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The NFL did us a favor by not making us wake up to watch an early international game but then punched us in the mouth with an ultra-terrible Sunday Night Football game. Was it worth it? No. Not really. It’s actually pretty messed up that they chose not to flex that game. (But thankfully, we got a heavyweight showdown on Monday Night Football to help make up for it.)
The seven hours of football before that Sunday night game were pretty awesome, though. So let's erase the Commanders-Eagles three-hour struggle for air from our minds… Let’s reminisce on the Best, Worst, and Dumbest things that we saw during Week 8 and give out some awards. Unfortunately, we kind of have to start with a bummer.
We all really respect the way that Lamar Jackson plays football, right? The dude is a generational talent; the way that he’s able to manipulate defenses as a passer and a runner is something we haven’t seen since prime Mike Vick. And yet, this is another year where the Ravens are going to be without him for the majority of the season.
On the first play of the game, he broke his thumb. Now he has to have surgery on it, and he’s going on IR. I’m not a doctor, but thumb surgery seems like one of those IR stints that’s longer than four weeks.
Without him, this is going to be another lost season for Baltimore … and then they get to spend the offseason with their news feeds talking about Jackson and the team butting heads over contracts and stuff like that.
It’s rough stuff. This stinks for those guys.
Other than Sonny Styles being an absolute monster for the Commanders on Sunday Night Football, there weren’t a whole lot of truly sick rookie performances on Sunday … So I kind of have to give it to Joe Fagnano, the Ravens QB3.
He was Baltimore’s emergency quarterback going into the game, but with Lamar Jackson going down and Snoop Huntley getting his own injury 10 plays later, Fagnano ended up having to play.
He certainly wasn’t good, and it’d be fair to say that he actually kind of stunk (10-of-21 for 91 yards and an interception) … But the guy had the stones to go out there and play professional football in a meaningful game with absolutely minimal preparation. That’s impressive, and he deserves a meaningless Rookie of the Week award.
There were two big revenge games this weekend: Geno Smith played against the Raiders, who traded him over the offseason … and Baker Mayfield played against Kevin Stefanski.
If you don’t remember, Stefanski coached Baker in Cleveland for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. When Baker was traded to the Panthers in 2022, apparently Stefanski was pretty not-chill about it:
Failed is quite the reach pal. Still waiting on a text/call from him after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can’t wait to see you twice a year, Coach. https://t.co/jUUsYkvlOC
— Baker Mayfield (@bakermayfield) January 20, 2026
Well, Geno Smith lost his game against the Raiders … But Baker? Oh, Baker won … and he did it with style. He threw the ball three times, completed zero passes … and the Buccaneers won the game 16-0.
If you’re going to truly win a revenge game, you can either have the best game of your life, or you can do absolutely nothing productive and watch your teammates carry you along. Baker chose the latter, and it worked out perfectly for him.
Some quarterbacks play better indoors than they do outdoors, and that can be totally fine. Take Jared Goff: he’s an indoor cat, and he’s a pretty good quarterback despite having a rough time outside.
Michael Penix has officially entered the ranks of the indoor cats. It makes sense that quarterbacks are going to throw the ball worse during a monsoon … but Penix was 8-of-24 for 125 yards and four interceptions. The numbers were bad, but watching it was even worse.
Now, the reason that Penix had more throws than Bijan Robinson had carries (19) is beyond me … but Penix was really bad at doing what was asked of him. Until further notice, Penix can’t be trusted outside.
Alright, so we acknowledged that Baker Mayfield threw the ball three times and none of those were completions, and we acknowledge that Michael Penix tried throwing the ball and he did it really poorly … but he did do it.
So obviously, Penix would have a higher passer rating than Mayfield, right? How could you be rated as a worse passer than a guy who just didn’t do it?
Well, reader who understands what I’m about to tell you … Guess what? Baker had a better passer rating than Penix: Mayfield’s was 39.6 (out of 158.3), and Penix’s was 12.0.
Passer rating is a fake stat, and from here on out I forbid you from using it. Not only that, but I implore you to tell anyone who brings up passer ratings that they’re a ding-dong and remind them of this game.
Unless you’re from Chicago, doinks are one of the most amazing things that can happen during a football game.
Somehow, a guy kicks a ball from at least 20-ish yards away and is able to hit it so perfectly that it smacks off a four-inch pole, and then it makes one of the loudest and most indistinguishable sounds in the world.
In Week 8 (going back to Thursday), at least six doinks. These are the ones that I remember, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed one.
Extremely loud doink and the kick is good!
— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2026
NEvsMIA on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/IC1TjheEBh
DOINK 🚨
— NFL (@NFL) November 2, 2026
PHIvsWAS on NBC/Peacock
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/qtlhWoqpGe
It's a doink — but not a good one" 😭 pic.twitter.com/6KYeQPKJ2N
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 1, 2026
— Follow @ZeroChillSports (@FollowZeroChill) October 30, 2026
Two notes: the Dolphins one was the loudest sound in human history, and the Eagles one might have doinked off the tippy top of the upright.
If there is one Darnell Washington fan, it is me. If there are zero Darnell Washington fans, I am dead. If the world is against Darnell Washington, I am against the world.
