Ten biggest winners and losers from NFL Week 8

Shanked kicks in overtime, comeback victories, second-half collapses. These are just a few of the big events that unfolded in NFL Week 8.

Tom Brady reminded Rex Ryan and the Bills who runs things in the AFC East. The Cleveland Browns reminded us all why they’re referred to as the Factory of Sadness.

There was plenty of greatness on display, but ineptitude was also a big factor in how things shook out.

After sorting through the 12 games from Thursday through Sunday, we’ve come up with the following winners and losers from NFL Week 8.

Winner: Brady, Gronk and the Pats bury Bills in Western New York

Despite sporting a shutout win at Gillette Stadium earlier this year, the Buffalo Bills had absolutely no chance to beat the New England Patriots Sunday in Western New York. The final score read 41-25, but after the Bills scored first with a field goal, the outcome was never in doubt.

This game was over by halftime, with New England sporting a two-touchdown lead. It immediately pushed the lead to three touchdowns early in the third quarter, and it was clear at that point the Bills wouldn’t be able to come back.

Tom Brady did exactly what he’s been doing ever since returning to action in the wake of his ridiculous four-game suspension — he ripped Buffalo’s defense to shreds.

His 53-yard rainbow strike to Chris Hogan showed he still has plenty of arm, and of course he had to get Rob Gronkowski into the mix for his 69th career touchdown (watch here).

In total, New England’s golden boy finished with 315 yards and four touchdowns on 22-of-33 passing. He also added a 15-yard scramble.

What he’s doing right now puts him on pace to achieve numbers in 12 games that will blow your mind.

The Patriots are now 4-0 since Brady’s return and 7-1 overall. They’ve won the past four games by an average score of 34-18 and appear poised to cruise to the AFC’s top seed for the upcoming playoffs.

Loser: Comedy of errors spoil terrific London game

For the second week in a row, an NFL game ended in a 27-27 tie. Marring what had been a terrific contest between the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals, overtime mistakes by both teams caused this unseemly result.

In particular, ridiculously bad kicking errors by both teams and mistakes by quarterback Andy Dalton are to blame for the tie.

Cincinnati kicker Mike Nugent missed an extra point and a 51-yard field goal in regulation. Had he made either of those, overtime wouldn’t have been needed.

Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins missed two of his four attempts, the last being a straight shank on a 34-yard attempt in overtime that would have won the game (watch here).

After that miss, Dalton fumbled away the ball late in overtime on a quarterback sneak.

While Londoners are used to their sporting events ending in ties, we here in America are not, especially when it concerns our brand of football.

Neither team played well when it mattered most on Sunday morning, and both will head back to the states with plenty to think about after failing to come to a resolution.

Winner: Panthers finally wake up from post-Super Bowl slumber

It would be easy to criticize the Arizona Cardinals for what was quite an inept performance on both sides of the ball. They certainly deserve scrutiny for arriving flat. Before they could stop the bleeding with a touchdown at the end of the first half, they were looking at a 24-0 deficit.

But rather than focus on Arizona’s early futility, we’re choosing to highlight what was a glimmer of hope for the Panthers this season. For the first time in 2016, Carolina played like it did in 2015 en route to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl appearance.

Veteran linebacker Thomas Davis got things started right for the Panthers with a touchdown off a Carson Palmer fumble on the first drive of the game (watch here). From there, Carolina just dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, shutting down running back David Johnson and forcing the Cardinals into four straight punts.

Cam Newton and Co. scored on three straight possessions in the middle of all this, and the game was over by halftime.

The Panthers rediscovered their pass rush during this one, abusing Arizona’s offensive line to the tune of eight sacks — the most that Palmer has endured in his career.

The Panthers ended up ceding plenty of yardage by the end of the game, but it was all meaningless. Perhaps the most-telling stat of this game was that all-world running back David Johnson compiled just 24 yards on 10 carries and failed to find the end zone.

Carolina’s defense was a brick wall in the running game and a pass-rushing juggernaut when the Cardinals passed the ball.

Newton didn’t have a great day through the air, but he didn’t need to. This one was all about old-school, run the ball and stop the run football. It was a welcome sight for the Panthers and their fans. Now at 2-5 , perhaps Ron Rivera’s squad can dig its way out of the early hole it fell into to finish with a respectable record.

Loser: Jaguars fire the wrong coach following another embarrassing loss

The Jacksonville Jaguars are an unholy mess right now. They’re playing so bad that we’re pretty sure the winless Cleveland Browns would tear them to shreds.

Thursday night, Gus Bradley’s team was dismantled on national television by the Tennessee Titans.

