NFL Game Recaps: Week 8, 2024

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

Rams 30, Vikings 20

The Vikings were a machine in the first five weeks of the season. They got tripped up against the Lions last week, but were off to a great start in this game with two touchdowns in their first couple of drives.

Everything would change, however, just prior to halftime. Minnesota ran an innocent rushing play to drain the clock heading into intermission, but Christian Darrisaw suffered an injury. He couldn’t put pressure on his leg as he was helped off the field. Darrisaw is arguably the top tackle in the NFL, and he was sorely missed in the second half. The Vikings mustered just two field goal drives, as they were unable to find the end zone against a defense that has had its struggles earlier in the year.

The Rams, meanwhile, also stalled offensively. Thanks to the surprising return of Puka Nacua, they also scored 14 points on their first two drives, but couldn’t do anything for a while after that. It didn’t help that Matthew Stafford threw an interception to begin the second half. However, the Rams finally got their act together. After Jalen Nailor dropped a pass in the red zone that forced the Vikings into a field goal to draw to within 21-20, the Rams engineered a six-and-a-half-minute touchdown drive that allowed them to go up 28-20.

Minnesota had two more chances to tie the game, but that’s when Darrisaw’s absence was felt. Jared Verse easily beat the backup left tackle to sack Sam Darnold for a huge loss. The Vikings were forced into punting. On the ensuing offensive possession, Darnold was sacked in his own end zone – albeit on an uncalled face mask penalty – for a safety to clinch the victory for the Rams.

The good news for the Vikings is that they’re still 5-2. The bad news is that Darrisaw could be out for a while. Minnesota will not even be close to as potent offensively without Darrisaw.

The Rams are suddenly 3-4. There have been trade rumors floating around concerning Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford, but perhaps those will disappear because they could be in the first place if they beat the Seahawks next week.

Browns 29, Ravens 24

The Browns were heavy underdogs entering the game, but they got off to a good start when they stuffed Derrick Henry on a fourth-and-1 in the red zone during the opening drive. They managed to kick a couple of field goals after that in what looked to be a low-scoring affair. They led 6-3 just before halftime, but Jameis Winston made a crucial mistake. He lost a fumble on a blind-side sack, allowing the Ravens to score a quick touchdown to go up 10-6 heading into the break.

As usual with Winston, there was some great plays to go along with the horrible turnovers. Winston was much better at moving the chains in the second half against Baltimore’s injury-ravaged secondary. Winston connected often to Cedric Tillman, David Njoku, Jerry Jeudy, and Elijah Moore at various instances. He threw touchdowns to Njoku and Tillman to lead by a field goal on two separate occasions. He then reverted to Bad Jameis, as he saw a potential interception dropped by a Baltimore defensive back while up 20-17 in Baltimore territory. The Browns kicked a field goal to go up 23-17 with four minutes remaining.

Lamar Jackson responded with a great drive. He hit multiple big plays and zipped down the field in a blur, ultimately handing off to Henry, who scored the go-ahead touchdown to complete the 2-minute drive. Jackson, however, left too much time on the clock for Winston, who drove over midfield and then launched a 38-yard touchdown to Tillman with 1:04 remaining. Jackson hit some big plays once again on the ensuing possession, but ran out of time. He had a take a deep shot into the end zone, which fell incomplete to give the Browns a shocking upset victory.

The Ravens dropped to 5-3, but they were playing after a blowout win on a short week. It was understandable that they had this flat spot. It didn’t help that they were missing their top two cornerbacks.

The Browns won their Super Bowl. They’re 2-6, but at least they can say that they beat the Ravens. It wasn’t a surprise to see them show more energy with Winston over the hated Deshaun Watson.

Packers 30, Jaguars 27

The Packers won this game, but the dark cloud over the victory was Jordan Love’s injury. Love hurt his groin on an innocent-looking play. This once again forced Malik Willis back ino action.

Green Bay had a lead for the majority of the game, and despite Willis’ presence, the Packers went up 10 points after Trevor Lawrence was strip-sacked. This turnover set up a touchdown to Tucker Kraft, and Green Bay went up 27-17.

