Things I Noticed: Week 8

About a third of the league has played 8 games now, which means we're already at about the halfway point of the season.  At this point we have a pretty decent idea about each team's identity, but just about every division finds itself in a tight race.  Well, except for the two South divisions.  Atlanta and Houston can feel pretty safe about printing those division title banners already, but for everyone else, there's still a long road ahead.
Bye Weeks: Buffalo, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Houston

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• Tampa Bay may have saved it's season behind a career day from Doug Martin.  The rookie RB rushed for 135 yards and a TD, while also catching 3 passes for 79 yards and another score.  Martin's explosiveness was on display on his 64 yard catch and run for a score early in the second half, as well as a 41 yard rush early in the game that helped the Bucs get into position to score first.
• Adrian Peterson had a big day as well, including a 64 yard TD run, but his second quarter fumble helped set up a quick score for the Bucs that turned the tide in their favor.  Peterson struggled holding on to the ball early in his career, fumbling 19 times in his first three seasons (losing 12 of them).  He recovered to get those issues under control in recent years, losing a total of only 1 fumble over the past two seasons, but has already fumbled twice this season.
• The Vikings got off to a surprising 5-2 start, but their run may be at an end.  They travel to Seattle next week and then face a beatable Lions teams at home before their bye.  Even if they manage a split of those two games, their post-bye schedule is brutal, including facing the Bears and Packers twice and a road trip to Houston.  They've certainly improved, but finishing with a winning record seems a bit too optimistic.  
• New England appears to like playing in old England.  The Patriots invaded London and once again dominated, this time at the expense of the Rams.  The NFL started hosting one game per season in London a few years back as part of their initiative to expand the game globally.  The success so far means we could see the NFL expand to either have a team in London or perhaps even an entire division in Europe.  
• Rob Gronkowski was unstoppable once again, collecting 8 catches for 146 yards and 2 TDs.  He also nearly added a third TD, but was ruled down less than a yard shy of the end zone on a drive the Pats would score on anyway.  Gronk now has 7 scores this season, tied for tops in the league for receiving TDs.  

