Things I Noticed: Week 8

We're halfway through the season, as teams that haven't had a bye week yet have now completed their eighth game already.  Can you believe the season is flying by this fast?  Seems like summer just ended a couple weeks ago.  Maybe that's because the Red Sox are still playing.  Living in New England, I'm sure the bitter cold that is sure to come will remind me of what season we're actually in soon enough.

With the NFL trade deadline looming at 4:00 PM EST on Tuesday, will any teams make a splash?

Bye weeks: Chicago, Tennessee, Indianapolis, San Diego, Baltimore, Houston

Here are some things I noticed this week:

• Cam Newton tossed a pair of TD passes and ran one in on his own to lead the Panthers to their fourth
  
  victory in their past five games.  Carolina (4-3) is above .500 for the first time in 5 years and the first time in Newton's career, as he works to silence critics that have said that he's yet to show he can be a winner in the NFL.
• Tampa sinks to 0-7, which will only make those calling for Greg Schiano to be the first coach of the season to get canned.  
• After an ugly first half, New England rallied from a two touchdown deficit with 24 unanswered second half points to beat Miami.  With a 6-2 record, the Patriots are in the drivers seat for the division, but that's not saying much, considering how weak the rest of the AFC East is.  There have been few signs from this team so far to indicate they are good enough for a deep postseason run and the roster continues to lose key personnel.  RT Sebastian Vollmer was carted off the field this week with an agonizing leg injury.  No update from the team yet on the severity of the injury, but his bone chilling screams following the play said it all.  With season ending injuries to Vince Wilfork and Jarod Mayo derailing the defense, the Pats can ill afford to lose someone so vital to keeping Brady upright.  Speaking of TB12, his throwing hand was noticeably swollen.  He claims it's not effecting him, but given that he's having the worst season of his career, it bears keeping an eye on.
• With the Patriots looking to extend their narrow lead, Tom Brady was sacked and fumbled at the Miami 30 yard line.  Nate Solder pounced on the recovery, but not before Dolphins DE Olivier Vernon illegal batted the ball backward to the 45 yard line.  Instead of an improbable 3rd and 29 from outside of field goal range, the penalty gave the Patriots first and goal from the 13!  The drive would end a few plays later with Stevan Ridley bursting into the end zone to make it a two score game halfway through the 4th quarter.
• No QB in the league has been sacked more than Ryan Tannehill this season.  After the Patriots defense took him down 6 times, he's now been sacked 32 times in 7 games.
• Matthew Stafford connected with Calvin Johnson, who was tackled at the 1 yard line with under 30 seconds to go and the clock running.  Stafford rushed the team to the line, like he was preparing to spike the ball, but instead leaped forward over the pile to reach across the goal line for the winning score with 12 seconds remaining!
• Calvin Johnson had a near historic day with 14 catches for 329 yards and a TD, falling just short of the single game record for receiving yards.  Flipper Anderson set the record (336 yards) back in '89, but it took OT for him to do it, so Johnson has the record for receiving yards in regulation.  He also tied a record with his 5th career game with 200+ receiving yards.  He had more receiving yards alone than what the Cowboys entire offense generated (268).  In other words, Johnson is an unstoppable machine sent here to obliterate records.
• Johnson's day could have been even better, if not for being tackled inside the 5 yard line four times!  Not that his fantasy owners can complain, but coming up just short of the end zone is a frustrating trend that dates back to last season.
• Earlier in the week, Dez Bryant claimed he could do anything Calvin could do.  Ah, sorry Dez, but nobody can do what Calvin can do.  Dez is still pretty good though, as 72 yards and 2 TDs is nothing to sneeze at.  Especially when the degree of difficulty on one of those scores was off the charts! Bryant caught the ball by the side of his head and somehow managed to get control while staying in bounds.  How's that for a helmet catch?
• The day was noteworthy for Bryant for more than just what he did on the field, as he was spotted on the sideline screaming at teammates and coaches.  Tony Romo attempted to defuse the situation after the game, saying that Bryant was just showing his passion for winning, but it looked a little more heated than that, considering teammates had to step in and pull Bryant away.
• It was a nail biter down the stretch, but the Kansas City defense held strong in the end to keep the Chiefs undefeated.  They were aided by a key drop by Devone Bess on a 4th down play late in the fourth quarter when Cleveland had a chance to put together a game winning (or tying) drive.  Instead, the Browns turned it over, allowing KC to wind down most of the remaining time before tacking on another FG.
• Jamaal Charles kept his streak alive of gaining at least 100 total yards in each game this season (74 rushing, 46 receiving), but failed to find the end zone for the first time this year, ending another impressive streak he had going.
• Jason Campbell got the start in place of the ineffective Brandon Weedon and performed admirably (293 yards, 2 TDs) on the road against a tough Chiefs defense.  
• Drew Brees (332 yards, 5 TDs) overwhelmed the Bills as the Saints cruised to a win to remain
  