The Jaguars did not give up. They kicked a field goal after that, and then retained possession down seven. Lawrence, who had an uneven game, engineered a beautiful touchdown drive in which he completed numerous passes for big chunks of yardage. Lawrence found Evan Engram, who snatched the ball over multiple defenders to tie the game.

Lawrence left too much time on the clock for the Packers, however. Despite Willis being in the game, the Packers moved the ball down the field, as Willis hit Jayden Reed for a 51-yard touchdown. Following a couple of runs, Brandon McManus kicked the decisive field goal as time expired for the second consecutive week.

The good news for the Packers is that Love’s injury is not a knee, or something of that nature. He might be out for a bit with his groin injury, but he’ll surely return at some point in the near future. Besides, Willis has shown that he can hold down the fort with Love out of the lineup.

The Jaguars failed to sustain success after their overseas win against the Patriots. Now 2-6, Jacksonville can begin looking ahead to its offseason plans.

Texans 23, Colts 20

The Texans prevailed over the Colts in a season sweep, but there was a dark cloud over this victory. Stefon Diggs suffered an injury in the second half, leaving the Texans with one viable wide receiver. Tank Dell caught a touchdown in this game, but he and Dalton Schultz were it as far as Houston’s passing game was concerned in the wake of the injury. If Diggs is sidelined next week, it’ll just be that duo versus the Jets on Thursday. Luckily for the Texans, Nico Collins has progressed well from his injury, and he’ll be ready to return in Week 10.

Of course, the Texans can run the ball extremely well, which they did in this game despite the return of DeForest Buckner. Joe Mixon topped the century mark, but made a big mistake in the fourth quarter. The Colts were in position to kick a field goal at the very least with a couple of minutes remaining, but Mixon lost a fumble. The Colts scooped and scored, but replay showed that the defender was down by contact. The ensuing drive didn’t go so well, as Anthony Richardson took a huge sack, forcing the Colts to punt.

Richardson had one more drive to win the game. All he needed was a field goal, but he was sacked once again on the final play of the game. This was the fifth time Richardson went down, as Bernhard Raimann and Quenton Nelson had awful performances in this contest.

The Texans are 6-2, but will have to play their next game without Collins and Diggs. This will be difficult against the Jets, but Collins should be available for the following game.

The Colts did not have a great game plan. They didn’t run Richardson nearly enough against a team that struggles versus mobile quarterbacks. Richardson had 45 rushing yards, but had one scramble until very late.

Cardinals 28, Dolphins 27

Mike McDaniel remembered how to coach. All it took was his quarterback returning from injury. McDaniel, who did stupid things last week like giving Alec Ingold as many touches as Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle combined, suddenly began calling creative plays again. He was able to scheme players open, as Miami seemingly picked up big chunks of yardage on almost every play.

The Dolphins led 10-0, 20-10, and 27-18. They were in complete control of the game for most of the afternoon, as Arizona had some success, but achieved it with some difficulty. For example, there were numerous plays in which Kyler Murray had to scramble out of the pocket and loop passes to his receivers over the middle of the field. Things were much easier for the Dolphins, who went up nine with 12 minutes remaining in regulation.

Murray, however, caught fire on the ensuing drive. He delivered a couple of beautiful throws to Marvin Harrison Jr., once of which featured a spectacular diving grab that had to be reviewed. Following a 16-yard connection to Trey McBride, James Conner found the end zone to draw to within two. Arizona couldn’t stop Miami’s offense all afternoon, but forced a rare punt when Miami was around midfield. Murray once again drilled throws to Harrison and McBride, and following a 17-yard run by Conner, Arizona moved into position for Chad Ryland’s game-winning field goal, which was good from 34.

The Cardinals have endured such a difficult schedule thus far. Despite this, they are now 4-4. Things will be much easier for Arizona in the second half of the season.

Miami has dropped to 2-5. McDaniel has proven that he’s incapable of coaching the team to great success. The good news for him is that he received an extension recently.

