The New England Patriots dropped to 2-6 on the season on Sunday and are now getting even more bad news. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne suffered a torn ACL during the Week 8 loss to the Dolphins, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones confirmed on Monday, and will now be sidelined for the remainder of the season. The immediate hope was that Bourne just tore his MCL, per NFL Media, but the worst-case scenario has come up for the pass-catcher and is now cutting his promising season short.
Bourne suffered the injury early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 31-17 loss at Hard Rock Stadium. The 28-year-old hauled in a third-and-9 pass from Mac Jones for six yards and was slow to get up after coming down with the reception near the sideline. After the play, he was put on the shelf for the remainder of the game.
Before this injury, Bourne had arguably been New England’s top receiver this season. In this game, the wideout caught three of his four targets for 36 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown from Jones in the first quarter. That came a week after Bourne caught six passes for 63 yards and another score during the Patriots’ Week 7 upset over the Buffalo Bills.
This is an unfortunate turn of events no matter which way you slice it. On top of the Patriots losing their top receiver, Bourne was also in the middle of a contract year and is set to be a free agent this offseason. Instead of potentially being moved to a contender at Tuesday’s trade deadline or fully cashing in once he hits the open market this offseason, the question now turns to whether or not this injury will drastically impact what he can fetch in free agency this spring.
We are days away from Halloween, a great time for a new look and adding some new treats. Coincidentally, Oct. 31 is also the NFL’s trade deadline, the last possible time for teams to provide sought-after players with new looks this season. Teams have until 4 p.m. ET to bolster their rosters for the regular-season stretch run via trade.
Which players will be on the move? Which teams can we expect to be most active as both buyers and sellers? We have you fully covered with everything you need to know in the lead-up to that moment with our trade deadline coverage below.
NFL trade deadline news and analysis Trade deadline primer: Things to know, biggest questions Trade deadline tracker: All deals that have taken place How each team treats deadline: Buyers, sellers, stand pat Trade deadline buyers: Teams that should acquire talent Trade deadline sellers: Teams that should unload talent Henry trade rumors: Five logical suitors for star RB Trade deadline proposed deals: 15 moves that make sense Top players at each position who could be dealt: Notable names Players in need of change of scenery: 10 players who could use fresh start QBs on the move?: Assessing future of these five signal-callers Top 12 deals of the last 12 years: Best in-season moves in recent memory Playing GM for Eagles, Patriots: Five trade proposals, one blockbuster Trades Cowboys should consider: Potential upgrades Dallas can make Trades Eagles should consider: Potential upgrades Philly can make There’s still plenty of time for teams to make moves ahead of the trade deadline. Check back for updated analysis as we stay on top of every transaction.
One of the most anticipated games on the entire 2023 NFL schedule is coming up this Sunday as the Miami Dolphins will travel to Frankfurt, Germany to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. Miami and Kansas City each enter the game at 6-2, and both teams feature star players and potentially explosive offenses.
But the matchup is also the first time that perhaps the NFL’s single most explosive player will play against his former team. Dolphins wideout Tyreek Hill, of course, spent the first six seasons of his career with the Chiefs before getting traded to Miami last offseason. And Hill is looking forward to the matchup.
“I’m ready, man,” Hill said. “It’s just another game. Like I said, I’m just excited to play against my old brothers. It’s just like if you’re in high school and move to a different city. It’s still ball. At the end of the day, my job is to go out there and do what I’ve been doing all year: That’s have fun, help beat this team, create opportunities for whoever. So, I’m still gonna be the same old Cheetah, baby.”
Since joining the Dolphins, Hill has put up the best receiving numbers of his career. He posted career highs in receptions (119) and receiving yards (1,710) in 2022, and he leads the NFL in receiving yards (1,014) and receiving touchdowns (8) so far this season.
Kansas City got by just fine without him last year, posting the league’s most efficient offense and eventually winning the second Super Bowl of the Patrick Mahomes era. This season, the team seems to miss him a bit more. The Chiefs are still looking for a true receiving complement to Travis Kelce, as players like Skyy Moore, Kadarius Toney, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and more who were acquired since the Hill trade have struggled to produce. Rookie Rashee Rice looks like a potentially very useful piece, but the Chiefs have taken their time ramping him up to a full workload.