Though the final score (36-22) made it seem like, just perhaps, the game was competitive, we can assure you it was not. Tennessee led 27-0 at the half and 33-8 at the end of the third quarter — a far more telling display of how badly the Jaguars were outplayed.

We knew the Jaguars would have to do something after this game to stir things up. Team owner Shahid Khan had met with players and coaches before the game to find “solutions” to the team’s 2-4 start. He was understandably concerned with how the team had performed. Then they went out and laid an egg once again.

Blake Bortles, who continues to regress badly, was unwatchable early, though he did manage his customary garbage-time stats by the end of the game.

The team’s solution following the game was to fire offensive coordinator Greg Olson and promote quarterback coach Nathaniel Hackett. On many levels, this move reeks of needing a scapegoat, and it’s hard to imagine the man responsible for helping Bortles develop of late will boost offensive output.

In truth, it’s Bradley who deserves the bulk of the blame for Jacksonville’s current plight. Since he took over in 2013, he’s compiled the dismal record of 14-41 — the worst record of of any coach through 50-plus games in NFL history.

Winner: Saints take down the mighty Seahawks 

When the New Orleans Saints opened the season with three straight losses, giving up an ungodly amount of offense in the process, it looked like another lost season. But with a 3-1 record since then, capped off by a tidy victory over the mighty Seattle Seahawks, this team is suddenly within striking distance of the AFC South crown.

Playing at home Sunday, the Saints showed remarkable resilience against one of the NFC’s powerhouse teams. It looked like Seattle might run away with the game after Earl Thomas ran back a Drew Brees fumble in the first quarter for a touchdown.

But the Saints weren’t about to be blown out in their own building.

Coming from behind in the second half after being down 17-13, Brees led three consecutive scoring drives that consisted of 31 total plays and chewed up just over 14 minutes of clock en route to a very impressive 25-20 win.

The veteran passer outplayed Russell Wilson, who struggled to connect with his receivers in this one. Brees would finish with 265 yards and a touchdown, while Wilson went for 253 and an interception.

The game ball could easily go to running back Tim Hightower, however, who rushed for 102 hard-earned yards on 26 carries against Seattle’s vaunted defense.

On paper, the outcome of this game means more to the Saints than it does to the Seahawks, who are still two games ahead of the Cardinals in the loss column. With a record of 3-4, New Orleans is still alive to potentially wrest the NFC South title away from the Atlanta Falcons or work its way into the NFC Wild Card scenario.

Loser: Indy defense gets smoked … by Nick Foles?

We all know defense isn’t the Indianapolis Colts’ strong suit. It hasn’t been a team strength dating back to before the Peyton Manning era. That the Colts will struggle defensively is a given, but what happened Sunday at home against the Kansas City Chiefs was another level of incompetence altogether.

With both Alex Smith and Spencer Ware out for a big portion of this game due to concussions, Indy managed to make Nick Foles, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce look like All-Pros.

As you can see from the highlight above, the Colts had no clue what they were doing defensively on the back end on Hill’s 34-yard touchdown reception. This isn’t exactly a rare occurrence for this unit, either.

Foles ended up with 223 yards and two touchdowns on 16-of-22 passing. Even more impressive from a Chiefs standpoint is that he did all that despite being plugged into the game, pulled out of it when Smith came back after his first big hit and then being put back into it following Smith’s second big blast.

Indy is now 3-5 on the season. Head coach Chuck Pagano and general manager Ryan Grigson recently got a huge vote of confidence from owner Jim Irsay (more on that here). But in reality, they both should have been fired after last season.

This roster is a broken thing. Andrew Luck has played pretty darn well this year, but he has no help up front and has way too much pressure on his shoulders to score, thanks to a defense that cannot stop anyone — including Nick Foles.

Winner: Derek Carr turning into late-game star

The Oakland Raiders did not deserve to win Sunday on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

They lost the turnover battle and broke an NFL record by incurring an astonishing 23 penalties for 200 yards — yes, two full football fields worth of penalties.

Oakland’s defense did a good job limiting what Jameis Winston was able to do through the air, but it wasn’t defense that won the day. Instead, it was the arm of Derek Carr, who is quickly developing into a late-game superstar.

After trudging through a rather frustrating first half in which he failed to throw a touchdown, Carr watched as the Bucs took a 10-3 lead into the half.

Then he busted loose with four second-half touchdowns, including the game-winner to Seth Roberts (watch here).

Carr finished with an astounding 513 yards and four touchdowns on 40-of-59 passing. This puts him in rare company among the NFL’s elites.

This game should have never gone to overtime, and the Raiders nearly lost in the extra period. Kicker Sebastian Janikowski missed two field goals — one at the end of the fourth quarter and one in overtime, that made things more interesting than the Raiders would have liked in Tampa Bay.

