NFL Week 8 Recap: Rasul Douglas is a Treasure

The month of November has arrived, and with Thanksgiving just a few weeks away, I just want to express how thankful I am that Rasul Douglas is a Green Bay Packer. Week 8 began with a highly important meeting between the Packers and the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale--a game that saw the Packers immensely shorthanded. Not one, not two, but three receivers out, yet the Packers were in control for the entire game, thanks to Aaron Rodgers connecting with Randall Cobb, as well as the tandem of Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon racking up rushing yards. The fourth quarter saw the Packers up 24-21, and Aaron Jones run it in for a touchdown...or so we thought. Replay showed that he was short, and after being stopped at the one on 4th down, the Cardinals took over. Despite their bad starting position, the Cardinals made it within five yards of a game winning touchdown.

And then it happened. With 15 seconds left, Kyler Murray gets a high snap, tosses it quickly to AJ Green...and it ends up in the hands of Rasul Douglas for a game clinching interception. Many have placed the blame on Green for stopping on that pass play, but regardless, Douglas' INT sealed it. The Packers won. No Adams. No Lazard. No Valdes-Scantling. Lost Tonyan during the third quarter. The Packers won. Green Bay is 7-1, and so is Arizona. As a result of the Cardinals' loss, it's another year that the 1972 Miami Dolphins can pop the champagne corks. This is the 50th anniversary of that perfect season, and they will celebrate it knowing that they will remain the only perfect team for another year.

Week 8 was an improvement over a highly disappointing Week 7, as there were more things that really stood out. Other than the Packers' win, another noteworthy game was the first meeting between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints; a game that saw Trevor Siemian have to enter after Jameis Winston suffered a terrible ACL and MCL injury. The Saints broke out to a huge lead under Siemian, but Brady came back and led the Bucks to pull ahead of the Saints. The Saints' last drive was a baffling one that saw them (while down 27-26), actually throw passes after the two minute warning instead of run the ball to kill time and force the Bucs to use their timeouts. They got the go-ahead FG, but there was one problem: they left over 100 seconds for Brady.

Yet on the first play of the drive, Brady threw a Pick 6. A Pick 6. Brady rarely throws those, yet that's what happened. So the Saints defense bailed out the questionable decision making on that last drive, and the Saints ended up winning by a score of 36-27. So with that, the NFC South race is officially a race. The Saints are a half game behind the Bucs, who have a bye next week.

Even in victory, the Kansas City Chiefs are still a mess. The Chiefs defeated the New York Giants, 20-17, on Monday Night Football, but it's more like they survived. This was yet another sloppy game by KC, which saw Patrick Mahomes throw his tenth interception of the season (not his fault, but even so). Their problems holding the ball remained, as Travis Kelce had a lost fumble of his own, meaning that all four main members of that Chiefs powerhouse (Mahomes, Edwards-Helaire, Hill, Kelce) have had at least one lost fumble. The only reason why the Chiefs won this game is because the Giants are a bigger mess, but even so, the Giants actually led in this game and had an actual chance to win it, only for the heavily maligned and faulty defense to prevent the comeback. The Chiefs' next three games before their bye: vs Green Bay, at Las Vegas, and vs Dallas. Holy smokes.

The sound you are hearing right now is the entire state of Tennessee screaming in panic. The Titans won, 34-31, in overtime, over the division rival Indianapolis Colts, but it came at a vast price: Derrick Henry suffered a foot injury that will require surgery and keep him out for the rest of the season. The man known as King Henry has been the Titans' team since he's been there. Now, even with the team at 6-2, there is worry that they won't get far without the NFL's best running back. The Titans moved up to the #1 spot in the AFC, and that's because the Cincinnati Bengals lost a shocker to the New York Jets by that same score: 34-31. Also as a result, the idle Baltimore Ravens moved into sole possession of first place in the AFC North, which saw an ugly game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns won by the former.

Sunday Night Football saw Cooper Rush take the helm in place of Dak Prescott, and win! The Dallas Cowboys won, 20-16, over the Minnesota Vikings, with Rush leading a clutch game-winning drive capped off by his TD pass to Amari Cooper. Elsewhere, the Carolina Panthers snapped their four-game losing streak with a road win over the Atlanta Falcons, the Rams soundly defeated the Houston Texans, and as for the Detroit Lions, they're 0-8 after their 44-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Lions are nearly halfway to futility once again.

So we are almost halfway through the season, and the Packers are #1 in the NFC due to their win over the Cardinals. The Cowboys are 6-1, and the Buccaneers are 6-2, rounding out the NFC's division leaders. In the AFC, the Titans are the top team at 6-2, while the Raiders, Ravens, and Bills each have 5-2 records. The 4-4 Chiefs sit outside the playoff line by a hair, but there's still 10 weeks left to go.

Week 9 kicks off with the Indianapolis Colts hosting the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football. Sunday Night Football will feature the Los Angeles Rams hosting the Tennessee Titans in the latter's first game without Derrick Henry, and the Chicago Bears and the Pittsburgh Steelers will face off on Monday Night Football. Regarding byes, Detroit, Washington, Seattle, and Tampa Bay are off.

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