The eighth Sunday of the 2020 NFL season is in the books so here are the different thoughts and opinions I have on various things I witnessed this past weekend.

But before I begin with my regular bullshit, how was your Halloween? Mine was great, thanks for asking. I was delightfully surprised to see my fellow locals didn't let all the Covid madness stop them from enjoying the holiday. I welcomed pretty much a normal turnout of trick-or-treaters. The scariest costume I saw was a boy dressed up as Philadelphia Eagle Carson Wentz. It was horrifying!

The best costume was a girl dressed up as Beetlejuice. She had the make-up, the green hair and the black & white striped suit. It was awesome. And wouldn't you know it, even President Donald Trump stopped by for some candy. I was honored.

Anyway just remember I am a Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm extremely biased. Feel free to agree or disagree about anything mentioned here. All comments are welcome.

Stink, Stank, Stunk

_{I don't mean to alarm you Eagles fans, but Carson Wentz was outplayed by a third-stringer
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In a typical NFC(L)East shitshow, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys 23-9. This game was fugly at best.

The Cowboys were forced by injury to start 3rd string rookie 7th round draft pick QB Ben DiNucci, who played like a 3rd string rookie who was drafted in the 7th round. You couldn't expect much and true to expectations he didn't deliver. DiNucci made a few nice plays, but he was generally overwhelmed by having to face a NFL defense. His number could have been worse (21/40, 180 yards, 2 fumbles).

DiNucci needed the running game to step up and help him out but that didn't happen. RB Zeke Elliott (19 carries, 63 yards) is having a season to forget, he was outplayed by backup RB Tony Pollard (7 carries, 40 yards). At least Zeke didn't fumble, that's the nicest thing I can say about his lousy performance. The Cowboys fell to 2-6.

The Dallas defense is historically bad, but you wouldn't know it by watching this game. The Cowboys had given up at least 20 points in the first half to all of their opponents this season. The Eagles offense only scored 15 in the entire game, the defense added 8 points.

Eagles QB Carson Wentz (15/27, 123 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 2 fumbles) was outplayed by a seventh round rookie making an emergency start. The Cowboys had set a NFL record by only forcing 3 turnovers in their first seven games. Wentz gave them four turnovers in game eight. Luckily for Philly the Dallas offense was so bad they could only convert the turnovers into 3 points.

This was truly an awful game. The Eagles defense were the best unit on the field, but they were facing a 3rd string QB. NFL Hall of Fame writer Ray Didinger put it best after the game by saying the Eagles performance was so bad Dallas was the only team they could beat. Very true and fitting for the NFC(L)east. The Eagles improved to 3-4-1, but unless Wentz shows drastic improvement I don't see many more wins in their future.

There is a great probability it will only take 5 or 6 victories to win the division. Good Grief, what an embarrassment to professional football.

Battle for the AFC North

_{Good old fashioned slobberknocker
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Nothing beats a heated divisional rivalry between two top teams. We were treated to such a game on Sunday as the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens 28-24.

The Ravens got off to a bad start when QB Lamar Jackson threw a pick-six on the game's third play. The Steelers early lead didn't last long though as the Ravens used the ground attack to run over Pittsburgh and take a 17-7 lead at halftime.

The Ravens lost control in the second half when another Jackson INT gave the Steelers possession on the Baltimore 21-yard line. The Steelers cashed in for an easy short field TD and used the momentum on their next drive to score another TD and take a 21-17 lead.

The two teams each scored a TD in the 4th quarter, but the Ravens final drive came up short with an incomplete pass the endzone. The Steelers held on to take the 28-24 win.

The Steelers offense got off to a very slow start in this one. They didn't do much in the first half, but finally got rolling after picking Lamar Jackson off for the second time. That seemed to light a fire under their asses and they put points up on the board. QB Ben Roethlisberger (21/32, 182 yards, 2 TDs) did most of his damage in the second half. The defense was the real hero for Pittsburgh by forcing four turnovers, two which led to easy TDs and two that stopped Baltimore in the redzone. It was a gutsy road win for Pittsburgh and they remain the NFL's last undefeated team at 7-0. Might as well say 8-0 since they get to face my awful Dallas Cowboys next week.