Meanwhile, Miami is the team with the NFL’s best offense this season. The Dolphins lead the NFL in yards, points, FTN’s DVOA, Tru Media’s EPA/play and basically every other measurement of offensive production. And Hill is perhaps the single-biggest factor in that success. Now, he gets a chance to make it happen against his former team.
We were all surprised when the much-hyped Kentucky quarterback wasn’t selected in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Then we were surprised when Levis was beat out by Malik Willis for the Titans backup role out of training camp and the preseason. And, now, even the biggest Levis supporters would admit they were surprised by his four-touchdown professional debut in Week 8’s win over the Falcons.
There were three plays I noticed on film that were especially encouraging from Levis’ first NFL start.
Before I get to one score in particular, I’m starting with a throw that appeared to be nondescript or even a negative play but demonstrated quality quarterback traits for Levis as he charges into Week 9 with plenty of momentum.
It came on a 3rd-and-8 in the first quarter. From inside a collapsing pocket, Levis didn’t panic and ripped a fastball to Kyle Philips for six yards near the sideline. The intricacies of this connection were impressive for a rookie quarterback on his fifth professional drop back.
Levis had an edge rusher fly around the corner in his line of sight while looking left. There was also a defensive back driving back left guard Peter Skoronski into his lap — minimal room to step into the throw. Because of the width of the outside rush from the edge defender, Levis had a clear lane to roll left. Unlike the vast majority of rookie quarterbacks, particularly those in their first start, Levis didn’t vacate the pocket at the first sight of an opening.
Despite not being able to adequately step into the throw, Levis released it anyway, and was able to generate enough velocity to get to Philips before it was undercut by the cornerback in coverage. The physical and mental traits Levis demonstrated on that play are far more vital to his long-term development than not moving the chains on that play.
There was another unsuccessful play against Atlanta I loved from Levis.
All-out pressure look before the snap from the Falcons that saw two defenders sink into coverage, making it not a blitz at all. Levis started by peeking down the middle of the field, which moved the middle of the field safety toward a vertical route between the hashmark and the numbers.
With Calais Campbell in his grill, Levis flipped his head to a vertical route down the left sideline and delivered a perfect pass to Treylon Burks, who was actually trailing the cornerback assigned to him in coverage.
The ball led the second-year down the field and hit him in the hands, but one of his feet were ultimately out of bounds.
Another demonstration of pocket-passing willingness from the athletic Levis, smart eye manipulation of the deep middle safety, and, vitally, quality ball placement down the field.
Now, his first touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins was not a great throw. Probably a bad throw actually, well inside on a throw that typically needs to be pushed down the boundary to be completed. Not everything from Levis was Pro Bowl veteran level.
The second touchdown to Hopkins was a simple shallow cross with a linebacker in man coverage. That’s going to be a win for Hopkins every single time. The third was a blown coverage and a layup of a long ball for Levis.
But I’ve saved the best for last. Levis’ final touchdown of the afternoon was a Pro Bowl veteran-level display. A sprint right for Levis after catching the snap. He stared at a stick route near the perimeter to draw the attention of multiple defenders to that route.
Then, Levis put his foot in the ground, and with two Falcons defenders converging on him, while fading away, he delivered a gorgeous touch pass deep down the field to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, who had run a gorgeous double move.
Levis was hit as he released the football from the 45-yard line and the ball had enough juice to get to sail over the defensive back in coverage and into the arms of Westbrook-Ikine deep into the end zone. Big. Time. Throw.
The Titans coaching staff did a marvelous job providing Levis with plenty of easy, open looks in this contest too. But despite no previous regular-season experience, the second-round pick made some first-round caliber plays in the Titans’ Week 8 victory.