Falcons 31, Buccaneers 26

Prior to last Monday night, this looked like a potential shootout between two pass-heavy offenses. After all, we saw an overtime affair between these teams a few weeks ago, with Kirk Cousins throwing for 500 yards. Injuries to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin derailed this possibility, however, and the Buccaneers only made things more difficult for themselves when Rachaad White lost a fumble on the opening drive, setting up a Kyle Pitts touchdown.

The Buccaneers didn’t throw in the towel, as they actually took the lead shortly later. They had some nice gains from Bucky Irving, which set up favorable passing opportunities for Baker Mayfield to Cade Otton, who scored two touchdowns in this game.

Tampa Bay could not keep up this charade, however. The team was also down its top two cornerbacks, so Cousins had an easy time throwing into the secondary. Cousins threw 29 times, yet misfired on just six occasions. Cousins connected on some deep strikes to Pitts and Darnell Mooney, with the former scoring on a second occasion, albeit with some controversy upon fumbling just as he crossed the goal line. Still, the Falcons went up 31-17 with the help of some Mayfield interceptions. The Buccaneers scored a couple of times late to make the final result more respectable, but couldn’t quite complete the comeback.

This was a huge victory for the Falcons. Even though they have one more win than Tampa Bay, they’re now effectively two games up on the Buccaneers in the wake of their season sweep.

The Buccaneers are in rough shape. Not only were they swept by the Falcons; they likely won’t have either of their top receivers back from injury until Week 11. They could be out of it by then.

Patriots 25, Jets 22

The Jets had a great defense entering the season, and they added some offensive pieces to help Aaron Rodgers on the other side of the ball. Perhaps they took special teams for granted. And why wouldn’t they with Greg Zuerlein owning one of the strongest legs in the NFL? Zuerlein, however, sabotaged a potential victory over the Bills on a recent Monday night with two easy misses, and he was once again partly responsible for this loss. Zuerlein whiffed on an extra point early in the game and then was wide left from 44 in the fourth quarter.

Still, the Jets had a chance to beat the Patriots despite the botched four points from Zuerlein. They were still up 17-13, and they were battling Jacoby Brissett in the wake of Drake Maye suffering a concussion. However, they couldn’t get off the field on the ensuing drive, allowing a pair of third-and-long conversions when Brissett hit Hunter Henry and Tyquan Thornton for 12 and 14 yards, respectively. The Jets ended up kicking a field goal to draw to within one.

The Jets scored a touchdown, but a penalty on the two-point try kept the score at 22-17. On the next offensive possession for New England, Brissett once again drilled a 12-yard pass to Henry. Brissett then scrambled for a 14-yad gain, and then launched a 34-yard bomb to Kayshon Boutte on third-and-10. The Jets finally came up with a stop on third down near the goal line, but Rhamondre Stevenson plunged into the end zone on fourth down for New England’s winning score.

The Jets are in serious trouble at 2-6. It’s not impossible that they can get back into the playoff mix, but the margin for error is approaching zero.

The Patriots won their second game as underdogs of a touchdown. However, this was still a disappointing result for New England because Maye couldn’t get the win as a result of his concussion.

Eagles 37, Bengals 17

The Bengals lost by 20, but they got off to a hot start. They scored a touchdown on a pass to Ja’Marr Chase on the opening drive, and then Joe Burrow completed a pair of third-and-long situations on the ensuing drive, including a third-and-22 where he hit Mike Gesicki with a 24-yard dart. This possession culminated with a field goal, and it appeared as though Cincinnati would be able to maintain control of this game and improve to .500.

Instead, the defense let the team down, as the Eagles offense put on a clinic in this game. Jalen Hurts ripped Cincinnati’s poor secondary to shreds, as he misfired on just four occasions. He hit multiple deep throws to his two dynamic receivers, including a 45-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith. Hurts also did a good deal of damage on the ground. In fact, he had one fewer touchdowns than incompletions, as he plunged into the end zone on three occasions.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s offense couldn’t muster anything besides a singular touchdown in the second half via Chase Brown. The Eagles secondary smothered Chase, who did nothing following a hot start. With Tee Higgins out, Philadelphia was awarded the luxury of focusing on him, including one play where one defender batted the ball to a teammate for a spectacular interception.