  unbeaten at home.  Jimmy Graham was questionable to even play in the game and spent the majority of snaps on the sidelines, but similar to a closer in baseball, when the Saints marched into the red zone, Graham would come in to finish the drive.  He caught 3 passes for 37 yards, but two of them went for scores.
• We know what Graham can do, but it's amazing how effective Brees can be while essentially ignoring some of his best offensive weapons.  Darren Sproles wasn't even given a carry in the game and his four catches amounted to zero yards (he was twice tackled for a loss on failed screen passes).  Marques Colston is a #1 receiver in title only, as his 3 catch, 18 yard performance is sadly the best game he's had in the past three games.  Yet Brees continues to roll thanks to a deep stable of options, which lately has included Kenny Stills (129 yards, 2 TDs).
• With CJ Spiller sidelined, the backfield belonged to Fred Jackson (15 carries, 45 yards), but he wasn't able to do much with the opportunity.  The score dictated how much Buffalo could rely on the running game to some extent, but the Bills didn't fall that far behind until late in the 3rd quarter.
• Touchdowns?  Who needs touchdowns?  Not the Giants, who needed only five FGs to top the Eagles.  Eli Manning going a second straight game without throwing an INT was a big help as well.  At the halfway point, Manning is still on pace for a career high 30 INTs, but at least he's no longer on a record setting pace.  Even better, the two game win streak heading into their bye week puts them in decent position for a second half run, as losses by the rest of the division has put them within two games of division leading Dallas.  Yes, halfway through the season we are actually talking about a 2 win team potentially making a playoff run.  Welcome to the NFC East!
• New York almost managed to blow the game in the end due to a costly mental error.  The Giants lined up to punt, leading by 15 with four minutes to go, but the snap sailed over the head of punter Steve Weatherford.  A mad scramble for the loose ball resulted in the Eagles recovering for a TD.  Rather than attempt to recover the ball, Weatherford should have just kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone for an intentional safety!  Punters are coached to do so in this situation.  Giving up the two points for a safety at this point of the game would be essentially meaningless.  Instead, the Giants gave up a TD that made it a one score game.  
• Michael Vick tried to give it a go (based mostly on his team's lack of options at QB), but didn't last long.  Stating he felt his hamstring "pop", Vick was forced out of the game in the first half and did not return.  Matt Barkley came in and did little to erase the idea that he is not an NFL QB.  He's played parts of two games this season that add up to less than a full game worth of playing time, yet somehow has thrown 4 INTs and fumbled the ball 3 times, without throwing a TD pass.
• From the sounds of it, Barkley couldn't possibly be any worse, right?  Actually his total QBR of 19.0 is far superior to Blaine Gabbert's (1.8!!).  So if it doesn't work out for him in Philly, maybe Barkley has a future in Jacksonville.
• Speaking of those Jaguars, they were demolished by San Francisco.  But hey, they at least scored in double digits for only the 4th time this season.  10 points!  Come on Niners, I thought your defense was supposed to be good.
• You have to really wonder about the NFL's attempt to market their brand of football to Europe.  They are trying to sell them on the sport, yet they are forcing the crowd at London's Wembley Stadium to watch this woeful Jaguars team come in as the "home" team once a year for the next four seasons.
• At least the Niners offense did just fine.  Colin Kaepernick toyed with the lowly Jaguars, rushing for two scores and throwing another.  Frank Gore also piled on a pair of TDs of his own.
• The Bengals blasted the Jets in a 40 point blowout behind Andy Dalton's 5 TD passes.  Four of them
  