• He's spent so much time in the end zone lately that he's even had time to add to his celebratory routine.  In honor of their visit to London, Gronk marched back and forth like one of the guards at Buckingham Palace before finishing with his patented spike.
• The banged up Brandon Lloyd has been limited lately, but he made both of his catches this week count with a pair of TDs.  With Aaron Hernandez inactive again and Wes Welker limping off the field in the 4th quarter, the Pats need Lloyd to continue to contribute.
• New England's offense set a league record for surpassing 350 total yards for the 17th straight game, as Tom Brady completed his 50th career game with 300+ passing yards.
• After scoring on a deep 50 yard TD pass from Sam Bradford to Chris Givens on the opening drive of the game, St. Louis failed to put points on the board the rest of the way.  Bradford completed 16 of his first 18 passes and finished 23 of 31 with only one turnover, but was still unable to put together any additional scoring drives.
• The Patriots were able to get off to a great start offensively in the first half thanks in part to St. Louis beating themselves with penalties.  Bradley Fletcher had a rough day, getting called for pass interference three times, all of which came on 3rd down to extend Patriots drives.
• The Bears may not have been their usual dominant selves, but they had just enough to squeeze past the Panthers on a last second field goal.  It took 17 points in the game's final 7 minutes to complete the comeback, including the defense bailing them out with yet another defensive score - their 6th for the season.  
• After the pick-six the Bears attempt to go for two failed when Josh Norman picked off the attempt.  He thought he had returned the favor by returning the pick all the way back to the other end zone, but apparently nobody told the rookie that you can't return a failed extra point attempt.
• Trent Richardson (122 yards, 1 TD) battled through injured ribs to lead the Browns to their second win of the season.  That score ended up being the only score of the game for Cleveland, but it proved to be just enough considering how awful the Chargers offense was.
• Is it time to officially drop Philip Rivers out of the conversation of elite QBs?  He's never had a reputation for coming through in big games and now he's not anywhere near the top statistically either.  You could make the case that he's actually in the bottom third of the league for starting QBs in the league right now.  Seriously, can you even name more than 5 other teams that would want him right now?
• Titus Young caught the winning TD pass - his second of the day - with 20 seconds left to lift the Lions over the Seahawks.  Young's 9 catches for 100 yards was a bright spot for a Lions offense that has struggled to live up to expectations.
• Part of those struggles this year have been due to Calvin Johnson being less than his dominant self.  He had another quiet game this week and his 3 catches equaled his number of drops - one of which came in the endzone.
• Marshawn Lynch did most of his damage on one run, which he took 77 yards for a score.  Despite that big gain, he finished with only 105 on the day.  Still a good game statistically,  but take away that one long run and he averaged just over 2.5 yards per carry in the game.
• The Packers receiver depth is being tested as Aaron Rodgers finds himself running out of targets, but Randall Cobb and James Jones gave him enough to get past the Jaguars.  Jordy Nelson was inactive this week, joining Greg Jennings on the sidelines.  
• Jennings has only played in parts of 3 games all season and recently had abdominal surgery that will cost him at least another three weeks.  There's even talk he may be done for the season.
• Vick Ballard took a screen pass from Andrew Luck 16 yards for the game winning score in OT to beat the Titans.  Ballard was knocked off his feet and flipped toward the end zone, with the ball just crossing the plane.  
• The Titans have a long history of being tormented by the Colts, but it was Peyton Manning that had always done the damage.  Now they have at least a decade of facing Luck to look forward to.
• Miami lost rookie QB Ryan Tannehill to a knee injury, but Matt Moore filled in admirably as the Dolphins cruised past the Jets.  
• A blocked punt returned for a score in the first quarter helped Miami get off to a good start from which the Jets would never recover.  Tim Tebow was on the field in punt protection, but could only watch as the defender breezed by him untouched to make the block.
• Andy Reid had never lost a game following his team's bye week (13-0), but that streak came to an end against the undefeated Falcons.  The noise out of Philadelphia about coaching or QB changes won't get any quieter now that the Eagles have dropped to 3-4, with their playoff hopes slipping away.
• Matt Ryan threw 3 TDs in the first half to put the game away early.  One of those scores went to Julio Jones, who continues to be an enigma with his home/road splits.  Jones is averaging 98 yards in 4 road games, but only under 36 yards per game in 3 home games.  Roddy White on the other hand is averaging over 114 yards in those home games, but only 62 yards on the road.  It seems unlikely that the Falcons have intentionally game planned to alternate between targeting their star receivers depending on the setting, but the trend at this point in the season can't be ignored.
• Robert Griffin has been so dominant that it's almost a surprise to see him struggle, despite being only a rookie, but the Steelers defense was able to contain him this week.  Griffin was held to 177 passing yards and only managed 8 yards on his 6 rush attempts.  His receivers certainly didn't help him out, as they dropped a staggering 10 passes in the game.
• Ben Roethlisberger threw a trio of TD passes to three different receivers, but even more impressive is the fact that he wasn't sacked in the game.  It's only the second time this season he has gone a game without being sacked and has been dropped 13 times already this season.
• Pittsburgh's throw back uniforms were scarier than any costume you'll see for Halloween this year.  Seriously, those things were hideous.
• Darren McFadden got back on track with a season high 114 yards to help lead the Raiders to a win in Kansas City.  Surprisingly, that's only his second game of the season surpassing the 100 yard mark.
• Jamaal Charles came into the week leading the league with an average of 98.5 rushing yards per game, but is becoming a victim of his own team's ineffectiveness.  That average of his (down to 85 yards per game) takes a big hit after he rushed for only 4 yards against Oakland, thanks in part to being limited to only 5 rushing attempts.  Kansas City's putrid offense combined with the fact that the team trailed most of the day led to Charles being taken out of the game plan.  The Chiefs most dangerous weapon didn't even touch the ball in the second half.
• Matt Cassel was replaced as the starter a couple weeks ago after first being knocked out with a concussion, then benched by his coaching staff in favor of Brady Quinn, but when Quinn got knocked out with a head injury of his own this week, Cassel got another chance.  No matter who they put in at QB, it seems the Chiefs offense is going to struggle.  Without a third QB on the roster, their options are limited.  Near the end of the game Cassel was nearly hurt on a vicious illegal hit by Richard Seymour, which would have forced KC to use a receiver (possibly Dexter McCluster?) at QB if Cassel weren't able to tough it out for the end of the drive.
• Through 7 games, Kansas City has never had the lead in any point of any game this season in regulation.  Their only win this season came in overtime, with the game winning score giving them their only lead of that game.
• Eli Manning couldn't muster any late TD drives, but he did put the Giants in position for a pair of fourth quarter field goals that helped his team edge the Cowboys to avenge their Week 1 loss.