The Ravens are simply not the same team that ran over the AFC last season. The Ravens should have built a bigger lead, but turnovers kept the Steelers in the game until their offense finally woke up. QB Lamar Jackson (13/28/, 208 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 2 Fumbles) finally crossed the 200 yard passing mark this season, but it was the Ravens running game that trampled the Pittsburgh defense. RB J.K. Dobbins (15 carries, 113 yard), RB Gus Edwards (16 carries, 87 yards, 1 TD) and QB Lamar Jackson (16 carries, 65 yards) made the league's #1 rushing defense look bad.

After the game Ravens head coach John Harbaugh placed a lot of the blame for the loss on the officiating. That is some weak shit man. Sure the Ravens (9 penalties, 110 yards) got more flags than the Steelers (3 penalties, 30 yards). But the Ravens lost this game by themselves. When the Steelers offense was stuck in neutral, Lamar Jackson threw two INTs that were converted into TDs. Without those turnovers the Steelers would have been too far behind to catch up. Despite those two turnovers, Baltimore still had a great shot at winning, but Jackson fumbled the ball twice in the redzone and Baltimore walked away with zero points each time. Even if they would have only kicked two FGs they still would have won.

The Ravens outgained the Steelers 457 yards to 221 yards. They also dominated time of possession 35:22 to 24:38. The only stat they didn't dominate Pittsburgh in was turnovers, as they made four while Pittsburgh only turned the ball over once. That was the difference in the game and it had nothing to do with the officiating. So quit your goddamn whining Harbaugh. Baltimore fell to 5-2, with both losses coming at home to AFC contenders.

Trick or Treat!

_{Nothing tells you something went horribly wrong on defense like watching a Bengal run into the endzone with nobody within 5 yards
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Halloween is the time for trick or treat and on Sunday a couple of upsets saw underdogs tricking favorites into giving them a treat.

In Cincinnati the Bengals got off to a hot start and held on to beat the Tennessee Titans 31-20. Ouch Tennessee, you are supposed to be a contender!

Bengals QB Joe Burrow (26/37, 249 yards, 2 TDs) has played great for a rookie. He kept the Bengals in every one of their games so far, but this week he got help from the beleaguered Cincinnati defense. The Bengals D made big stops early in the game and picked off a pass in the endzone to keep Tennessee at bay. The Titans only had 7 points entering the 4th quarter and gained a lot of their stats after the game was out of hand.

The most amazing stat for the Bengals was this: 0 sacks given up. In their previous seven games Burrow had been sacked 28 times. Now Cincinnati can see what is possible when your QB doesn’t spend half the game on his back. The Bengals improved to 2-5-1 and have to be taken seriously. They still aren’t good, but with Joe Burrow under center they aren’t exactly a pushover either.

Maybe the Titans had a hangover after losing to Pittsburgh last week or maybe they took Cincinnati too lightly, either way they are too talented to lose a game this badly to a team like the Bengals.

The big names on offense put up stats: QB Ryan Tannehill (18/30, 233 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT), RB Derrick Henry (18 carries, 112 yards, 1 TD) and WR Corey Davis (8 receptions, 128 yards, 1 TD). Yet the offense sputtered until garbage time due to a redzone turnover and failures to convert on third down. However the blame for this loss falls more unto the defense. Bengals QB Joe Burrow wasn’t sacked once for the first time all season and the Bengals converted 10 out of 15 third down plays. The lack of pressure by the Tennessee defense let the Bengals keep moving the ball downfield for points while controlling the clock (35:57 time of possession). The Titans fell to 5-2 and have a brutal stretch in the schedule coming up. The next month should let us know if the Titans are contenders or pretenders. I think they are for real, but the defense has to play better.

In Green Bay RB Dalvin Cook returned to action and proceeded to run wild all over the Packers as the Minnesota Vikings marched away with a 28-22 victory.

