Between last second field goals, back-ups getting an opportunity and players returning to the field after injury layoffs, Week 8 offered plenty of storylines to analyze.
Thursday Night Football had a fourth-quarter refereeing controversy, Sunday saw multiple games come down to the wire and there was even late drama in the Monday night game too.
Here are the main takeaways from the past week in the National Football League.
Is Detroit the Super Bowl favorite?
The transformation of the Detroit Lions under head coach Dan Campbell has been remarkable. From being one of the historically bad teams in the NFL, the Lions are now serious playoff contenders.
And the latest example of that growth came on Sunday when Detroit rolled over the Tennessee Titans 52-14.
We’ve become used to the Lions offense being a juggernaut and the team’s defense has improved year-on-year, but Sunday’s victory also showcased another facet of Detroit’s excellence: special teams.
Detroit got three huge kick returns against the Titans, with a Khalil Dorsey 72-yard kickoff return and a Kalif Raymond punt return for 64 yards – both in the second quarter – setting up short touchdown drives.
Then, shortly after halftime, Raymond went one better as he took a punt 90 yards to the house to make the score 42-14 and effectively seal the result.
The Lions had 262 return yards on six attempts, with Raymond racking up 190 of those, meaning that, on a day in which quarterback Jared Goff had to throw for only 15 times for 86 yards, the team was able to score in other ways.
Goff did have three touchdown passes in his 12 completions, while the dynamic running back duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery – given the nickname “Sonic and Knuckles” after the video game characters – added 160 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, with Gibbs rushing for 127 yards on 11 carries.
Campbell spoke on Monday about how the Week 8 victory was one of the stranger games that he’s been involved in.
“I have not, that I can think of, ever been a part of a game quite like that, at least not on the winning side,” Campbell told reporters. “Yeah, that was unbelievable. Now, we’ll take it.
“I mean, to get those kinds of returns that we got, you would love to have that type of production out of your special teams every week, but that’s not the reality. So when you get that much more above and beyond, man, it takes a huge strain off the rest of the team.”
All in all, Sunday’s victory highlighted Detroit’s well-rounded team, even without star pass-rusher Aiden Hutchinson who is likely out for the season with a broken tibia.
Their physical style of play – with their dominant offensive line and strong running game – seems to leave a mark on their opponents too. All seven teams they have played, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who defeated Detroit, have gone onto lose their next game, often in emphatic fashion.
And now with a 6-1 record atop a very competitive NFC North, the Lions have marked themselves as the ‘team to beat’ in the conference.
In Week 9, Detroit faces its division rivals, the Green Bay Packers, who sit at 6-2 but could be without starting quarterback Jordan Love through injury.
Can the Rams make a late season surge?
Injuries can often define a team’s season in the NFL and no team has found that the case more than the Los Angeles Rams.
The team lost its two star receivers, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, early in the season and its offensive line has been decimated with injuries too, with three starting linemen – Jonah Jackson, Joe Noteboom and Steve Avila – all placed on injured reserve after early season ailments.
Without those key players, the Rams’ results suffered as they fell into a 1-4 hole before their Week 7 bye.
Such was their position, trade rumors began to appear around Kupp as to whether he might be traded away as LA looked to the future; both the receiver and head coach Sean McVay continuously downplayed those rumors.
The Rams managed to beat the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7 and, on Thursday Night Football against the Minnesota Vikings to open Week 8’s action, the calvary arrived.
Both Kupp and Nacua returned to the lineup from their weeks-long injury layoffs and both provided a different element for quarterback Matthew Stafford.
The Rams’ whole offensive scheme was built around Stafford’s connection with his top two receivers and the emergence of third-year running back Kyren Williams.
While the duo was on a restricted snap count as the pair came back from their time on the sideline, it didn’t seem to hamper them, with second-year man Nacua going for 106 yards on seven catches and 2021 NFL Offensive Player of the Year Kupp having 51 yards and a touchdown on five catches.
And with the team returning to full health, could LA be about to go on a run to catapult itself back into playoff contention?
The team faces three sub-.500 teams in the next three weeks, offering the opportunity to build on a two-game winning streak and reassert itself near the top of the NFC.
On Monday, McVay spoke about staying level-headed and not getting too ahead of themselves, even with some key players returning.
“Everybody (in the NFL) is kind of in a very similar spot as of right now and there still is so much football left to be played,” he told reporters. “We’ve got to do a good job of continuing to build off some of the momentum that our players have earned, but it is a week-to-week league.
“You sit there and you watch yesterday and there are always things that you’re saying: ‘Man, I can’t believe that.’ You should believe it because that’s what people love about the NFL.
“We have to improve. You hope that we’re able to stay healthy and continue to build on some of the things that we’ve seen as a positive for this team, but at the same time you have to understand that the work works. You have to be able to earn it.”
Is Philly back?
The 2024 season hasn’t been plain sailing for the Philadelphia Eagles, but it looks like they might be returning to somewhat of a facsimile of their previous successful versions.
Coming off a disappointing playoff exit last season and falling to 2-2 through Week 4, the pressure was mounting on head coach Nick Sirianni.
However, the team has since gone on a three-game win streak, with their most recent victory the most impressive to date.
The Eagles put in a complete performance in Week 8 to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 37-17 on the road, thanks in large part to the continued improvement of quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Hurts, who had his growing pains throughout the start of the season, threw 16-of-20 on Sunday, passing for 236 yards, including one long, beautifully weighted touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith.
He also ran the ball successfully, finishing with three touchdown runs, benefitting from Philadelphia’s now famous “Tush Push.”
The Eagles’ defense has also rounded into a force under coordinator Vic Fangio. The group forced three fumbles and nabbed one interception against the Bengals, as well as forcing a key turnover on downs late in the third quarter thanks to a tackle by rookie Cooper DeJean on WR Ja’Marr Chase.
Between the improvement in synergy on offense and the return to health of some of their key contributors – most notably, Smith and fellow receiver AJ Brown – it’s all looking much rosier for Sirianni.
“It was exciting. It’s hard to win in this league. Doesn’t matter if you win by what we won by today; you win by one, win by two, you’re going to be excited. We put everything we have into this every single week,” Sirianni said after the win against the Bengals.
“It really takes truly mentally tough people to be involved in this game where you pour every ounce of what you have into each week, and then you win or you lose, and you do it again.”
The Eagles now sit at 5-2 and have winnable games against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Dallas Cowboys coming up which could reassert themselves at the top of the NFC once again.
Full Week 8 scores
Away @ home (winners in bold)
Thursday
Minnesota Vikings 20-30 Los Angeles Rams
Sunday
Baltimore Ravens 24-29 Cleveland Browns
Tennessee Titans 14-52 Detroit Lions
Indianapolis Colts 20-23 Houston Texans
Green Bay Packers 30-27 Jacksonville Jaguars
Arizona Cardinals 28-27 Miami Dolphins
New York Jets 22-25 New England Patriots
Atlanta Falcons 31-26 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Philadelphia Eagles 37-17 Cincinnati Bengals
New Orleans Saints 8-26 Los Angeles Chargers
Buffalo Bills 31-10 Seattle Seahawks
Chicago Bears 15-18 Washington Commanders
Carolina Panthers 14-28 Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs 27-20 Las Vegas Raiders
Dallas Cowboys 24-30 San Francisco 49ers
Monday
New York Giants 18-26 Pittsburgh Steelers