NFL Week 8: Five things we liked and didn’t like, including big Jordan Love, C.J. Stroud games

I like to say the NFL always delivers, but this week put that to the ultimate test. Only one game was decided by a single possession, the fewest in a single week since Week 14, 1970. There were nine wins by at least 18 points, tied most ever in a single week according to CBS Sports research.

But, oh, that one-possession game. Jets 39, Bengals 38. Just five days after his team’s owner fired shots at him, Justin Fields led three fourth-quarter scoring drives to secure a tremendous comeback. Aaron Glenn got his first career win as coach. Breece Hall, held out of the end zone all season and subject of trade rumors, scored twice on the ground and threw the game-winning touchdown to Mason Taylor. Yes, threw!

After the game, Fields detailed how emotional of a week it was for him, how he was crying on the floor of his closet. You can say a lot of negatives about the Jets, but you can’t say they don’t care.

Good for Justin Fields. Good for Aaron Glenn. Good for the Jets. Here’s what else was good this week.

Five things we liked in Week 8

1. Jordan Love puts on a show, shows he’s growing up

Much of the discourse surrounding the Steelers vs. Packers “Sunday Night Football” matchup revolved around Aaron Rodgers facing Green Bay, where he spent the first 18 years of his career, for the first time.

Then the guy who had to wait behind him before ultimately succeeding him stole the show. Jordan Love played one of his finest games as a pro: 29 for 37 for 360 passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and no sacks. His 0.52 expected points added per dropback was the highest mark of any start in his career. Not only were his numbers excellent across the board, but his play reflected that of a maturing quarterback, one who is combining his immense arm talent with his ability to keep things on schedule.

At one point, Love completed 20 straight passes in a row, making the Pittsburgh defense look hopeless. You can watch (or relive) all 20 here, but let’s highlight two. First, this absolute beauty to Christian Watson:

This is a trick shot throw, the ones only a handful of quarterbacks can make. Off-platform, on the move, deep downfield … highlight-reel stuff through and through. Love has always made these throws (or at least tried to make these throws). And how about this one to Romeo Doubs?

But what we really like is that Love is willing to eat his vegetables — make the throws that aren’t so exciting but are the ones that keep the offense moving. On throws 10 yards or fewer downfield, Love went 23-for-29, the 23 completions his third-most in a game in his career. His most came in Week 4 against the Cowboys: 28-for-31. Those are surgical numbers.

This shows Love’s biggest area of growth this year. He can make those trick shot throws, but he doesn’t have to.

He’s more accurate and more careful with the ball while still producing big plays. That is an incredible formula. With his big Sunday night, Love is second in EPA per play this season, only behind Daniel Jones. Love is a legitimate MVP candidate, and Week 8 showed his maturation on a big stage.

It also helps that …

2. Tucker Kraft is everything you could want in a tight end

Tucker Kraft is a hero to tight ends everywhere, not only because he’s really good, but because he saved National Tight Ends Day with a seven-catch, 143-yard, two-touchdown game against the Steelers.

And, of course, this …

 Kraft had 128 of his 143 yards after the catch, and he produced some quotes to go along with it speaking to SportsCenter:

• “Every time I touch the ball I want to force the entire defense to run after me.”
• “I wanna create extreme disruption on the other side of the football.”
• “The first thing I do is I just try to get ugly with my off-hand weapon, and get north-south as violent as I possibly can.”

A tight end through and through. But don’t just take my word for it. Look at where Kraft has caught his passes this year:

He can win deep. He can win intermediate. He can win short. No one wants to tackle him. He’s a willing blocker. What a fun, good player.

3. C.J. Stroud doesn’t give in to bad habits

Down their best offensive weapon and coming off a short week and a miserable offensive performance, the Texans’ offense could have gone in the wrong direction again against the 49ers. Instead, C.J. Stroud played one of his best games in recent memory to get Houston right back into the win column.

One of Stroud’s biggest flaws is his tendency to retreat backwards out of muddy pockets, making bad plays worse. Last year, only Aidan O’Connell, Anthony Richardson and Bo Nix averaged more yards lost per sack. This year, he is dead last in the category at 9.3 yards lost per sack.

But Sunday, he didn’t take a sack and, notably, escaped effectively a few times.

Second, we liked how Stroud and the Texans’ offense operated cleanly and mostly on time, something that’s been a major struggle behind the offensive line. Stroud faced pressure on just 23.8% of his dropbacks, the sixth-lowest rate in his career, and wasn’t sacked for just the second time in the past two seasons.

Stroud took what was available, going an incredible 25 for 26 on throws 10 yards or fewer downfield. The 96.2% completion percentage is the highest on those throws by any player (min. 25 attempts) in a game since Tom Brady in 2021. When Stroud did let it fly, he reminded us of his talent in that department, too.

The Texans clearly identified an area (short throws) they wanted to pick on against a banged-up 49ers defense. The result was their best win of the year.

