After Week 7 it felt like we knew who the good teams were this season. This weekend took a hammer to those assumptions and left everything in flux. The Bengals somehow lost to Mike White and the Jets, Trevor Siemian led the Saints to a win over the Bucs, and a struggling Eagles offense put up a league-high 44 points. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly from Week 8 of the 2021 season.
The Good
Mike White and the Jets – The Jets ran out 34-31 winners over the heavily favoured Bengals for their second win of the season. I don’t think anyone saw that result coming, especially with Mike White starting at quarterback. In reality, White carried this offense to the win in his first career start. He finished the game 37 of 45 for 405 yards, with three touchdowns and two picks, both of which came from tipped passes. In doing so he became just the second player in NFL history to throw for 400+ yards in his first start. He was also the first Jets quarterback to hit that mark in over 20 years.
Matt LaFleur’s playcalling – Thursday Night Football might already seem like a distant memory, but the Packers deserve plenty of praise. They overcame the odds and gave the Cardinals their first defeat of the season, despite missing a number of key starters. Their ability to overcome the talent deficit on offense was impressive and Matt LaFleur deserves plenty of credit. His play calling throughout was sublime. They put up 151 rushing yards on a defense that ranked fourth in EPA per rush. In the passing game he schemed a tonne of open throws for an offense with Juwann Winfree and Randall Cobb as their leading receivers. He deserves to be considered as a leading Coach of the Year candidate.
Cooper Kupp stays on track – Kupp had another dominant performance this weekend against Houston. He finished the game with seven catches for 115 yards and a touchdown, marking his fifth 100+ yard game of the season so far. That takes his tally for the season to 924 yards and ten touchdowns, by far the best in the NFL. That isn’t all though. Kupp is setting a record pace and is currently on course to finish the season with 1,964 receiving yards. That would tie Calvin Johnson’s NFL record.
The Bad
The Detroit Lions – Well that was disappointing. The Lions hadn’t exactly lit the NFL on fire heading into this one, but there were plenty of reasons for thinking their winless run could come to an end against the Eagles. They had shown plenty of fight and kept games close against good opposition. You would have been forgiven for thinking that a game against a struggling Eagles team would be exactly what they need. It ended up being their worst game of the season. They never looked remotely competitive and were outscored 44-6. They had a paltry 228 total yards of offense at an average of just 3.9 yards per play.
Tom Brady’s turnovers – The New Orleans Saints appear to be Tom Brady’s kryptonite. In his last three games against them he has eight turnovers. By contrast, he has just 12 in his 22 other games since his move to Tampa Bay. He had three turnovers in this one and they ultimately cost the Bucs the game. This includes a pick-six to seal the win for New Orleans in the dying seconds. Whilst the Bucs remain a leading contender in the NFC, their inability to overcome an offense helmed by Trevor Siemian will be cause for some concern.
Jacksonville’s offense – If the Jags’ last second winner over the Dolphins in London had given them any hope, that died this weekend. Once again they looked just like the team that had a 20-game losing streak. Nothing is clicking on offense and Trevor Lawrence continues to struggle at quarterback. He isn’t helped by a lacklustre defense either that allowed 31 points to a Geno Smith-led Seahawks team. The Urban Meyer experiment has been an unmitigated disaster both on and off the field. If things continue as they are he can’t last much longer.
The Ugly
Frank Reich’s screen pass call – Last week we saw Carson Wentz turn the ball over in bizarre fashion against the 49ers. We had the same thing happen this weekend too and this time it cost the Colts the game. With the game tied at 24-24 and just over a minute on the clock, Reich called a tight end screen from his own eight yard line. It never came close to working and Carson Wentz’s insistence on holding onto the ball saw it end up in the hands of the Titans’ Elijah Molden, who returned it for a touchdown. The Colts went on to lose the game in which they had once held a two-score lead.
Officiating mistakes – This was a rough weekend from the officials. Once again we saw a number of roughing the passer calls in incredibly questionable situations. We also continue to see pass interference calls on underthrown passes – this is becoming something of a speciality for Carson Wentz and the Colts. The most egregious error of the week came in the Jets-Bengals game, with Mike Hilton being penalised for lowering his helmet on a tackle. That call effectively sealed the win for the Jets.
Week 8 MVP
Deebo Samuel, San Francisco 49ers – Samuel had his best game of the season so far. The 49ers’ offense ran through him as he finished with 171 yards on his six receptions. One of these was a screen pass that he took for 83 yards on a 3rd and 19. The 49ers would not have won this one without him.
Rookie of the week
Elijah Mitchell, San Francisco 49ers – The rookie of the week also comes from the 49ers. Mitchell has looked like a steal for a sixth round pick and this weekend saw his third 100+ yard game of the season. He racked up 137 yards and a touchdown at an average of 7.6 yards per attempt.
Stat of the week
43 – Sean McVay is now 43-0 in games where his team were leading at halftime. He is just six games away from tying the NFL record, held by the 1926-33 Green Bay Packers.