This was a complete victory for the Eagles. They looked shaky to start the season, but they’ve improved since their bye. Beating the Giants last week wasn’t a great feat, but defeating Cincinnati in this manner was far more impressive.

The Bengals still aren’t dead at 3-5, especially with a game coming up against the Raiders. However, they have some major problems that Higgins’ return solely won’t fix.

Lions 52, Titans 14
By Charlie Campbell – @draftcampbell

EDITOR’S NOTE: And to think, I was nervous when the Titans tied this game at 14…

This was a matchup of strength versus strength, with the Lions’ prolific offense taking on the Titans’ top-rated defense. Through two Mason Rudolph interceptions and two long returns on special teams, Detroit had four short fields to put a big lead in the first half. Detroit improved to 6-1, with the Titans bolstering their draft positioning by falling to 1-6 and the Patriots getting their second win.

On the Titans’ first drive of the game, Rudolph was pressured and threw a desperation dump-off that Trevor Nowaske intercepted. A couple of plays later, David Montgomery charged into the end zone. Tennessee had a quick strike drive as Rudolph connected with Josh Wylie for 33 yards and Calvin Ridley for 26. Rudolph then ran the ball off a bootleg from 11 yards out to tie the game at seven. The tie didn’t last long as Detroit’s next play from scrimmage was a 70-yard touchdown from Jahmyr Gibbs. Rudolph came right back with three completions to Ridley for 73 yards to set up a first-and-goal. Rudolph connected with Nick Westbrook-Ikhine to tie the game at 14.

Khalil Dorsey returned the next kickoff 72 yards, and a few plays later, Goff connected with Brock Wright for a short touchdown toss. The Titans’ next play from scrimmage turned into Kerby Joseph’s fifth interception of the year. That short field resulted in a 1-yard scoring toss to Amon-Ra St. Brown. Kaliff Raymond returned a punt 64 yards to set up another short field for Goff. The Lions pulled out another trick play with David Montgomery tossing a touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta. Late in the second quarter, Rudolph hit a chunk pass to Westbrook-Ikhine for a first-and-goal at the one. The Lions defense forced four incompletions to keep the score at 35-14 at halftime.

After a Titans three-and-out in the third quarter, Raymond returned a punt 90 yards for a touchdown. Amik Robertson stripped Ridley of the ball, and a few plays later, Goff threw a short touchdown toss to Raymond to go up 49-14. The Lions added a field goal in garbage time to close the scoring.

Chargers 26, Saints 8
By Charlie Campbell – @draftcampbell

EDITOR’S NOTE: Argh, what a mistake to remove the units from Chargers -7!

The Chargers got their season back on track with an easy win over the Saints. At 4-3, Los Angeles stays in the playoff race in the AFC. New Orleans falls to 2-6, and they are incapable of competing with Derek Carr out of the lineup.

Early in the first quarter, the Chargers fumbled a snap while setting up to punt, and the loose ball rolled out of the end zone to gift New Orleans a safety. That was the closest the Saints came to a touchdown all game. A 38-yard run by Justin Herbert produced a field goal for the Chargers, but each team used their punter quite a bit in the first half. Late in the second quarter, Los Angeles put a drive together with J.K. Dobbins plunging into the end zone. The extra point was missed, and the Saints responded with a field goal drive to cut the Chargers lead to 9-5 at halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, Ladd McConkey made a contested catch and then raced past some defenders for a 60-yard touchdown. Jake Haener replaced the ineffective Spencer Rattler, and that helped the offense produce a field goal to make it 16-8 entering the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing Chargers’ possession, Joshua Palmer beat Kool-Aid McKinstry over the top for a 45-yard gain, and Los Angeles turned that into another Dicker field goal. The Saints produced another drive for a potential field goal, but Ben Grupe missed it. Late in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles put the game away with Herbert tossing his second touchdown pass to McConkey.

Bills 31, Seahawks 10

This was a sloppy game played in rainy conditions. Both teams made mistakes, with Josh Allen committing the first error when he threw his first interception of the year. He had a 7-3 lead at the time, so the turnover appeared to give the Seahawks a good chance to take control of this game.