It was obvious Dalvin Cook is healthy after his monster day against the Pack: 30 carries, 163 yards, 3 TDs on the ground and 2 receptions, 63 yards, 1 TD in the air. He led the team in both rushing and receiving. Cook’s success took the pressure off of QB Kirk Cousins (11/14, 160 yards, 1 TD), who threw a couple of passes just to keep the Packers defense honest. Minnesota is at their best when they can run more than pass and they proved it in Green Bay. The Vikings improved to 2-5 and saved their season with the win, at least temporarily.

QB Aaron Rodgers (27/41, 291 yards, 3 TDs) kept the Packers in the game, but even he couldn’t keep up with Dalvin Cook. It isn’t a secret you can run the ball against the Pack, but Cook just demolished them. The Packers offense was able to keep pace in the first half, but when they sputtered in the 3rd quarter the Vikings pulled ahead for good. The Packers fell to 5-2.

Changing of the Guard

_{Josh Allen let the Patriots know their is a new sheriff in the AFC East
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It wasn’t pretty, in fact it was downright ugly at times, but the Buffalo Bills defeated the New England Patriots 24-21 to drive another stake in the fast fading Patriots AFC East mastery. Buffalo’s win ended a six-game losing streak against the Patriots.

With the differences in talent on paper, the Bills really should have run away with this game. But sometimes it is hard to finally free yourself from the ghosts of past failures. Just getting a win removed a huge monkey from the back of the Bills. Still the Bills need to continue to build off of this win if they want to be a contender in the AFC.

Bills QB Josh Allen (11/18, 154 yards, 1 INT) didn’t have a good game, which is especially disappointing considering the Patriots were without top CB Stephon Gilmore. But the rushing attack came to the rescue as RB Devin Singletary (14 carries, 86 yards) and RB Zack Moss (14 carries, 81 yards, 2 TDs) kept the sticks moving. Allen made some contributions on the ground as well: 10 carries, 23 yards, 1 TD.

The Bills didn’t play great, but division games are often tight contests. With the win the Bills improved to 6-2, but they need to find some run defense if they want to continue winning.

The Patriots had a shot to force overtime or maybe even steal a win in the game’s final seconds, but a fumble by QB Cam Newton on the Buffalo 14-yard line put an end to their hopes. Newton (15/25, 174 yards) didn’t do much with the ball in the air, but he did rush for 54 yards and a TD on 9 carries. RB Damien Harris (16 carries, 102 yards, 1 TD) led the way on offense. The loss drops the Patriots record to 2-5, with four straight defeats. Times are dark in New England, but a game next week against the hapless Jets should help them turn it around. At least for a week.

New Kid on the Block

_{Welcome to the NFL rookie
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Rookie QB Tuanigamanuolepola Tagovailoa (forever to be known as Tua on my blog because I’m not typing that name out every week!) made his long waited debut for the Miami Dolphins and while he played like a rookie (ie: like crap), the defense and special teams made his first game a success as the Dolphins beat up the L.A. Rams 28-17.

Tua (12/22, 93 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble) didn’t light up the scoreboard, but to be fair he shouldn’t be starting yet anyway. Coming off of a major injury and a practically non-existent training camp, the rookie has not had a lot of opportunities to get reps with his new team. Why the Dolphins think it’s a good idea to throw him into the fire now I don’t understand. It’s going to take a while for him to get up to speed and the Dolphins better be prepared to be patient.

Miami was able to put Tua’s inglorious debut behind them by forcing four turnovers and returning a punt for a TD all in the first half. The Dolphins held a 28-10 lead at the half and their defense prevented the Rams from threatening them the rest of the game. It was truly a team effort as the Dolphins improved their record at 4-3. Whether or not Miami can contend for a playoff spot depends on how fast Tua can adapt to the NFL. After all the injuries he has overcome, I’ll be rooting for him.

The Rams defense was salivating at the prospect of facing a rookie QB make his NFL debut, but the offense and special teams let the squad down. Truly an embarrassing loss for the Rams who held the Dolphins to a pitiful 145 yards of total offense and still surrendered 28 points.

