NFL Game Recaps: Week 8, 2026

NFL Game Recaps of previous weeks and seasons can be found via links at the bottom of the page.

Packers 27, Panthers 19
The Packers were favored by more than a field goal entering this game, but it looked like they'd give a potential victory away because of special teams blunders. They fumbled the opening kickoff return to set up a field goal for the Panthers. Then, on a drive in which they converted numerous third downs, including one via penalty, they scored a touchdown on a Jordan Love pass to Tucker Kraft but missed the extra point to make it a 6-3 game.

A bit later, Christian Watson caught a pass over midfield but lost a fumble. The errors were plentiful for the Packers, but they didn't end up mattering because the Panthers inexplicably stopped running the ball with Chuba Hubbard in the second quarter. The Carolina running back was having success, and yet the Panthers went away from him for no good reason.

As a result, the Packers were able to score some more, entering halftime up 20-10. One of their touchdown drives featured a 53-yard reception by Watson, but he left the game to go to the hospital with a chest injury. The Packers were way up, but there was concern that Watson could be out for a while. Fortunately for the Packers and Watson, he was able not only to return to the stadium but also to play some more in the second half.

There was some drama late in this game when Love threw an interception in field goal range after staring down his receiver. The Panthers then drove down the field to score a touchdown and draw to within eight. However, Carolina put forth a pitiful offensive drive and failed on fourth down to ruin its chances of making a comeback.

Lions 19, Vikings 15
The Lions were able to move the ball well between the 20s for most of this game, but scored just 19 points because of errors in Minnesota territory. Early in the contest, Jared Goff appeared to throw a touchdown to Amon-Ra St. Brown, but the play was overturned by replay review when it was shown that St. Brown bobbled the ball upon hitting the ground. The Lions stalled in the red zone and kicked a field goal. Adding injury to insult, St. Brown was banged up and looked like he would miss some action. Detroit later whiffed on a 46-yard field goal, but eventually got going with a Jahmyr Gibbs 30-yard run to put the Lions up 12-7.

Later in the game, Jack Campbell suffered a serious injury that paused the game for nearly 10 minutes. Minnesota had one of its best drives of the afternoon as Campbell exited the game when it got down to the Detroit 25-yard line, but the Vikings eschewed a field goal on fourth-and-5, down 12-7 with 14 minutes remaining.

The Lions couldn't do anything on the ensuing drive, and then the Vikings took over and scored a touchdown, finally taking the lead, 15-12. However, Detroit responded with a huge Jahmyr Gibbs play, leading to a drive that culminated with a Goff touchdown pass to Jameson Williams to put Detroit up 19-15.

The Lions forced the Vikings into a punt, and Minnesota never saw the ball again.

Raiders 38, Jets 33
The Jets nearly beat the Dolphins last week, but constantly stalled in the red zone despite looking great between the 20s. They had a better chance to score touchdowns in this game because the Raiders are in the bottom five in red-zone defense. However, this didn't make a difference early in the game, when the Jets stalled in the red zone twice and had to settle for field goals.

The Jets finally broke through for a touchdown to go up 13-7. That lead didn't last very long, however, as Dylan Laube returned a kickoff for a touchdown to put the Raiders up by one.

The Jets responded with a great drive in which Geno Smith hit Adonai Mitchell for a touchdown. They entered intermission with a 23-14 lead and looked very comfortable, especially with Braelon Allen already over the century mark in rushing yards.

It seemed as though the Jets would be able to control the ball with Allen and milk the clock, but they decided not to run the ball at all. They technically ran four times with their running backs in the second half, and even though Allen broke free for a long touchdown on one of those carries, the Jets simply refused to run the ball.

Instead, the coaching staff had Smith throw Hail Marys downfield. Granted, those passes were completed in the first half, but Smith struggled in the second half and had trouble moving the ball for the most part following intermission, except for the one instance in which the Jets ran the ball and Allen was able to burst into the end zone.

