Week 8 saw five quarterbacks go down to injury.
Most notably, the Minnesota Vikings lost quarterback Kirk Cousins for the season with a torn Achilles. Given the Vikings have won four straight games after opening the season 0-3, it’ll be interesting to see what they do before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline to try and make up for the loss.
Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett (ribs), Atlanta’s Desmond Ridder (concussion), the LA Rams’ Matthew Stafford (thumb) and the New York Giants’ Tyrod Taylor (ribs) also went down.
Outside of the quarterback injuries, the other big news was the Denver Broncos upset of the Kansas City Chiefs. With the Chiefs loss, that leaves three AFC teams (KC, Baltimore, Jacksonville) at 6-2.
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Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers got off the schneid, winning their first game with first overall pick Bryce Young under center.
Will Levis, another rookie quarterback, was impressive in his debut, and will start Thursday night.
As for the Patriots, with their loss to the Dolphins, they are now officially in the AFC basement as the worst team in the conference.
That’s a stunning look for Bill Belichick & Co. It’ll be interesting to see how much movement they’ll be prior to the trade deadline.
Here’s the Power Rankings heading into Week 9
1. Philadelphia Eagles (7-1): One reason the Eagles are back on a roll, and back on top of the Power Rankings? A.J. Brown cannot be covered.
2. Kansas City Chiefs (6-2): Odd to see Patrick Mahomes out of sorts, and not threaten the Broncos with any kind of last minute heroics.
3. Baltimore Ravens (6-2): Understandable if they had a bit of a letdown after blowing out Detroit last week. But they did enough to stay on a roll.
4. Jacksonville Jaguars (6-2): They ride into their bye week with a five-game win streak. They hope they won’t cool off after the break.
5. Miami Dolphins (6-2): Tua Tagovailoa is now 6-0 against the Patriots. Hard to believe any quarterback could be Bill Belichick’s Kryptonite, but Tua is the man.
6. Dallas Cowboys (5-2): Their boom or bust offense went boom against the Rams. Big-time boom with 43 points.
7. Detroit Lions (6-2): They rode rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs to a bounce-back win over the Raiders Monday night, and now get to enjoy a bye week.
8. Buffalo Bills (5-3): The no-huddle jump-started the offense in the first quarter, and the Bills hung on for a much-needed win, with hung on being the operative word.
9. Cincinnati Bengals (4-3): Joe Burrow has them looking like a contender once again. That’s right. Joe Cool is officially back.
10. San Francisco 49ers (5-3): Three straight losses for the Niners. The streak will continue if Brock Purdy has to lead comeback wins every week. He has to be a complementary player.
11. Seattle Seahawks (5-2): They aren’t flying on all cylinders, but with the Niners recent skid, now sit in first place in the NFC West.
12. New York Jets (4-3): They went 2-for-15 on third down, saw Zach Wilson lose two fumbles, and still won the football game.
13. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3): Mitch Trubisky came on in relief of injured Kenny Pickett. No need to say much more.
14. Cleveland Browns (4-3): Their all-world defense couldn’t deliver in the fourth quarter against the Seahawks. But then again, P.J. Brown is now leading the offense.
15. Minnesota Vikings (4-4): Tough break for Kirk Cousins who’s out for the season and may have played his last game with Minnesota with his contract due to void after this season.
16. LA Chargers (3-4): The Bears defense proved the perfect cure for Justin Herbert. They were also bad enough that Brandon Staley couldn’t blow this win.
17. LA Rams (3-5): Sean McVay is one of the brightest offensive minds in football. But throwing a pass to Matthew Stafford, who was playing with a messed up thumb as it is, for a two-point conversion was nuts.
18. Atlanta Falcons (4-4): They pulled the plug, or rather, called the mercy rule on starter Desmond Ridder (five sacks in first half). The switch to Taylor Heinicke looks like it’ll stick.
19. New Orleans Saints (4-4): Taysom Hill rushed nine times for 63 yards with two touchdowns. Not bad for a so-called “tight end.”
20. Tampa Bay Bucs (3-4): After a promising start, the Bucs have now dropped three straight with an offense that remains anemic.
21. Houston Texans (3-4): Has C.J. Stroud crashed back to earth? Or is the rookie simply looking more mortal behind a bad offensive line?
22. Indianapolis Colts (3-5): Backup Gardner Minshew is continuing to show more warts the more he plays.
23. Washington Commanders (3-5): At this point, they have to decide how aggressive to be trying to trade future free agents, specifically Montez Sweat and Chase Young.
24. Tennessee Titans (3-4): With rookie Will Levis under center, their offense finally came alive. Can Mike Vrabel possibly go back to Ryan Tannehill when he’s healthy, or Malik Willis?
25. Denver Broncos (3-5): They managed to batter the Chiefs into submission by pounding the rock. They controlled the game with a methodical running attack.
26. Las Vegas Raiders (3-5): After another week with an anemic offense, it was easy to see the steam coming out of Davante Adams ears following their Monday night loss.
27. New England Patriots (2-6): The Patriots were considered a “trap game” for the Dolphins with KC looming ahead. How the mighty have fallen.
28. New York Giants (2-6): They’re down to third string quarterback Tommy DeVito, and were struggling to score even with Daniel Jones and or Tyrod Taylor under center.
29. Green Bay Packers (2-5): After looking good the first few games, Jordan Love hasn’t been able to stop his or the team’s slide backward. He’s thrown eight picks in the last five games.
30. Chicago Bears (2-6): The Bears still haven’t been able to string together back-to-back wins during the Matt Eberflus era.
31. Carolina Panthers (1-6): It looked like they had won the Super Bowl after their walk-off field goal against Houston, and first victory of the season.
32. Arizona Cardinals (1-7): They’re exactly where everyone predicted they’d be. The only thing left is seeing if Kyler Murray can come to the rescue.
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