Garbage time started early in this one and QB Jared Goff (35/61, 355 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs, 2 fumbles) padded the stats, but his four turnovers doomed the team. The Rams head into their bye week at 5-3 and have the privilege of having an extra week to mull over this disaster of a loss.

Around the League

_{It was a painful loss for the Bears, just ask Nick Foles
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Winning ugly was the trend this week and the New Orleans Saints followed the bandwagon with their 26-23 overtime win over the Chicago Bears.

The Bears defense is excellent and they held the Saints offense in check for most of the game, but New Orleans (aided by a stretch of three and outs by the Bears offense) slowly chipped away to take a 23-13 lead early in the 4th quarter. It looked like game over, but Bears QB Nick Foles, whose play was sporadic at best for three quarters, once again pulled some magic out of his ass to lead the Bears to 10 4th quarter points and force overtime.

The teams exchanged punts in overtime until Saints K Will Lutz kicked a game-winning 35-yard FG with just minutes left in OT.

The Saints didn’t make any turnovers and slowly put up enough points to win. QB Drew Brees (31/41, 280 yards, 2 TDs) played well, but it was RB Alvin Kamara who once again led the offense: 12 carries, 67 yards on the ground and 9 receptions, 96 yards in the air. Despite playing only 7 games so far, Kamara leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage. He is carrying this team right now, the Saints need their top WRs to get healthy to balance out the offense. The Saints improved to 5-2.

The Bears defense is playing great, but they get little help from the very inconsistent offense, which makes it even harder to continue to play good defense. If the offense doesn’t shape up soon, there could be a mutiny. QB Nick Foles (28/41, 272 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) led the comeback, but looked bad most of the game. If he was more consistent a comeback possibly wouldn’t have been necessary. The Bears fell to 5-3.

The Seattle Seahawks handily defeated the San Francisco 49ers 37-27 in a game that was nowhere close to what the final score looked like. After dominating for three quarters, the Seahawks left early and let the Niners put up a bunch of meaningless feel good points in the final quarter.

QB Russell Wilson (27/37, 261 yards, 4 TDs) plays great every week. The only question going into the games is which WR is going to step up. This week it was D.K. Metcalf (12 receptions, 161 yards, 2 TDs) who looked like a man playing amongst boys. He destroyed the Niners secondary.

The Seahawks defense has been bad. How bad you ask? Dallas Cowboy bad, which is really terrible. Yet this week they stymied the Niners offense for three quarters (7 points) before taking the final quarter off. Seattle improved to 6-1 and if their defense starts showing more life they might be the team to beat in the NFC.

Brutal loss for the 49ers. Opposing QBs have been raping the Seattle defense, but QB Jimmy Garoppolo (11/16, 84 yards, 1 INT) couldn’t do anything good before he was injured and left the game after the 3rd quarter. His backup QB Nick Mullens (18/25, 238 yards, 2 TDs) put awesome stats in the 4th quarter, until you realize the Seahawks left the building after the 3rd quarter. His garbage time numbers are meaningless. The Niners couldn’t pass, couldn’t run and couldn’t play defense. Brutal. Plus TE George Kittle broke his foot and might miss the rest of the season. The Niners fell to 4-4 and you can stick a fork in their playoff hopes.

The Kansas City Chiefs were a whopping 19.5 favorite over the New York Jets. What the hell was Las Vegas thinking, that wasn’t enough points! The Chiefs easily covered in a 35-9 beatdown of the Jets.

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes told the running game to take the day off, he was going to annihilate the Jets on his own and he did: 31/42, 416 yards, 5 TDs. He generously spread the ball around to ten (10!) different receivers. His top targets were TE Travis Kelce (8 receptions, 109 yards, 1 TD), WR Tyreek Hill (4 receptions, 98 yards, 2 TDs) and WR Mecole Hardman (7 receptions, 96 yards, 1 TD).

This was exactly what an elite team should do against a dumpster fire, destroy them. The Chiefs improved to 7-1.