The Raiders, meanwhile, couldn't be stopped. The Jets had no answer for anything Las Vegas was doing aerially, as Kirk Cousins had a huge second half. They eventually took a five-point lead, but the Jets could do nothing in the final seconds, as Smith's final Hail Mary was intercepted.

Cardinals 33, Cowboys 30
This was a high-scoring thriller, but both teams had issues offensively early in the game. Dallas failed on a fourth-and-1 on its opening drive when Javonte Williams was stuffed. On the Cardinals' ensuing possession, Jeremiyah Love was stuffed at the goal line. A bit later, Jacoby Brissett threw an interception that bounced off Elijah Higgins' hands, allowing the Cowboys to take over at the Arizona 5-yard line. It looked like the Cowboys would score an easy touchdown, but Javonte Williams fumbled into the end zone. Fortunately for Dallas, one of Williams' teammates pounced on the ball to establish a 7-0 lead.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, couldn't really get anything going offensively in the first half, scoring just a field goal. Adding injury to insult, Love limped off the field and was never seen again.

However, all hope wasn't lost with Love gone. Tyler Allgeier had a monstrous game, and it started when he ran for a 63-yard touchdown to trim Dallas' lead to 17-10. The Cowboys responded with a touchdown, and it looked like Arizona would be able to score easily, but Isaac Seumalo false-started twice in a three-play span while the Cardinals were down 24-10. However, Allgeier bailed out Seumalo with a terrific play to score a touchdown.

The Cowboys added a field goal, but the Cardinals were able to respond with a Gardner Minshew touchdown drive, even though a Minshew heave to Michael Wilson was overturned. Minshew, playing for the benched Brissett, was also excellent under pressure in the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals sliced Dallas' lead to 27-24, but the Cowboys had the ball at Arizona's 20 following an onside kick return. Curiously, Dallas attempted a pass, and Dak Prescott was sacked. The Cowboys salvaged a field goal, but Minshew had 1:15 remaining on the clock.

Arizona didn't have a timeout, but Minshew was able to shred Dallas' poor defense and score a touchdown on a throw to Wilson to tie the game. All the Cardinals needed to win was an extra point, but Chad Ryland missed.

The game went to overtime, and both teams punted. However, the Cardinals were able to engineer a scoring drive on their second possession, with Wilson catching a 17-yard pass and Allgeier pummeling through Dallas' defense for an 11-yard gain. This helped set up Ryland, who made amends for his missed extra point with a 42-yard field goal.

Buccaneers 16, Falcons 0
The Buccaneers accomplished something in this game that hasn't been done since the 1970s: winning a football game with zero completions. This contest was played in a muddy, torrential downpour in which passing was impossible. Baker Mayfield was 0-of-3, while Michael Penix Jr. completed eight of his 24 passes for 125 yards. But if you exclude the 76-yard completion on a weird pass to Jahan Dotson, you can see that Penix did nothing.

Penix had issues gripping the ball, which slipped out of his hands on numerous occasions. This game was all about the running game, and that benefited the Buccaneers because Vita Vea anchors the NFL's third-ranked rush defense. Bijan Robinson had a couple of nice runs but didn't do much otherwise.

Conversely, Bucky Irving and Kenneth Gainwell combined for 310 rushing yards. Irving had the better of the two games, and it could have been even better, but he lost a fumble at the goal line when Jessie Bates forced the ball loose.

However, it didn't matter because the Falcons had to throw more often, and Penix just couldn't do it well. He fired four interceptions, two of which went to Alex Anzalone when Penix failed to see the linebacker. Penix was also picked off in the red zone, ruining Atlanta's chances of mounting a comeback.

Bills 36, Ravens 10
By Charlie Campbell - @draftcampbell

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Ravens entered this game thinking they had a chance with Lamar Jackson returning from injury. They exited this game knowing that they'll have to move forward with an Italian dish at quarterback.

