Best And Worst NFL Week Eight

Week Eight has come and gone and it was one of the better weeks in the league too. There was insane, crazy action from start to finish. Sure, there was a couple of snoozers, like the Miami-Baltimore tilt, but at the same time, the game between Houston and Seattle more then made up for it.Cleveland looked like there was hope for them this year, then reality set in and they realized they were still the Browns. Mother nature also played a factor in quite a few games on the weekend as well. Dallas better get a  good look at Zek, he had himself a solid day, his last game for a while. Plus we got some good play from the quarterbacks around the league, and we got some bad play as well. Lets get right into it here's some of the best and worst from week eight in the NFL.

Best:
Russell Wilson, Quarterback Seattle Seahawks
It was one of those days for Russell Wilson on Sunday. In what might go down as possibly game of the year, Seattle pulled out a 41-38 win over Houston and Russell was a big reason why. When Seattle got off to a slow start, it looked like they may miss out on the post season, but now they seem to find their game. This week Wilson went 26 of 41 for an NFL best 452 yards, four touchdowns and a pick. Wilson threw his interception late in the game and at that point it looked like the Seahawks were done. This is around the time of game when the greats really come through. Down by four with 1:39 left in the game, Wilson led an 80-yard drive that ended in an 18-yard Jimmy Graham touchdown to put Seattle up 41-38 with only 21 seconds left in regulation. Yeah, his kinda good.

Worst:
Jim Caldwell, Head Coach Detroit Lions
Jim Caldwell has had success as the head coach in Detroit in the past. He's done good things to get this team set up for success this year. While that's all been well and good, at times, he has made decisions that have been a little underwelming. One of those underwelming decisions were made Sunday. Detroit was down a point late in the 3rd quarter against Pittsburgh. They had been on a solid drive that had chewed up a lot of clock. Pittsburgh had made a stand near the goal line and force fourth down. Conventional wisdom says kick the field goal and take a two point lead. Instead, Caldwell decided to go for it on fourth-and-goal. Pittsburgh once again put up a brick wall, taking over at the two-yard line after the turnover on downs. Three plays later, Pittsburgh scored again to break the spirits of the Lions. Detroit never scored a touchdown in the game and were dropped 20-15 by Pittsburgh. Never take points off the board Jim Caldwell. Just don't do it.

Best:
DeShaun Watson, Quarterback Houston Texans
Yes I know Watson and the Texans dropped a heartbreaker to Seattle this week, we talked about that a little bit before. But what Watson was able to do, and he's a rookie mind you, was pretty impressive. He finished 19 of 30 for 402 yards and four touchdowns. The only blemish on his mark was the fact that he threw three picks, one of which sealed the game for Seattle. But the fact that this kid has showed as much poise as he has is really quite impressive. After this week's performance against Seattle, he became the first rookie to throw at least three touchdowns in four consecutive games. He also has 19 TDs on the season, the most by any rookie ever in a seven-game span. This could be a case of simply jumping gun here, but if this kid can stay healthy, Watson has a very bright future in Houston.

Worst:
San Francisco 49ers
And here I thought that only the Cleveland Browns could hit this level of bad, but I guess I was wrong. San Francisco may be hitting that bottom feeding level. It just seems like the last couple of weeks haven't been really kind to the 49ers. They've lost their last five games by a combined 14 points. But the two games since then, its really been steps backwards. Think about it, they had fallen by just two points to Washington on October 15th. The last two weeks have seen a 40-10 loss to Dallas and now a 33-10 loss to the Eagles this week. The 49ers entered the season without much talent on offense, and aside from their talented defensive front there’s a lot of holes on that side of the ball, too. Now the team is dealing with injuries, which has a lot to do with the lack of production on either side of the ball. Adding a new starting QB in the form of Jimmy Garoppolo, but lets be real here. It may be a small step to possibly solving the problems for the Niners, but its really only a short term solution if that.

Best:
DeAndre Hopkins, Wide Receiver Houston Texans
Have yourself a day young man. Again, as I said earlier with DeShaun Watson, it was a tough day for the Texans. The two bright spots were Watson and his favorite target DeAndre Hopkins. Hopkins had eight catches for 224 yards and a touchdown. It marked the 2nd time in his career that Hopkins had a 200+ receiving yard game, he had 238 receiving yards on November 14th 2014 against the Titans. Its no secret that Hopkins is one of the very best in the game today, but is getting overshadowed by other players like Odell Beckham, Antonio Brown and Julio Jones.

Worst:
Julio Jones, Wide Receiver Atlanta Falcons
Speaking of which, Julio Jones has surprisingly been a non factor for the Falcons this year. For a guy who has the ability to dominate a game whenever he so desires, he hasn't been able to do that this year. Julio has one touchdown on the year and that was in the Super Bowl rematch. In the Falcons 25-20 win over the Jets, Julio was almost MIA. He had one big play for 53 yards, finishing with three catches for 74 yards, but he was targeted six times. The fact that he couldn't find the back of the endzone has been a real surprise. Through seven games, Jones has caught just 37 passes for 540 yards and one touchdown. If he continues at this pace, Jones will catch 84 passes for 1,234 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers are way down for a guy who usually catches over 100 passes a season and averages 1,600 or more yards a year.

Best:
JuJu Smith-Schuster, Wide Receiver Pittsburgh Steelers
Have yourself a solid day my boy. Pittsburgh's rookie wide receiver, a man who also may have one of the coolest names in the league, JuJu Smith-Schuster had himself a solid day against Detroit. He finished the day with seven catches for 1932 yards and a score. Those 193 yards were the second most yards by a wide out on the day, behind only DeAndre Hopkins. The highlight of the night was Smith-Schuster’s 97-yard touchdown catch that put the Pittsburgh Steelers up for good. All this was coming after a war of the words, if you will, over social media with fellow teammate Martavis Bryant. Bryant spent this game on the sideline, while Smith-Schuster stole the show in this game. Not bad mate.

Worst:
New York Jets Holding Leads
I hate sounding like a broken record here, but the Jets can't seem to be able to hold a lead in the 4th quarter of a football game. They had a handle on things, it seems, during this three game losing streak, but they just can't seem to hold things down in the 4th quarter. The Jets had a 17-10 lead late in the 2nd quarter. In the 2nd half is when it all started to fall apart. One muffed punt by Jeremy Kerley and two missed field goals by kicker Chandler Catanzaro were the biggest plays that seemed to kill the Jets chances in the 2nd half of the game. Failure to execute late in games for the Jets is what has killed them. Facts are the Jets weren't going to really go anywhere with the team that they have, and yes they have surprised quite a few people this season at times. But if they really want to make some noise in the AFC, they need to be able to finish games out.