  went to Marvin Jones, who now finds himself tied for 5th in the league with 7 TD catches on the season.  It's the first 4 TD reception game from anyone since Randy Moss and Terrell Owens both did it in 2007.
• Just in case Dalton and the Bengals offense wasn't piling on enough points, Geno Smith made sure to dig the hole his Jets were in even deeper by tossing a pair of pick-sixes.  Turnovers leading to defensive TDs is becoming a theme for the season (right, Matt Schaub?), but doing it twice in one game is just brutal.  Especially when combined with failing to lead a single TD drive.
• At one point Sunday afternoon, Raiders QB Terrelle Pryor led all players in rushing yards for the week.  Making that even more amazing is that playing on the west coast, the Raiders were playing in one of the late afternoon games... and it was less than a minute into the game!  Pryor faked a hand-off to Darren McFadden, then took off 93 yards for a score on the first snap of the game, setting a record for the longest TD run by a QB in league history.  The Steelers defense was completely fooled by the fake, opening a massive hole for Pryor to run through.
• The Steelers fell to 2-5 and are in danger of their first losing season of the Mike Tomlin era, following a disappointing 8-8 year last season.  Remember when we thought Ben Roethlisberger was good because he had 2 Super Bowl rings?  He has more turnovers (10) than TD passes (8) this season, which you may be surprised to learn isn't the first season he's done that.  He's had at least as many turnovers as TDs three times in his career already and looks like he'll add a 4th.  Oh, and he's getting constantly beat up behind a line that can't protect him, allowing him to be sacked 5 more times this week.  So basically he's had a few great seasons that resulted in two rings, but been fairly mediocre the rest of his career.  You know, just like Eli - another supposedly elite QB from the same 2004 draft class that is struggling on a 2 win team this year.
• Washington looked poised to score a major upset over Denver when DeAngelo Hall returned a Peyton Manning INT the other way to give Washington a 14 point lead.  Demaryius Thomas fell down on that pick-six play, allowing the opportunist Hall to capitalize.  Instead of letting the mistake bury them, Manning picked up the offense and rallied with 38 unanswered points.  The Broncos defense capped it off by returning the favor, with a pick-six by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie with just over 2 minutes to go to demoralize Washington.
• Before you look to blast RGIII for that pick-six, note that it was actually Kirk Cousins in the game at that point.  Griffin did throw a pair of INTs while he was in the game, but once the game was out of hand he was replaced by Cousins.  Officially, RGIII was removed with a knee injury, but he claimed he was fine after the game.  Doesn't sound like a major concern and likely just a sign of the team being cautious, especially given the lopsided score.
• Washington safety Brandon Meriweather, who was suspended for the game due to repeated offenses for targeting the heads of opponents, made headlines with his words this week.  In response to the league's ruling to suspend him, Meriweather has vowed to start targeting the knees of his opponents. According to his warped view of the rules, if he's not allowed to go after someone's head then that means his only other option is to try to end someone's career by trying to blow out their knees (so much for finding a middle ground - is wrapping guys up and tackling with proper technique really too much to ask?).  Meriweather has a point about the unintended consequence of the league cracking down on hits to the head is that it will inevitably lead to other types of potentially season or career ending injuries, but he was all wrong in the way he delivered the message, even if he was exaggerating for dramatic effect by suggesting he was intentionally going to ruin people's careers.
• Larry Fitzgerald caught 4 passes for 48 yards and a score in the Cardinals victory, but that's not the
  