Buffalo improved to 6-1, cruising over the short-handed Ravens. The Bills defense overwhelmed the Ravens' offensive line, and Baltimore's defense was incapable of stopping Josh Allen. The Ravens welcomed the return of franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson, but it only lasted for one play. On the Ravens' opening play on offense, Jackson's hand got hit as he was throwing, and he went into the locker room with an injured right thumb. Baltimore falls to 4-4, and they're in a hole in last place in the competitive AFC North.

The Bills took the opening drive down the field with Allen using Dalton Kincaid and Khalil Shakir to move the chains. On fourth-and-goal, Allen dove over the top of the scrum for a touchdown and a quick 7-0 lead. Buffalo added a long field goal to go up 10-0. Baltimore caught a break with an interception off the hands of a tight end to set up the Ravens at the Bills' 17. That set up a short touchdown for Derrick Henry. Early in the second quarter, Cole Bishop got a strip-sack of Tyler Huntley, and Buffalo turned it into a field goal for a 13-7 lead. Huntley was injured, and third-stringer Joe Fagnano came into the game after a long Ravens kickoff. After a nice completion, Baltimore missed the field goal. Late in the first half, Buffalo was driving, but D.J. Moore fumbled the ball away. A tipped pass interception gave the Bills the ball back in Ravens territory, and Tyler Bass hit a short field goal to make it 16-7 at the half.

Early in the third quarter, a terrible holding call on Ronnie Stanley canceled out a Henry touchdown run, and that turned into a four-point flag with the Ravens settling for a field goal. Allen connected with Moore for a deep ball downfield for a 49-yarder to set up a short rushing touchdown from James Cook. The Bills took a 23-10 lead into the fourth quarter.

Allen ripped the ball down the field before connecting with Moore for a touchdown. On that scoring strike, Allen passed Jim Kelly to become the Bills' all-time leader in touchdown passes. At 29-10, Buffalo's defense was teeing off on Fagnano, and the Bills offense poured it on with a touchdown pass to Dalton Kincaid in garbage time.

Jaguars 42, Colts 7
Just because a team trades key players doesn't mean that the rest of the individuals on the roster will give up. We saw that in the Tennessee-Cincinnati game, where the Titans gave it their all against the Bengals despite trading Jeffery Simmons.

The Colts, conversely, did not try. It was apparent early when they showed little effort in tackling on Jacksonville's opening drive, and that was even more obvious on Bhayshul Tuten's long touchdown run just prior to halftime. Tuten ran for 39 yards to score, breaking four effortless tackles by the Colts.

It didn't help that the Colts screwed up a trick play in Jacksonville territory, where Jonathan Taylor was charged with a lost fumble while trying to get the ball back to Daniel Jones. This was a 7-0 game at the time, and the turnover allowed the Jaguars to score quickly.

With such incompetence on both sides of the ball, the Colts were quickly vanquished by Jacksonville.

Bengals 43, Titans 36
The Titans went up 14-0 last week on a Tony Pollard touchdown run, and they went up 10-0 in this game on another Pollard touchdown run.

Meanwhile, Joe Burrow was having issues finding energy in the first half. He threw some lazy passes throughout the afternoon and was intercepted on three occasions. His first pick was thrown into double coverage, and it allowed the Titans to kick a field goal.

However, Tennessee wasn't mistake-free either, as Wan'Dale Robinson lost a fumble in Cincinnati territory. The Bengals were set up with a scoring opportunity, but Burrow took a sack on fourth down in the red zone.

In the third quarter, Burrow heaved his second interception as he was hit while throwing. The Titans, meanwhile, once again gave away a possession, with Cam Ward losing a fumble on a strip-sack. The Bengals responded with a touchdown to go up 21-13.

The Titans easily could have folded like they did against Cleveland the prior week, but they responded with a touchdown. Burrow then threw his third interception when he launched the ball up for grabs.

These teams exchanged touchdowns throughout the rest of the second half, with the Titans going up seven points on a Ward touchdown pass to Wan'Dale Robinson. The two-point conversion was good to Gunnar Helm, giving Tennessee a seven-point lead.

The Bengals had less than four minutes to respond, but Burrow did so easily. He shook off his previous turnovers and engineered an 81-yard touchdown drive, constantly connecting with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. The latter caught the touchdown pass to tie the game at 36.

