Best & Worst Of NFL Week Eight

Week eight has come and gone in the National Football League. It was kind of an indication that things were going to get weird this week when four Jaguars players were involved in a bar fight before their matchup with the Eagles. There were a lot of other things going on this week as well. Bell still a no show with the Steelers. Major changes came for both Tampa Bay and Cleveland. Playoff races are starting to take shape, as are the teams gunning for the first overall pick in next years draft. Patrick Mahomes is staking a claim for MVP while Adrian Peterson still finds a way to defy time. All that and more went down in week eight. With that being said, here's some of the best and worst from the week that was.

Best:
James Conner, Running Back Pittsburgh Steelers
Some felt that not having Le'Von Bell in the Steelers lineup would end up hurting them. It hasn't. As a matter of fact, with the way James Conner has been playing to this point, the Steelers don't miss bell at all it seems. In Pittsburgh's 33-18 win over the Browns, Conner went off again. He finished with 24 carries for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Oh yeah, he also added 66 more yards on five receptions through the receiving game. Its a total of 212 yards of offense from one guy. The numbers through the first eight games are really eye popping. Conner now has 922 yards and nine touchdowns on the season and is on pace to finish with 2,107 yards and 20 touchdowns. To say he's feeling it would be an understatement

Worst:
Ty Montgomery, Running Back Green Bay Packers
This proved to be Ty's last game in a Packers uniform. The Rams pulled out a 29-27 win over the Packers and Green Bay was looking good in this game too. Their defense held this high powered Rams offense to under 30 points and just 5.5 yards per play.  the rams scored t a touchdown to take the lead with just about two minutes left. Los Angeles kicked off to Ty Montgomery who could have let the ball go out the endzone for a touchback. He was even told by the coaches if he caught the ball to take a knee in the endzone and not waste the clock. He didn't listen. Ty caught the ball, ran it out and then fumbled the ball on the return, and the game was over. I know its easier said than done but come on man. Know the situation my boy!

Best:
Josh Rosen, Quarterback Arizona Cardinals
It's a year of firsts for rookie quarterbacks. Josh Rosen just got his first fourth quarter comeback victory. Down by 12 points after Robbie Gould kicked a field goal early in the fourth quarter, Rosen led the Cardinals on two touchdown-scoring drives, including one that put them ahead for good with just 34 seconds left on the clock. The rookie showed guts and heart, and got the Cardinals out of the NFC West basement in the process. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was a huge first step that shows he’s capable of much, much more. Sure it was against another bad team in the 349ers but hey a win is a win, no matter how you get it.

Worst:
Jameis Winston, Quarterback Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I'm sure this isn't the way Winston wanted to end his day on Sunday. The Bucs fell to the Bengals 37-34 and despite the efforts of Winston, almost pulled off the comeback. Winston was horrible, going 18 of 35 for 276 yards, throwing for one touchdown. He was picked off four times and sacked another five times. One of those picks was an embarrassing pick six that looked to hand the Bengals the game. To make matters worse, Winston's future as starter of the team this year just went up in the air. Once Fitzpatrick took over, this Tampa offense showed a lot more life. After the pick-six, Cincinnati was up 34-16. Fitzpatrick tied the game up with three scoring drives in the final 17 minutes of the game before the Bengals won it on a field goal as time expired. How the Bucs can go back to him is a myster, if they want to have any chance at all of salvaging this year.

Best:
Jared Geoff, Quarterback Los Angeles Rams
Hats off to Geoff for hanging in there against Green Bay. We talked about Ty's mishap that cost the Packers the game, but lets not forget about the performance that Geoff put in for this two point Rams win. He finished the day going 19 of 35 for 295 yards and three touchdowns. What really stood out about Geoff in this performance is that he was sacked five times in this game, FIVE TIMES, by that Green Bay defense. He still hung in there, took his lumps, got back up and scored touchdowns. That comeback win kept the Rams undefeated on the season and Geoff had himself a day. Yes Todd Gurley was a factor in this game, but this performance by Geoff really tested his mental and physical toughness and he passed with flying colors.

Worst
Joe Flacco, Quarterback Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore has fallen back to .500 at 4-4 following the tough 36-21 loss to the Panthers on Sunday and Joe Flacco had a bad day. Flacco threw two really bad interceptions, and his lone touchdown went to a running back. He finished the day going just 22 of 39 passes for 192 yards against a defense that allowed an average of 275 passing yards per game before Sunday. Making matters worse, depending on how you look at it, rookie Lamar Jackson looked fantastic after he replaced Flacco. Jackson threw for 46 yards and a touchdown on just five attempts. Not only is Baltimore back to .500 but they are just barley above the Cleveland Browns in the division, which is sad to think about really. Flacco needs to get this thing figured out if they want to stand any chance at all of coming back in this division.

Best:
Saints Revenge
This game, in every sense of the word, was payback for the Minnesota Miracle game. New Orleans pulled out a 30-20 win over Minnesota, in Minnesota no less. Drew Brees has been playing great, but it's so much more then him on a roll right now as to why the Saints can be viewed as one of the top teams in the league at the moment. Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram are back at providing a one two punch in the backfield, combining for 26 carries, 108 rush yards and a touchdown from Kamara. With those two guys going, once they get their legs under them as a tandam again, makes the Saints even more dangerous. Defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins and defensive end Marcus Davenport each had two sacks, and the secondary is limiting explosive plays. What happens with the Saints and Rams coming up could go a long way in determining home field in the playoffs.

Worst:
49ers Decision Making
It was a battle of the bad between the 49ers and Cards on Sunday, with Arizona walking away with an 18-15 win. San Francisco did whatever it could do to shoot itself in the foot and give this game away. Matt Breida had a bad ankle going into the game and should never have been playing and it showed. He rushed for just 42 yards against the 2nd worst rush defense in the league. The other two backs combined for 46 yards on eight carries, which wasn't a whole lot better. It goes from bad to worse for the 49ers as they got too conservative on both sides of the ball. It allowed the Cardinals to get back into, and ultimately, win the game. Can't take your foot off the gas pedal in this sport.

Best:
Adam Vinatieri, Kicker Indianapolis Colts
It's a lock that Adam Vinatieri is headed for Canton Ohio when he finally decides to call it a career. He's been setting records already this year for the most career field goals made in NFL history. Going into Sunday's game against the Raiders, which the Colts won 42-28, Vinatieri needed just five points to become the league's all time leading scorer. He finished with two field goals and four extra points for a total of ten points. It gave Vinatieri a total of 2,550 points, breaking Morten Andersen's old record of 2,544 points. It adds another milestone to his legendary career which not too many will come close to being able to touch. Congrats Adam!

Worst:
Hue Jackson, Head Coach Cleveland Browns
It's bad enough that the Browns got spanked by the Steelers, we talked about it earlier. It's now made worse when it cost Hue Jackson his job. After starting the year 2-5-1 this season, it put Jackson's coaching record at 336-1 during his time running the Browns, the worst mark by far of any team in the league. I don't know if its his coaching, or the lack of talent he has around him or what it was but the fact that Browns suck as bad as they do. Cleveland needed a fall guy for how bad things have gone with this team and it just happened to fall on the shoulders of the coach. Sorry HUe but you now got to look for work.