Through seven weeks of the NFL season, there have been 26 games with a lead change in the final two minutes of regulation, the most in NFL history. Roughly half of all NFL games are decided by a single score. The name of this column, of course, plays on the famous Bert Bell quote on the National Football League’s inherent parity.

Week 8 of the 2025 season bucked those trends, giving us an average margin of victory of 18.25 points across the 12 games played thus far. What we lost in intrigue, or last minute drama, this slate of games made up for with outstanding individual performances, sideline tantrums, the emergence of genuine post-season challengers and head-scratching performances from veteran quarterbacks.

Here’s our review of Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season….

 

WEEK 8 SCORES
(excl. Monday 27th October)

Thursday

Minnesota Vikings 10 @ Los Angeles Chargers 37

Sunday:

Miami Dolphins 34 @ Atlanta Falcons 10

Chicago Bears 16 @ Baltimore Ravens 30

New York Jets 39 @ Cincinnati Bengals 38

Buffalo Bills 40 @ Carolina Panthers 9

San Francisco 49ers 15 @ Houston Texans 26

Cleveland Browns 13 @ New England Patriots 32

New York Giants 20 @ Philadelphia Eagles 38

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23 @ New Orleans Saints 3

Tennessee Titans 14 @ Indianapolis Colts 38

Dallas Cowboys 24 @ Denver Broncos 44

Green Bay Packers 35 @ Pittsburgh Steelers 25

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GAME OF THE WEEK

New York Jets 39 @ Cincinnati Bengals 38

The sole one-score game in Week 8 came in Ohio, as the Jets picked up their first win of the season with a come-from-behind effort against the Bengals.

Cincinnati held a 31-16 lead in the fourth quarter, thanks to a well-rounded effort from Joe Flacco and his offensive stars, notably Chase Brown who put forward his best game of the season, generating 100 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.

However, the Jets were always in the fight. Justin Fields was solid, throwing for 244 yards and a touchdown after two weeks of abject failure under center. It was Breece Hall that was the driving force behind this victory, however. Not only did the fourth-year back run for 133 yards and two touchdowns on just 18 carries, he also passed for the go-ahead touchdown, double-clutching the ball on a designed play, and eventually lofting the pigskin into the hands of Mason Taylor. According to Next Gen Stats, it was the pass with the lowest completion probability converted by a running back since their records began back in 2016.

The game served as something of a vindication for Aaron Glenn’s coaching style. The one point win was set up by a two-point conversion after Hall’s 27-yard touchdown in the second quarter. The rookie head coach put the game in the hands of his much-maligned quarterback at that moment, and Fields was up to the task, finding Isiah Davis and setting up Gang Green to win the game on the final drive. It could prove to be a turning point in his calamitous tenure thus far.

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MVP OF THE WEEK

Jonathan Taylor (RB, Indianapolis Colts)

Another week, another complete performance by the Indianapolis Colts’ offense.

Shane Steichen’s unit is a sum of its parts. Their offensive line — especially the left side anchored by perennial all-pro Quenton Nelson and the underrated tackle Bernhard Raimann — is the league’s best according to PFF. Michael Pittman is consistently moving the chains, while his counterparts in the receiving corps pick their week to add explosive plays; this week, it was Alec Pierce’s turn. QB Daniel Jones, meanwhile, put together another faultless display against the hapless Titans, throwing for three scores and completing 21 of his 29 attempts.

But if there’s one player that is a true star, it’s Jonathan Taylor. The fifth-year back is on track for 2,244 yards from scrimmage and 28 total touchdowns this season. While the logic from the league’s experts is that rushing success is a team effort, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest Taylor is turning positive plays into outstanding success at an alarming rate. He has forced a missed tackle on 34 percent of his attempts, leading the NFL with 366 rushing yards after missed tackles. Against the Titans, he forced eight missed tackles on just 12 carries. According to Next Gen Stats, Taylor gained an additional 131 rushing yards on those plays, the most by a ball carrier in a game since 2020.

Those stats don’t even take into account the spectacular play Taylor made on his receiving touchdown. Taking a pop pass on a jet sweep, the running back broke through multiple weak arm tackles from the over-matched Tennessee defense and bulldozed his way to a 20-yard score. He is the first player to score three touchdowns in three straight games.

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Winners: Jordan Love

Sunday night’s game between the Steelers and Packers set up a mouth-watering quarterback duel between Aaron Rodgers and his replacement in Green Bay, Jordan Love. While Rodgers put forward a perfectly respectable performance that reverted back to a short-pass heavy game script, Love demonstrated he is very much the man for the moment.

Love completed 13 of 17 passes against man coverage for 232 yards and three touchdowns. That’s the most yards against man coverage in any game this season according to Next Gen Stats. The Packers go-ahead score in the third quarter came off a scarcely believable throw deep to Christian Watson on a crucial third down. Love heaved the ball downfield against the grain, scrambling to his right before uncorking a 40-yard bomb over the middle to the deep threat on his first game back after an ACL tear.