The Titans still had time in regulation, but Ward took a bad sack to force overtime. The Bengals won the coin toss and went down the field with a 70-yard touchdown drive, as Burrow scrambled into the end zone.

The Titans had a chance to answer, but Ward faltered. He took a bad loss and then threw an incompletion on fourth down to give the Bengals a seven-point victory in an overtime thriller.

Steelers 27, Browns 6
Things didn't go well for the Browns to start the game. Deshaun Watson got hurt right away, and then Harold Fannin fumbled on a third-down play that wouldn't have gone for a first down anyway.

Watson, however, was able to return to the field, but on the next drive, he lost a fumble on a strip-sack. This set up a touchdown run by Rico Dowdle to put Pittsburgh ahead. The Steelers would never look back.

Pittsburgh dominated this game with some great runs from Dowdle and Jaylen Warren. Aaron Rodgers, meanwhile, barely completed half of his passes but was able to have some big connections with his tight ends, which was also the case against the Browns in the previous Thursday night meeting.

Pittsburgh's defense smothered Watson, who produced substantial plays only in garbage time.

Rams 24, Chargers 9
The Rams have not responded well off victories this year, and it looked like this would be yet another underwhelming performance when Matthew Stafford was intercepted on his first drive on a telegraphed pass. The Chargers, however, gave back possession when Justin Herbert was intercepted after Quentin Lake undercut the route.

The Rams couldn't really get anything going in the first 28 minutes of the game, with the Chargers holding a 9-3 lead. The Rams didn't achieve a single first down on their initial five drives. However, the Chargers didn't take advantage of the opportunity, settling only for field goals.

Stafford finally woke up at the two-minute warning and engineered a touchdown drive to take a 10-9 lead into intermission.

The Rams then spent the entire second half ramming the ball down the Chargers' throats. Blake Corum had some big runs, while Herbert threw another interception on a horrible pass in a 17-9 game. This set up a touchdown pass to Puka Nacua to make it 24-9.

The Chargers did not show any signs of life offensively for the rest of the afternoon.

Broncos 28, Chiefs 24
By Charlie Campbell - @draftcampbell

EDITOR'S NOTE: Denver fans spent the majority of the afternoon booing Bo Nix. Despite this, the Broncos were able to get revenge on the Chiefs and win in an upset.

Kansas City was looking to get back on track after their getting dropped by the Seahawks last week, and the Chiefs outplayed the Broncos for the majority of the game. However, the Denver offense and defense came up clutch in the fourth quarter. At 6-2, Denver sits in first place in the AFC West while the Chiefs are still in striking distance at 5-2.

The Broncos got on the board first with a field goal drive early in the first quarter. The lead didn't last long as Kansas City moved down the field and Pat Mahomes threw a short crosser to Rashee Rice for a touchdown. In the second quarter, Nix led Denver on a field goal drive to cut the lead to 7-6. Mahomes then found Emmett Johnson all alone in the flat and lofted in a pass leading him down the field. Johnson raced down the field for a 73-yard touchdown to put the Chiefs up 14-6. Late in the second quarter, Nix connected with Jaylen Waddle for a short touchdown on a fourth-and-goal to cut the lead to 14-13. In the final seconds of the half, Harrison Butker hit a long field goal to make it 17-13 at the half.

In the third quarter, Johnson ripped off another impressive run, and that set up a short passing touchdown to Noah Gray. Kansas City took a 24-13 lead into the fourth quarter.

The struggling Denver offense was able to finally sustain a drive and scored on a short touchdown pass to tight end Nate Adkins. Waddle caught a two-point conversion to cut the Chiefs' lead to 24-21 with eight-plus minutes remaining in regulation. Kansas City mounted a clock-draining drive, but Harrison Butker missed a field goal.

That gave Bo Nix 2:31 remaining, starting just past the Broncos' 40. He promptly hit Jonah Coleman on the run, and he exploded down the field for a 51-yard gain to set up a first-and-goal. The next play, Coleman charged into the end zone to give the Broncos a 28-24 lead with 1:56 remaining.