• Tony Romo threw for 437 yards and three Cowboys receivers (Austin, Witten, Bryant) surpassed the 100 yard receiving mark, but they still came up short thanks to 6 turnovers against the Giants. One of those turnovers was returned for a TD by Jason Pierre-Paul for a score, which turned out to be the difference in the game.
• Witten's 18 catches are a franchise record, as he closes in on the top spot on the Cowboys all-time leader list for receptions.
• The Cowboys nearly completed an amazing comeback in the game's final seconds when Dez Bryant grabbed what looked like the game winning score, but replays revealed that his hand was the first part of him to hit the ground and his fingertips were touching the back line of the end zone.  It was correctly called incomplete and a few more failed attempts to cross the goal line ran out the clock to end the game.
• Peyton Manning tore through the Saints defense (22/30 passing, 305 yards, 3 TDs) to lead the Broncos to a blowout victory.  Demaryious Thomas caught 7 of those passes for 137 yards and a TD.  With Manning throwing him the ball, Thomas is quickly emerging as one of the league's elite receivers, ranking 3rd in the league in receiving yards.
• As great as Manning was, the Broncos defense may have been even more impressive by holding Drew Brees to a sub par performance.  Brees was held to a season low 213 yards, which is only the second time all season he's been held under 300 yards passing.
• Denver's first 6 games this season were against the league's toughest schedule based on opponent's win percentage (.632).  The remainder of their season will be the league's easiest schedule based on opponent's current win percentage (343).
• Alex Smith was close to perfect on Monday night, setting an NFL record for completion percentage in a game by a QB with at least 15 pass attempts.  Smith completed 18 of his 19 attempts, along with 3 TDs, to help lead the 49ers to a convincing win over the division rival Cardinals to stay at the top of the NFC West.

• Randy Moss has a long history of scoring TDs on Monday night, so despite his limited usage this season, it's no surprise that he used this stage to remind everyone that he's still in the league.  Moss looked like his vintage self as he sprinted to the end zone for a 47 yard score.  It was his 156th career TD, tying him with Terrell Owens for 4th all time.
• Arizona's woeful offensive line didn't stand a chance against the Niners dominant defense.  They were forced to abandon the running game early once the Niners lead continued to grow, but it wasn't doing them much good anyway considering they averaged less than a yard per carry in the game.  John Skelton was also sacked 4 more times.
• One of the lone bright spots for Arizona was a defense that returned the favor by sacking Smith 4 times.  Daryl Washington had 2 of those sacks and now is 3rd in the league in that category behind JJ Watt and Clay Matthews.
• San Francisco has taken over the NFC lead in point differential (+86), slightly edging Chicago.  New England leads the league (+92) after a dominating performance in London.  Their league leading 32.8 points per game is a big part of it, but for all the complaining we all do about the Patriots defense, they are above average in points allowed (21.3 - tied for 12th).  Just like last year, their bend-but-not-break defense gives up a ton of yards, but only an average amount of points.