4. Let’s give Broncos’ and Colts’ offensive lines some love

The Broncos ran for a season-high 179 yards against the Cowboys, and the Colts ran for 164 yards, second-most this season, against the Titans. Neither Dallas nor Tennessee will be confused with the ’85 Bears, but those are impressive totals. Let’s take a look at two of the week’s best runs. Instead of watching RJ Harvey and Jonathan Taylor, watch Quinn Meinerz (No. 77) and Tanor Bortolini (No. 60) on these plays.

Indianapolis guard Quenton Nelson is PFF’s top-graded run-blocking guard in the NFL. Meinerz is fourth. Bortolini is the No. 3-ranked center. The Broncos are PFF’s top-graded pass blocking unit. The Colts are fourth in both pass blocking and run blocking. These are excellent units.

5. Ravens stop the run … finally

Speaking of running the ball, the Ravens are at long last doing a better job stopping it. Baltimore limited a Bears offense that had shown legitimate improvement running the ball to just 96 yards on the ground. Two weeks earlier, they limited the Rams to 74 rushing yards. In their first five games, they had allowed over 146 rushing yards per game.

Safety Alohi Gilman, acquired from the Chargers, has been a big addition. Roquan Smith had arguably his best game of the year, and the Ravens will hope he ascends as the year goes on, just as he did last year. Lamar Jackson’s impending return is helpful, but the Ravens’ defense had to improve for that to matter. Over the past two games, it has done just that.

Oh, and the Steelers, Bengals and Browns all lost on Sunday, meaning Baltimore, even at 2-5, is just two games out of first in the win column in the AFC North. The Ravens have one of the easiest schedules remaining. I’m just saying …

Five things we didn’t like in Week 8

1. Does anyone know when forward progress ends?

There’s a litany of officiating issues facing the NFL, but the idea of “forward progress” reared its ugly head several times in Week 8.

My colleague John Breech runs through it all succinctly.

Just an absolute joke. Jalen Hurts is quite literally pushing his body and the ball forward. If that’s not forward progress, what on Earth is?! The tush push is already impossible to defend and even harder to officiate. The Eagles can’t get every single advantage. CBS Sports senior NFL insider Jonathan Jones wrote that the Tush Push might be dead because of this exact play.

There were two other significant forward progress issues I counted: J.K. Dobbins was apparently stopped at the 1-yard line, and Olamide Zaccheaus’ forward progress was somehow stopped — even though he had literally just reeled in the pass — before he got stripped by Marlon Humphrey.

Players have to be able to fight for yards. If they do, they have to be penalized for the potential miscues that come with that.

2. The Atlanta Falcons

There was so much hope, it seemed, for the Atlanta Falcons after a 24-14 win over the Bills in Week 6. Since then, they’ve lost to the 49ers and the Dolphins.

This week was especially damning. Kirk Cousins, in for the injured Michael Penix Jr., managed a paltry 173 passing yards. Bijan Robinson fumbled the ball without being touched.

But the defense was somehow the biggest letdown. One week after a dismal 31-6 loss to the Browns, the Dolphins had their second-best passing success rate and third-best rushing success rate this season. Tua Tagovailoa was sacked just once. And this was a Falcons defense that has been very good all season!

The Falcons have now lost 34-10 to the Dolphins and 30-0 to the Panthers. Yikes. 

3. Caleb Williams’ and the Bears’ lack of situational awareness

Do you ever yell in vain at the TV, unable to prevent a player from doing something bad? I am not Bears fan, nor am I a “yells at TV” guy, but Caleb Williams almost turned me into the latter. This play, with under 57 seconds left in the first half, was the culprit.

I will never pretend to be able to make this play or run this fast, but it seems like Williams could have gotten out of bounds here, right?

Things only got worse from there. After Chicago took its second timeout, Williams completed to Zaccheaus in bounds for 5 yards. Then, under duress, he committed intentional grounding. The Bears had to use their third timeout to prevent a 10-second runoff. After a 9-yard completion to Colston Loveland, Cairo Santos — whose career long is 55 yards and who was returning from injury — missed a 57-yard field goal.

Late in the game, down 30-16, Williams completed a 42-yarder to DJ Moore down to the Baltimore 3. Again, he didn’t get out of bounds.

The Bears, with no timeouts and in a complete frenzy, then went incompletion, complete pass short of the end zone, quarterback sneak stopped short, incompletion.

It almost made me yell at the TV. Almost.

4. Cam Skattebo’s injury

Every single injury stinks and is a reminder of just how touch-and-go things in the NFL can be. But Cam Skattebo’s dislocated ankle is a major, major bummer. The Giants aren’t a particularly good team, but led by Skattebo and Jaxson Dart, they were something they haven’t been in a long time: fun.

Skattebo, who had quickly endeared himself to Giants fans and the NFL as a whole with his hard running style and rambunctious attitude, issued a statement saying it’s “just the beginning of [his] journey,” and he’s right. Unfortunately, it’s a tough end what had been an excellent beginning.

5. The Steelers’ uniforms

Really? With all eyes on Rodgers against his former team, he has to wear this?