  impressive part of the story.  Those 4 catches made him the youngest player ever (30 years, 57 days) to reach 800 career receptions.
• Andre Ellington's impressive performance (154 yards) was highlighted by an 80 yard TD run, which helped make him the week's leading rusher in the league.  Ellington led the offense, while the defense took care of the rest, holding the Falcons to a modest 13 points - 7 of which came in garbage time.
• Matt Ryan is running out of receivers to throw to with Julio Jones and Roddy White out of action, so he's turned to throwing the ball to the other team instead.  Four INTs in the game were responsible for burying any chance Atlanta had to remain in the game.
• Aaron Rodgers may be running out of receivers as well, but at least he still has Jordy Nelson (7 catches, 123 yards, 2 TDs).  The 6th year receiver has spent most of his career playing behind Donald Driver and Greg Jennings on the depth chart, but now that they are out of the way, Nelson has not only become the Packers top receiver, but one of the top receivers in the league.
• Rookie Cordarrelle Patterson returned the opening kick-off for a record 109 yard TD, but it was pretty much downhill for the Vikings from there.  After the Packers tied it up on their first drive, the Vikings wouldn't lead again the rest of the way.
• The St. Louis Cardinals were hosting Game 5 of the World Series Monday night, but hey - there was a football game being played right down the street!  The Seahawks defense held strong on a game deciding goal line stand to keep the Rams one yard short of a game winning touchdown when Kellen Clemens overthrew his target on the game's final play.
• Golden Tate did pretty much all of the work for the Seattle offense, catching 5 passes for 93 yards and 2 TDs.  His 80-yard reception for a second quarter score was one of few highlights for the offense, who struggled to move the ball most of the game.  
• The Rams (3-5) may not be in the same elite class as the Seahawks (7-1), but they always seem to play them tough.  This was no fluke, as last year they split their two games against their division rival, with each game coming down to a one possession game.  As much attention as the Seattle defense gets (deservedly so), the Rams deserve a bit of credit as well.  They've been steamrolled by opponents rushing attacks on several occasions, yet managed to hold Marshawn Lynch to a mere 23 yards.  Seattle ran only 40 plays and gained only 135 yards of total offense, after accounting for the 7 times Russell Wilson was sacked.
• Commissioner Roger Goodell will meet with Washington owner Dan Snyder to discuss the recent protests regarding his team's name of "Redskins."  We've heard whispers before about the issues many people have had over the team name, but those cries are louder than ever this year.  Snyder is still refusing to even consider changing the team's name because he doesn't consider the name to be a racial slur.  Sorry, but since when does a middle aged white dude get to decide what's offensive to an entire race of people?  If Native Americans find it insulting and offensive, then it is!  Just change the name.  While we're at it, can we change the owner too?
• The Kansas City Chiefs defense is allowing a league best 12.3 points per game through their first 8 games.  No team has finished a season allowing that low of a points against average since the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers allowed that same 12.3 average.  They also went on to win a Super Bowl that season.  Are the Chiefs in line for a similar fate?  Perhaps, but their defense isn't likely to remain quite so stingy in keeping points off the board.  They have played the league's softest schedule and have yet to face Denver's offense, which has been crushing defenses to the tune of 42.9 points per game.  The two division rivals will face off twice in the regular season, starting in Week 11.
• Deadline deals: The Eagles are shipping DT Isaac Sopoaga and a 6th-round pick to the Patriots in exchange for a 5th round pick.  Not exactly a blockbuster deal, but the Pats needed to add some bulk up front to stuff the run with Wilfork out for the year. 
• Ok, it's now past 4:00 and I've yet to hear anything about any big deals getting done before the deadline.  Rumors about players like Jared Allen and Hakeem Nicks appear to have been nothing more than just talk.  Unless there are deals that were so last minute that they haven't even been able to tell us about them yet, in which case, we'll tackle those stories next week.