While the Steelers ran up an early lead, the Packers played complimentary football through the second half to secure the 35-25 win. With Rashan Gary and Micah Parsons totalling three sacks, and the passing game under Love showing improvement, the Packers look like good value at 5-1-1 despite seemingly only just hitting their stride.

Loser: Myles Sanders

In the closing moments of the Cleveland Browns 32-13 loss in New England, Myles Garrett was blowing up. The generational pass rusher had enjoyed an outstanding personal afternoon, terrorising both sides of the Patriots offensive line, generating pressure from across the formation and sacking Drake Maye five times.

Pulled from the game to preserve him for the rest of the season (and maybe making sure he’s healthy ahead of the November 4th trade deadline) prompted a meltdown that saw Garrett smash his helmet against the Cleveland bench.

There’s little sympathy given towards a generational player that just five months ago rescinded a trade request to sign a four-year $160m extension with the Browns. He insists that he puts winning above all else, but how could he marry those comments with that decision? Everyone could see the Browns’ offense was, at best, a work-in-progress this term, with the understanding that either Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders would supplant Joe Flacco at some point. Now aged 28, if Garrett is to again push for a trade, it will have to come sooner rather than later.

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THE ROUND UP

The Eagles and Giants rematch just a fortnight after the G-Men’s shock 34-17 win in Week 6 brought up two major talking points. Cam Skattebo’s graphic ankle injury brought the league’s feelgood buddy comedy in the New York backfield to a premature end; Jaxson Dart was visibly upset after the running back’s injury. The Eagles were good value for their 38-20 win, but they did receive a fair dose of help from the refs, particularly when Jalen Hurts was ruled to have had his forward progress halted on a Tush Push in the second quarter. With the scores at 7-7, Kayvon Thibodeaux’s strip of the Eagles’ quarterback with an open field ahead would have been a game-changing play. The defensive end called the ruling ‘some bullshit’ after the game and, through gritted teeth, I have to agree. Could this be used as another example of why the ‘Brotherly Shove’ should be banned in the offseason?

The Atlanta Falcons are the most maddening outfit in the NFL through two months. A statement win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 6 has been followed by two games where they have scored just ten points — total. Their 34-10 loss against the reeling Miami Dolphins was flat out ugly. Kirk Cousins was starting in place of the injured Michael Penix Jr, and attempted just one pass of more than 10 yards, looking like he has next to no mobility left two years removed from his devastating Achilles injury. With no fear of the passing game, the Dolphins were able to sell out against the run, holding Bijan Robinson to just 25 yards (and a fumble) on nine rushing attempts.

Week 8 was a bad showing for aging backup quarterbacks across the board, as Andy Dalton struggled during the Carolina Panthers’ chastening 40-9 defeat at the hands of the Bills. Playing behind a line missing three of its starters, the Red Rifle took seven sacks on the day, including an inexcusable loss of yards when the Panthers had a chance at a field goal before the half. The Panthers were bossed around for the full 60 minutes, with James Cook scoring two touchdowns and rushing for 216 yards on just 19 carries.

The 49ers could not overcome a lacklustre first half performance on the road in Houston. The Texans ran up a 16-0 lead in the first 29 minutes of action, holding on to the ball for 25 minutes as the Mac Jones-led Niners failed to muster a single first down. A last-minute touchdown toss to George Kittle — on National Tight End’s Day — cut the score to nine at the break, but did little to wrest back momentum on the day, as the Texans put together their most complete performance of the season.

The Ravens got their season back on track with a 30-16 win over the streaking Chicago Bears. Tyler Huntley was solid if unspectacular in offering around 60 percent of your typical Lamar Jackson performance, adding 53 rushing yards on his five designed carries to supplement Derrick Henry and Keaton Mitchell’s efforts in rushing-heavy attack. The Bears will feel this was a missed opportunity, as Caleb Williams threw a back-breaking interception in the shadow of his own posts with the scores at 16-13 to Baltimore. The Ravens were able to keep their season alive in a must-win game, but how will Chicago’s mistakes affect their post-season push?

The Cowboys defense continues to give teams struggling for offensive rhythm the chance to sort themselves out. Bo Nix threw for four touchdowns, J.K. Dobbins and R.J. Harvey combined for 157 yards on the ground, and Sean Payton got the chance to stick the boot in on his former employers in the Broncos’ 44-22 win. The offense has worked in the past five quarters, against the crumbling Giants and the hapless Cowboys, but can Payton find the same success on the road against the league’s best defensive unit, the Houston Texans?

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STATS OF THE WEEK

• Josh Allen threw for a touchdown and ran in two scores in the Bills 40-9 win. That was the 46th time the reigning MVP has achieved the feat, giving him sole lead of one pass/one rush touchdown games in NFL history. He had previously shared the record with Carolina legend Cam Newton.
• Flacco’s one-yard rushing score made him the oldest player in Bengals’ history to score a touchdown. The ex-Ravens star also notched a 13-yard run to convert a 3rd-and-12. Flacco became the first player over 40 years old to record back-to-back games of multiple passing touchdowns and a 10-yard run since Doug Flutie did it for the San Diego Chargers back in 2003.

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