But thanks to the never-say-die attitude of Carr, they pulled out their fifth win on the road this year to improve to 6-2 on the season. This marked the third time this year that Carr pulled off a come-from-behind win on the road. While he’s got a ways to go before he becomes a legend, he’s well on his way.

Loser: Cleveland is *still* the Factory of Sadness

The Cleveland Browns had the New York Jets right where they wanted them. Up by the score of 20-7 at the half, with Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick looking like the second coming of Mark Sanchez, circa butt-fumble, Cleveland was poised to finally win its first game of the year.

https://twitter.com/billbarnwell/status/792796923954618368

Josh McCown and Terrelle Pryor were cooking early in this one, connecting on six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. McCown showed no signs of rust and finished the first half with two touchdowns.

Everything was going right.

Then it wasn’t.

McCown and the offense imploded. He threw two second-half interceptions that led mercifully led to just three points. Unfortunately for him, the Browns and their long-suffering fans, that was the difference in the 31-28 win for the Jets.

While McCown struggled, Fitzpatrick came alive. He connected with Quincy Enunwa on a 57-yard touchdown and finished the game with 228 yards, making up for a disgustingly inept first half in a big way.

The Browns are now 0-8. And the way things are going, one win might be too much to ask. Things got so bad in Cleveland Sunday that the Dawg Pound even joined in on the … whatever it is that’s going on with the Browns these days (more on that here).

No matter how bad things are for your favorite team, you have absolutely no room to complain out loud anywhere near a Browns fan. Cleveland truly is the Factory of Sadness.

Winner: No Fly Zone comes through once again for Broncos

The Denver Broncos are not a strong offensive team right now, especially now that running back C.J. Anderson is out indefinitely following knee surgery.

This was clearly evident Sunday when Denver hosted its AFC West rival San Diego Chargers.

Second-year quarterback Trevor Siemian continues to look great at times but has not been consistent all year long. He finished with 276 yards against the Chargers but failed to throw a touchdown while turning the ball over twice — one on an interception (a pick-six, no less) and another on a lost fumble.

These two turnovers led to two scoring opportunities. And Denver was lucky when kicker Josh Lambo missed a 45-yard attempt near the end of the first half or they would have resulted in more points for the Chargers.

Rookie running back Devontae Booker was stymied to the tune of just 2.8 yards per carry, and Denver’s offense as a whole just never got into a groove.

Thankfully, the defense did.

Creating five turnovers in all, the Broncos capitalized on San Diego’s mistakes, wreaking havoc on Philip Rivers and the passing game all game long. Rivers threw two touchdowns but also threw three interceptions, one of which was returned 49 yards for a touchdown by Bradley Roby.

The Broncos also sacked Rivers four times and hit him 13 more times in a dominant performance by the guys in the trenches.

As we saw last year, Denver will go as far as its defense will take it in 2016. Thankfully for Broncos fans, Von Miller and Co. owned the field Sunday.

Loser: Lions blow it with terrible scheme in Houston

It’s not exactly a league secret that the Houston Texans feature a heck of a pass defense. Coming into the game, they ranked No. 2 in yards allowed per game (185) and tied for fourth in touchdowns allowed through the air (five).

With that in mind, we’re still scratching our heads hours later thinking about Detroit’s pass-heavy game plan in a winnable game on the road.

Matthew Stafford, who typically struggles away from home, didn’t impress in Houston Sunday. He finished with 240 yards and one touchdown on 27-of-41 passing and struggled to get his big-play receiver, Marvin Jones, involved throughout the game.

Jones finished with just three receptions for 33 yards on seven targets. Meanwhile, it was tight end Eric Ebron and running back Theo Riddick who made the biggest impact in the passing game.

Speaking of Riddick, he was hot in this one. In addition to his 77 yards and a touchdown on eight receptions, he rushed for 56 yards on 11 carries (5.1 yards per carry). But therein lies the problem. He only got 11 carries. In total, Lions running backs ran the ball just 14 times.

This going against a Houston defense that was among the league’s worst at stopping the run heading into the contest. Riddick wasn’t losing many battles on Sunday. But rather than ride the hot hand, Detroit’s offense kept passing the ball — essentially banging its head against a brick wall instead of using the side door for easy access.

Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter usually is better about attacking a defense’s weakness. That did not happen in this game, which was won by Houston, 20-13.

Yes, the Texans jumped out to an early 14-3 lead. But at no time during the game up until the waning moments did the Texans get so far ahead so as to keep the Lions from running the ball.

It was a complete failure to understand what was working and what was not working in a critical game. Now the Lions find themselves 4-4 at the season’s midway point instead of 5-3.