting QB next week against Jacksonville, the Jets have a problem

Best:
Todd Gurley, Running Back St. Louis Rams
I think I smell our offensive rookie of the year here in Gurley. He went off again on Sunday in the Rams 27-6 win over San Francisco. Gurley had 20 carries for 133 yards and a touchdown. He's had over 100 yards rushing in each of his last four games (146, 159, 128 and 133) now giving him 575 yards for the season with three scores. Its safe to say that the Rams may have themselves a major offensive weapon to work with. Gurley has been the top rusher in the NFL the last two weeks.

Worst:
Mike Wallace, Wide Receiver Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota came away with a big 23-20 win over the Bears on Sunday. Its a little sad that its a big win considering its the Bears, but still a win is a win no matter how you look at it. One guy who was invisible for the Vikings was wide out Mike Wallace. Here's a guy who had been a big time impact player in Pittsburgh a few years ago. This year, he has yet to break a 100 yard game. The closest he came to it was 89 yards on 8 catches against Denver in week four. This week, playing an average Bears defense, Wallace came up totally empty. No catches for no yards. He was targeted four times and dropped a pair of passes. Teddy Bridgewater did an alright job of spreading the ball around, but how Minnesota managed to beat Chicago without a contribution from Mike Wallace is a bit surprising.

Best:
Benjamin Watson, Wide Receiver New Orleans Saints
Being a favorite target of Drew Brees on a record setting day does have a few benefits. Both Benjamin Watson and Marcus Colston had over 100 yard receiving days on the day but Watson had a day to remember. He finished the day with nine catches for 147 yards and a touchdown. Those 147 yards were the 3rd most receiving yards in week eight (behind 162 yards from Julio Jones and 168 yards from Demaryius Thomas). This was also the 2nd time all season that Watson has racked up over 100 yards in a game (he pulled in 127 yards against Atlanta in week six). This could be a possible turning point for him this season, but we shall see.

Worst:
Dallas Cowboys
You can't catch a break right now if your the boys. Without Tony Romo, Dallas has really flopped. All they could muster against Seattle is a one field goal in each of the four quarters against Seattle on Sunday. It was tough to take the 13-12 loss to the Seahawks. Now your really starting to see the impact of not having Romo under center. Having Matt Cassel start and go 13 of 25 for 97 yards passing isn't going to cut it. Even with Dez Bryant back in the fold, its not helping at the moment. The Cowboys offense has been horrible since week two when Romo got hurt, and there's reports coming in that he won't be ready to go again until week eleven. That can't come fast enough for the Boys.

Best:
Denver Broncos
This one was a bit of a surprise, just a bit. I mean come on Green Bay has been dominating teams most of the year. Now they ran into a buzzsaw known as the Denver Broncos #1 defense. Denver's defense has kept them unbeaten all year. Finally the offense stepped up and joined the defense. Peyton Manning and company finally helped this defense out as they rolled right over Green Bay. Manning was the superior QB in this one somehow, outslinging Aaron Rodgers by 262 yards! Sure Peyton did get picked off once and went without a touchdown, but he still threw 21 for 29 for 340 yards. Anderson and Hillman took a load off Peyton's throwing, which was a big help. Denver's offense finally caught up, at least for this week, to what its defense has been doing.

Worst:
Dan Quinn, Head Coach Atlanta Falcons
When he first took over the new team, Atlanta looked like it might have turned the corner. Now, after the last two weeks, it looks like it might be the same old Falcons. Yes I'll admit it that Atlanta looked fantastic over the first five games. Then they came back to reality. They haven't won a game yet in their division and news flash they still have two games against the Panthers who are the class of that division. Dan Quinn has lost his grip a little on this Atlanta team, which is still a top ten team in both offense and defense.Quinn better get the ship righted in Atlanta otherwise he could be looking for a new job. You never know in this league.