The Jets fell to 0-8 and are a total joke. Enough said.

Raiders vs Browns should have been an intriguing matchup, but wet and windy weather turned this game into a slopfest. The Raiders ran the ball well and the Browns didn’t, that’s why Las Vegas beat Cleveland 16-6.

Neither QB could do anything but throw short passes in the weather conditions, so it became a battle of the rushing attacks. Raiders RB Joshua Jacobs (31 carries, 128 yards) led the way for a team total of 208 rushing yards, dominating the game clock with a time of possession of 37:43. The Raiders improved to 4-3.

Cleveland RB Kareem Hunt (14 carries, 66 yards) was OK, but the Browns could only rush for 101 total yards against a piss poor Raiders run defense. I thought Cleveland was supposed to be a running team? The messy field conditions should have played into their strengths, but the Browns lost the battle of the trenches on both sides of the ball. The Browns fell to 5-3.

The Denver Broncos beat the L.A. Chargers 31-30 because somebody had to win the game I guess. The Chargers should have won, but they coughed up a 21-point lead with a quarter and half remaining. Oh those Chargers, they always find a way to lose.

I joke, but the Chargers really fell apart in this game. Halfway through the 3rd quarter they were up 24-3. Rookie QB Justin Hebert (29/43, 278 yards, 3 TDs, 2 INTs) looked good and he had plenty of help on the ground from RB Justin Jackson (17 carries, 89 yards) and RB Troymaine Pope (10 carries 67 yards). Hell the Chargers defense was good too, at that point of the game the longest Broncos drive on offense went 19 yards. Yup, 19.

What followed was a complete meltdown. All of a sudden the Chargers defense had no answers for the Broncos offense, who put together four straight TD drives of 75 yards or more. A couple of Hebert INTs didn’t do them any favors. QB Drew Lock (26/41, 248 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) turned into a hero and RB Philip Lindsay only needed 6 carries to amass 83 yards and a TD.

Oh well, it was an exciting finish for two teams going nowhere. The Chargers fell to 2-5 and the Broncos improved to 3-4.

Monday Night Football gave us a matchup of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs the New York Giants. Just what the world was looking for, more NFC (L)East football. But I have to give the Giants credit, they played hard before shooting themselves in the foot and falling 25-23 to the Bucs.

Bucs QB Tom Brady has a weird history against the Giants and Monday night was no different. The Bucs actually trailed the Giants 17-15 entering the 4th quarter, but an INT by Giants QB Daniel Jones set up the Bucs with a short field and they took advantage by scoring a TD. Later Tampa kicked a FG to extend the lead to 25-17 with around four minutes left in the game.

The Giants still had some fight left in them and drove the ball downfield for a TD to cut the lead to 25-23. A two-point conversion was needed to force overtime, but Jones waited too long to throw the ball to an open WR Dion Lewis and the Bucs recovered to break up the play. Ball game over.

Bucs QB Tom Brady (28/40, 279 yards, 2 TDs) had a bad first half, but turned it on after halftime to put 19 points on the board with the help of two New York turnovers. The Bucs played very far from their best football, but still escaped with the win to improve to 6-2.

The Giants should have won this game, but they blew it. QB Daniel Jones (25/41, 256 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs) fueled the Tampa comeback with two INTs that led to 10 points. Plus he could have scored more points if he didn’t miss some open receivers with errant throws. The Giants were feisty, but ultimately did themselves in. Again. Jones has talent but he is a turnover machine. If he doesn’t learn to cut them down soon the Giants would be wise to look for a new QB. The Giants fell to 1-7. Appalling record, but of all the teams in their terrible division they fight with the most effort every week. I have to give them credit for that.

Well that does it for this week. The most exciting part of my Sunday was watching Chase Elliott win the NASCAR race at Martinsville to advance to the championship race next weekend at Phoenix. Go Chase!

Did your favorite team get a trick or a treat this week? Let me know in the comments below your thoughts on Week 8 and as always thanks for reading.