Sky Sports' Neil Reynolds has the final word on Week Eight in the NFL, picking out his five major takeaways, player of the week and more; watch Thursday Night Football - Philadelphia Eagles @ Houston Texans - live on Sky Sports NFL, 12.15am, Friday
Wednesday 2 November 2022 11:50, UK
Eight weeks into the season now, we're starting to see things take shape and settle down. Given that, some big teams are in big trouble - the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5), the Green Bay Packers (3-5) and the Los Angeles Rams (3-4) are in a fight to try and save their seasons - and it's another reminder of just how surprising the NFL can be...
Christian McCaffrey showed exactly why the San Francisco 49ers were willing to give up multiple draft picks to trade for the star running back from the Carolina Panthers.
The impact that McCaffrey had in their win over the Rams on Sunday was exactly what they would have hoped for. He showed his all-round game, throwing a touchdown pass, catching one and rushing for another.
San Francisco have had some great success with lower-round draft picks over the years - Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Dre Greenlaw - but it doesn't always work out that way. McCaffrey is a proven commodity.
And he can talk about 'playing with a chip on his shoulder', after being traded, but he must also be delighted to now be in San Francisco. That 49ers team we saw on Sunday can be a serious Super Bowl contender.
The Dallas Cowboy might not have had a quarterback controversy on their hands between Dak Prescott and Cooper Rush after all, but more and more people are going to be calling for Tony Pollard to supplant Ezekiel Elliott as their lead running back.
Pollard was excellent in their win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday. He had 131 rushing yards, three touchdowns and looked every bit a bona fide starter in this league.
I do think there's still a role for Elliott in this offense; I don't think it has to be an 'either or' situation. It's a very good place the team finds itself in, with two proven running backs who can carry the load when necessary.
I think I've been jaded over the years by watching a lot of miserable Miami Dolphins quarterbacks. with also not much help at wide receiver. So I keep waiting for it to go wrong for Tua Tagovailoa and co this season.
But I think I can safely say the Dolphins haven't had a passing attack this prolific since Dan Marino was throwing to Mark Duper and Mark Clayton in the 1980s!
Tua, along with Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are very close to being unstoppable when they're clicking like they were on Sunday. Hill had 12 catches for 188 yards, Waddle eight for 106 (and two TDs) - that's 20 grabs for 294 yards between them! The next best was tight end Mike Gesicki with three catches for 38 yards and a score.
It's obvious where Miami are going with the football, yet nobody can stop them. And it's not just the speed of Hill and Waddle; head coach Mike McDaniel is scheming them open time after time. It makes the Dolphins so much fun to watch - and that's something I haven't said in a long long time.
The strength definitely appears to be in the AFC this year, with a lot of teams looking really good. But the Philadelphia Eagles are certainly proving they are for real in the NFC too. They are going to be very tough to beat.
In their latest 35-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, A.J. Brown showed just how much an offense can improve with a true No 1 receiver.
All three of his touchdowns, I think, certainly two of them, were thrown into double coverage... but he still managed to go up and get the ball. There was a wonderful statistic doing the rounds that showed, with each of his TDs, that the completion probability of those throws were 25.2 per cent, 31.3 per cent, and 24 per cent.
In short, he wasn't supposed to make those catches, but he simply bullied the Steelers defenders and took the ball away.
Surprisingly, the game of the week turned out to be between the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, for the division lead in the NFC South.
It was decided in controversial fashion, with Carolina scoring on a 62-yard touchdown in the final moments of regulation - D.J. Moore with an incredible diving catch off P.J. Walker's Hail Mary pass.
Moore took his helmet off to celebrate, which incurred a 15-yard penalty and so the resulting extra point attempt to win the game was from 48 yards instead of 33. Eddie Pineiro missed with the kick... and then he also missed a 33-yard field goal in overtime, opening the door for Atlanta to kick one of their own for the win.
I actually feel quite sorry for Moore, or at least I understand why he did what he did. Watching that game in the Sky Sports studios, we all leapt off the sofa when he scored - an we're just watching from 4,000 miles away. Of course Moore is going to feel the emotion, get excited and lose his head a little in the next 30 seconds.
I don't think he had to be penalised for that. And I don't think he should be villainised for it either.
The Tennessee Titans running back has now rushed for more than 200 yards and scored at least two touchdowns on the ground in each of his last four games against the Houston Texans.
He was so good - 219 yards at 6.8 per carry - that Titans rookie quarterback Malik Willis only had to throw 10 passes. The team's leading receiver was Robert Woods with just two catches for 26 yards - all because Houston simply couldn't stop 'The King'.
Tennessee keep being overlooked, and Henry gets taken for granted because he does this year in, year out. This team have won five in a row and they could yet upset the apple cart in the AFC. The Titans are well coached, they're physical, and they're going to chew up the clock and keep the ball away from the likes of Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen or Joe Burrow.
I'm going with McCaffrey's touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk for the 49ers.
From the sounds of it, the play came about late in their week's preparation. And it was just another example of Kyle Shanahan having his fellow head coach Sean McVay's number in the regular season.
It was a very well-designed play, it was a good time in the game to do it and it way very well executed.
Every time McCaffrey now gets the ball for the Niners, opposing teams will be wondering just what he's going to do with it.
The New England Patriots head coach passed George Halas into second for the most career wins for any coach in NFL history. He now has 325.
And it was fitting that he got there with your typical Belichick performance. He had to give his team a bit of a verbal volley in the week leading up to the game after a dreadful loss to the Bears on Monday night, and they put the squeeze on a young quarterback in Zach Wilson for the New York Jets. Wilson was overwhelmed by what Belichick and the Patriots threw at him.
Belichick is a great respecter of NFL history, but you wont get him to talk about his place within it. He is truly special and, in a week where there were so many other games which grabbed our attention, this was a subtle reminder of classic Belichick.
The Cincinnati Bengals continue to have problems with their offensive line. They gave up five sacks on Monday Night Football in a horrible 32-13 defeat to the Cleveland Browns.
It's not an issue that ever really went away. The Bengals were just able to paper over some cracks as they won four in five before the beating by the Browns. And one you take away the option of the quick throw to Ja'Marr Chase that Burrow loves, he's a bit exposed back there.
That's a concern, given Chase is expected to be out for multiple weeks. There is a lot of work to do on that O-line in Cincinnati still, and it's tough to do it midway through the season.
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