Whenever Darnell Washington makes a play, it’s the most impressive thing that you've ever seen. At 6-foot-7 and (probably) 330 pounds, the dude is the most massive tight end in the NFL, and all he does is flex his size.
This week was different; instead of smashing through a bunch of defensive backs who are 150 pounds lighter than him, he decided to show his dexterity.
LOOK AT DARNELL WASHINGTON GO
— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2026
CLEvsPIT on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/IjfYcb6HIB
That giant piece of man tiptoed down the sideline for 10 dadgum yards. Guys that size shouldn’t be allowed to run at that speed with that accuracy. He rocks, plain and simple.
Just about every defensive player in the NFL would be ecstatic to have three interceptions in a season. Amani Hooker, the Titans safety, has five this season … and three of those came against Joe Burrow on Sunday.
Career day for Amani Hooker with 3 INTs 👏
— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2026
TENvsCIN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/5N6XRacA9U
If he wasn’t there for those picks, the Bengals would’ve dropped a cool 60 points on the Titans' head … So those were dignity-saving interceptions.
This game definitely turned him into a Pro Bowler, and it could serve as one hell of a springboard for an All-Pro season. I just want us all to remember this whenever those Pro Bowl rosters come out, and we’re all wondering why there’s a single Titan on the list.
Going into the Steelers Week 8 game against the Browns, Jared Verse (Cleveland’s edge rusher) was jacking his jaw pretty good.
During some weekday pressers, Verse was feeling himself and started talking about how he didn’t respect the Steelers' offensive line.
“I’m not worried about Cam, I’m not worried about their OL, I’m not worried about anyone on their team,” - Jared Verse on the Steelers 👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/KRdQhA2qBf
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) October 29, 2026
If you’re going to talk like that, you had better light the world on fire. In Verse’s defense, he has backed up his talk in the past … like back in the 2024 postseason when he was with the Rams, when he said he hated Philadelphia and then had an awesome game.
That didn’t happen this time. Instead, he logged one QB hit, was part of one tackle, and literally got dumped on his head.
66 BODY SLAMMED him 😭 pic.twitter.com/gvZ2EzHcyr
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) November 1, 2026
The Steelers ended up winning the game in a 27-6 blowout. So obviously, the Steelers got to back their physicality up with some trash talk of their own … And Jaquan Brisker took full advantage of his opportunity:
Jaquan Brisker on Jared Verse’s trash talk earlier in the week prior to the Steelers topping the Browns 27-6
— Ashley Wenskoski (@AshleyWenskTV) November 1, 2026
“He should have kept his mouth shut. All that talk, and then to come out with 0 tackles, that’s bad.”
“He’s gotta look at himself in the mirror and get better.” pic.twitter.com/tp6WH6Iw9O
Jaquan Brisker on getting flagged for roughing the passer for his hit on Deshaun Watson on the opening drive of Steelers/Browns
— Ashley Wenskoski (@AshleyWenskTV) November 1, 2026
"Babying the quarterback. He's over there crying or whatever he's doing. It is what it is."
"He had his binky today, so." pic.twitter.com/6epqtF60Zd
I have to be honest with you: I wasn’t familiar with Brisker’s quote game. My man was on a roll … AND he did it while wearing a leather jacket, Matrix-style (popped collar and lapel). That’s awesome. Good for him.
Any time the Cowboys have a game that makes people think that they’re a real team, they follow it up with a terrible game that shows just how unserious a team they really are …
And would you look at that? Dallas whooped up on the Eagles in Week 7, and people thought they could be real contenders in the NFC East.
The problem is that A. the Eagles are terrible, and wins against them shouldn’t count, and B. they were playing the Cardinals, and the Cardinals always beat Dallas. As fate would have it, the Cowboys had a 10-point lead with 3:54 left in the game … and they still lost … to Gardner Minshew.
Did you know that the quote, “Behind every great man is a great woman,” is a football quote? Back in 1945, Meryll Frost was Dartmouth’s quarterback. His face got all burned up during World War II, but he came back to play and he was dubbed the Most Courageous Athlete of 1945.
When he got the award, he acknowledged his wife, Pauline Frost, and said, “They say behind every great man there’s a woman. While I’m not a great man, there’s a great woman behind me.” That’s pretty cool. I guess Pauline was supporting Meryll the whole way through recovery and everything like that.
In 2026, things are a little bit different, and Brittany Mahomes supports her husband in a different way … by making Instagram stories.
Patrick Mahomes’ wife, Brittany, reacting on Instagram to the end of today’s game vs. the Broncos: pic.twitter.com/Eo0QhePEqJ
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 2, 2026
She’s obviously referring to the false start that was called on Jaylon Moore on a fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line. That penalty turned it into a fourth-and-goal from the six-yard line … which ended with Mahomes getting sacked as the clock expired.
It makes sense that she would get mad about a ticky-tack call that cost the Chiefs a game. That ALWAYS happens to them. I mean, look at this bad call. He didn’t even really jump.
HUGE HOLDING CALL pic.twitter.com/rvWkQmG5yV
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) February 13, 2023
Oh … Was that the wrong clip? Huh. Weird.
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