The Chiefs moved the ball and Mahomes connected with Travis Kelce for a 32-yard gain to get inside the 25. A shovel pass to Kenneth Walker set up a first-and-goal. The Broncos stuffed some runs and forced an incomplete pass. On fourth-and-goal with four seconds remaining, the Chiefs had a false start on Jaylon Moore to negate a touchdown pass. On the retry, Mahomes was sacked by Malcolm Roach to clinch an epic win for Denver.

Patriots 24, Dolphins 19
The Patriots have had a very dubious track record in Miami over the years, even when Tom Brady was battling bad teams. It looked like this was going to be yet another New England struggle against the Dolphins when the Patriots couldn't do anything offensively in the first half. They lost a fumble deep in their own territory, which helped Miami go up 13-3 heading into intermission.

Everything flipped after halftime, however. Drake Maye threw a touchdown pass to Kyle Williams, though it wasn't clear whether Williams caught the ball or fumbled heading into the end zone. Replay review, however, showed that Williams scored, allowing the Patriots to trim the margin to three.

On New England's ensuing possession, the Patriots, for some reason, ran Corey Kiner on third down and appeared to be short of the sticks on the ensuing snap, when Demario Douglas was tackled shy of the line to gain. Replay review helped the Patriots once again, however, showing that Douglas was beyond the marker.

The Patriots continued the drive and scored on a Maye rushing touchdown, where he faked the pitch. Miami, now down four, couldn't respond. In fact, Malik Willis threw an interception off a deflection. Maye was able to answer with a 48-yard touchdown pass to Douglas to go up 11. The Dolphins didn't show much fight after that, playing very slowly on offense.

Redskins 27, Eagles 10
The Redskins won this game by 17, but it didn't look like they'd prevail at all in the early portion of this contest. Down 3-0, Chig Okonkwo lost a fumble, allowing the Eagles to score a touchdown on a Saquon Barkley run. Philadelphia went up 10-0 and looked like it would be able to pull the upset. Instead, the Redskins scored 13 unanswered points to close out the first half, with Stefon Diggs catching a touchdown in between a couple of field goals.

The Eagles still had a chance in the third quarter, with Tanner McKee driving over midfield thanks to some quality passes to Dallas Goedert. However, McKee was strip-sacked in Washington territory, allowing the Redskins to take over and kick another field goal.

The Eagles, however, weren't as lucky on their kicking attempts, with Jake Elliott missing a field goal following a penalty. The Redskins once again took over and added three more points before scoring a touchdown very late in the game to pull away from Philadelphia.

Bears 34, Seahawks 17
This was Jeffery Simmons' first game with the Bears, and it was quite a success. Simmons was a monster in the trenches in this game, constantly pressuring Sam Darnold, who barely had any time in the pocket.

Meanwhile, Chicago's offense was very efficient for most of the evening. The unit opened the game with an eight-minute drive, with Caleb Williams putting on a clinic. The possession culminated with a touchdown pass to Luther Burden to put Chicago up 7-0.

The Bears were up 13-9 at intermission and once again had a great drive in the third quarter to go up 20-9. The Seahawks tried to answer and drove down the field, but a bogus offensive pass interference penalty on Jaxon Smith-Njigba forced Seattle into a field goal attempt. However, the kick was blocked, allowing the Bears to preserve the lead.

Chicago, however, tried to give the game away at that point with a disastrous drive. Williams almost threw an interception, then took a sack, and after that, Colston Loveland lost a fumble on a third-and-20 play that would not have gone beyond the line to gain.

The Seahawks took advantage of the short field with a touchdown, trimming the margin to 20-17. This is when the Bears took control of the game. They hit a big play with Kalif Raymond, setting up a D'Andre Swift touchdown. Chicago scored once again after that following a Darnold interception to put the game away.

For more thoughts, check out my updated NFL Power Rankings, which will be posted Tuesday morning.

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