Seattle, however, made so many more mistakes. The team had a chance to score a touchdown at the goal line, but a snap sailed over Geno Smith’s head, resulting in a huge loss. This wasn’t the only goal-line miscue, as center Connor Williams stepped on Smith’s foot, resulting in a fourth-down stop. Smith was later intercepted when he panicked under pressure.

The Bills, meanwhile, got their act together. Allen was clean outside of the early pick, while James Cook zipped through Seattle’s poor run defense en route to a two-touchdown performance in what turned into a blowout.

The Bills continue to improve. They had a rough two-game stretch, but their offense has gotten better in recent weeks. They’re not even healthy defensively, so this team will improve as the season progresses.

Seattle suffered a setback after beating the Falcons by 20 points last week. D.K. Metcalf’s absence was felt, and he’ll be needed against the Rams next week.

Redskins 18, Bears 15

No one thought we’d get a matchup between the top two picks of the 2024 NFL Draft because Jayden Daniels suffered a rib injury last week. Daniels was expected to be sidelined, but he was shockingly active for this game. It wasn’t clear how functional Daniels would be, but he scrambled for long gains and completed a 61-yard bomb to Terry McLaurin. He wasn’t 100 percent, but he was good enough to give his team the lead for most of the afternoon.

Daniels, however, wasn’t good enough to pull away. Washington’s defense made sure that this game would be close, as the front line hounded Caleb Williams all afternoon. D’Andre Swift eventually picked up some long gains in the fourth quarter to set up a couple of touchdown chances. The Bears botched the first one when they tried to give an offensive lineman a touchdown rush in Refrigerator Perry-type fashion. A lost fumble negated the score, but Chicago found the end zone on the second attempt when Roschon Johnson plunged in for a touchdown. A two-point conversion gave the Bears a three-point lead with 19 seconds remaining.

With barely any time on the clock, Daniels didn’t have much of a chance, especially when considering his rib injury. Daniels completed two passes of 11 and 13, but was still stranded shy of midfield. He dropped back for a Hail Mary attempt, which fell shy of the goal line. However, the ball was tipped into the air by a crowd of players and landed into the arms of Noah Brown, who stood in the end zone with the game-winning Hail Mary touchdown.

Daniels was incredible in this game. It was clear that he wasn’t fully healthy, but he made some great plays to keep his team ahead for most of the afternoon. He needed luck in the Hail Mary, but that play will be one of the most iconic moments of his career.

The Bears had a good chance to improve to 5-2, but suffered a heart-breaking loss. The offensive line remains a concern, as Williams was under pressure the entire game.

Chiefs 27, Raiders 20

The last time the Chiefs saw the Raiders, they suffered a shocking upset loss on Christmas. Aidan O’Connell didn’t complete a single pass after the first quarter, but he didn’t need to because the Raiders scored defensive touchdowns on consecutive plays to start the game.

Patrick Mahomes got off to a better start in this contest with an early touchdown, but so did the Raiders offense. Gardner Minshew completed some nice gains to Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers, and was able to remain within a touchdown for most of the afternoon. The Raiders, however, blew their big chance when a Mahomes pass was deflected and picked when the Chiefs were up 17-13 in the third quarter. Kansas City’s defense had a terrific goal-line stand to keep the score the same.

The Chiefs’ stop unit came up big once again after that, as Minshew had the ball forced out as he was scrambling. The Chiefs recovered and scored quickly after that to put themselves up by 14. The Raiders scored a late touchdown to cover the spread, but their ensuing onside kick attempt failed to secure the victory for Kansas City.

Kansas City’s perfect season continues. The Chiefs are now 7-0. This win may not look too convincing based on the final score, but if you remove the final drive in garbage time, Kansas City outgained Las Vegas, 331-148.

The Raiders kept this game to within seven, but that’s misleading. Their dreadful offense struggled to do anything for most of the afternoon.

Broncos 28, Panthers 14

The Panthers were 13-point underdogs at kickoff, but it looked like they had a chance to perhaps pull the upset. The Broncos gave the ball away on a Lil’Jordan Humphrey fumble, and Carolina was able to score a touchdown when Bryce Young found Xavier Legette in the end zone to go up 7-0. Young began the game 5-of-5, and the Panthers were well on their way to winning their second game of the year.

And then, reality set in. Carolina’s atrocious defense had no chance of containing the Broncos. The Panthers stacked the box against Javonte Williams, daring Bo Nix to beat them. To his credit, Nix delivered some impressive throws, connecting primarily to Courtland Sutton, who rebounded from his zero-catch performance to accumulate 100 receiving yards. Nix threw three touchdowns and ran in a fourth.

Meanwhile, the Panthers failed to generate anything offensively after the opening drive. Their second touchdown came in the final seconds in garbage time. Young didn’t have the luxury of leaning on the running game, as the Broncos shut down Chuba Hubbard. He threw two interceptions to give the Broncos an easy victory.

This could have been a flat spot for the Broncos with the Ravens on the horizon, so credit Sean Payton for preparing his team to play hard in this game.

The Panthers are now 1-7. The one nice thing that can be said about them is that Young wasn’t horrendous like he was during the first two weeks of the season. Still, Young doesn’t resemble anything close to a starting NFL quarterback.

49ers 30, Cowboys 24

This was a roller coaster ride of the game. The Cowboys appeared to be the better team in the first half despite Dak Prescott throwing an early interception, which was the result of him being hit upon release. The 49ers spent most of the opening half shooting themselves in the foot. A 76-yard Deebo Samuel gain was negated by a hold. Brock Purdy threw behind Samuel on a fourth-and-3. Isaac Guerendo, playing for an injured Jordan Mason, had a 19-yard run negated by a hold.

Everything flipped in the third quarter. The 49ers stopped crushing themselves with mistakes. They engineered three touchdown drives, while Dallas failed to do anything offensively. Prescott was intercepted on an underthrown pass, and before long, Dallas was being blown out. By the end of the third quarter, the 49ers led 27-10.

San Francisco went into a dumb prevent in the final frame. This allowed the Cowboys to score a pair of touchdowns to draw to within six. Following a Purdy sack to ruin a San Francisco drive, the Cowboys retained possession with three minutes remaining. Prescott, however, couldn’t complete the comeback, as he and the offense went four-and-out to secure the victory for the 49ers.

The 49ers did well to bounce back from their loss to the Chiefs. Things got dicey in the fourth quarter, however, so perhaps the 49ers should be careful in the future not to allow a near-comeback such as this one.

The Cowboys have done well off a bye with Mike McCarthy, but the week off didn’t do the trick this time. Dallas still has a chance to make a move at 3-4, but it’s quite apparent that this team is not very good.

Steelers 26, Giants 18

Anyone expecting great offense, or even penalty-free offense, was greatly disappointed by this game. These teams traded nullified touchdowns in the opening half. George Pickens’ touchdown on the opening drive was negated by a face mask. The Giants then had a score wiped out by an illegal shift infraction. Pickens then appeared to reach the end zone again, but replay review showed that only one foot was inbounds.

The Steelers moved the chains better than the Giants, mainly via Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren runs, but thanks to the team’s mistakes, all they could do was kick field goals. This was a 9-9 affair that seemed to be destined for a tie, but the game was broken open by Calvin Austin, who returned a punt for a touchdown. Russell Wilson later hit Austin for a 29-yard touchdown to go up by 14 points.

The Giants appeared to be dead, but Tyrone Tracy broke a 45-yard touchdown run to draw within eight. A horrible two-point conversion failed, but New York still needed one score. The Giants appeared to get their chance when Russell Wilson lost a fumble on a scramble, but Daniel Jones returned the favor with his own fumble on a strip-sack by T.J. Watt. New York had one more drive after that, but another Jones turnover – an interception on an overthrow – ended the game.

Pittsburgh generally doesn’t do well in the role as a big favorite, but was bailed out by special teams once again. The Steelers are in great shape at 6-2.

The Giants have the opposite record at 2-6. Their defense was a huge disappointment tonight, as it looked helpless to stop the run. It’s one thing to struggle against Saquon Barkley; it’s another thing to allow 114 rushing yards to Najee Harris.