The game-sealing touchdown was, quite clearly, a positive from Levis. Franchise-caliber throw. But don’t be surprised that a failed conversion on a first-quarter third down or an incompletion in the second quarter were actually steps in the right direction for Levis.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for his tenure that has made his team the most valuable in the world. Part of Jones’ playbook is having the attitude that “all news is good news” when it comes to media attention. He almost never shies away from proclaiming his Cowboys to be “Super Bowl or bust” or that his current team (now 5-2) is his most talented team. Following Dallas’ 43-20 smackdown of the visiting Los Angeles Rams in Week 8, he took a humble approach in his regular postgame chat with media members on Sunday.
“Well, no, I think we just need to call it for what it is,” Jones said postgame when asked if a complete team win has him thinking about the Super Bowl. “We played a good game today l and we got to do it again here next week.
“I’ve been watching, on the side up there, the Washington, Philly game [the Eagles won 38-31] and both those clubs are ahead of us, Washington two times. Philadelphia two times. We got our work cut out for us.”
A measured Jones who refuses to look ahead to the Super Bowl and wants to stay squarely in the present? Jerry, blink twice if you are currently the victim of bribery, extortion or another disgusting crime. Ahead of the Cowboys’ Week 9 matchup at the defending NFC champion Eagles (7-1), Jones is avoiding any pregame hype about facing one of Dallas’ most-hated NFC East rivals. Head coach Mike McCarthy and multiple Dallas players embraced the idea that their Week 5 game against the 49ers, the 2022 NFC runner-up and the team that had bounced them in the playoffs the last two seasons, was more than just another regular season game. The Cowboys went on to suffer their most humiliating loss of the 2023 season on “Sunday Night Football,” losing 42-10 as they committed three more turnovers (4-1) than the 49ers.
“Yeah, let’s soak this one up. I don’t want to do anything to poke the bear… I made every mistake talking about it [the Week 5 game at the 49ers] too early or too late that you can make,” Jones said on Sunday. “Yeah, I learned from that one. My problem is I don’t learn from experience.”
When Prescott was told in his postgame press conference on Sunday that Jones said he learned from talking too much about the 49ers and didn’t want to talk too much about their Week 9 road contest against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, he was floored.
“I don’t believe what you just said,” Prescott said.
“Pour honey on me,” Prescott added, embracing the “poking the bear” metaphor Jones used. “I always say that. If you see me and a bear in a fight, pour honey on me, so you can poke it. It’s [hyping up an upcoming matchup] part of the National Football League. Whether we talk [about it] or not, we know what’s ahead of us. Great opponent. Excited for it. Opponent we are familiar with and vice versa. I know you guys are going to build it up. That’s part of your guys’ [in the media] job. As you should in a big game like this with a big, big, big rival. Division game. Down the road this game will mean something as we get further down the line in the season. Trust me, the guys in the locker room, myself, we know what this game means.”
Internally, the Cowboys are following Jones’ lead and not planning on look back to Week 5 to prepare for Week 9.
“We’re not going to compare this to a few weeks ago [the 49ers game],” Prescott said. “Obviously, we learned a lot about that, but that’s not to say in a sense that’s apples to apples, that’s apples and oranges. It’s a big game, but don’t for a second, I don’t even what to compare that to be honest with you. I know the men that we have and how we’re going to prepare and how we’re going to approach the week. It’s a matchup, in Philly, we’re looking forward to, I can promise you that.”
It makes sense Prescott would look forward to facing Philadelphia given he has won seven of his last eight starts against the Eagles while throwing an efficient 17 passing touchdowns and only four interceptions.
This stretch of success includes three wins of row in which Prescott completed at least 75% of his passes as the Cowboys scored 40 or more points in each victory: a 41-21 win in Week 3 of the 2021 season on “Monday Night Football,” a 51-26 victory in Week 18 of the 2021 season (the Eagles rested some starters) and a 40-34 triumph on Christmas Eve in Week 16 of the 2022 season. Prescott is the only quarterback since the 1970 AFL/NFL merger with a completion percentage of 75% or higher and three passing touchdowns or more in three consecutive contests against a single team.
Both Prescott and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, the 2022 NFL MVP runner-up, missed one game in the rivalry last season and as expected, their team lost the game they missed. The Eagles won 26-17 in Philadelphia in Week 6 last year when Prescott was out with a thumb injury. The Cowboys won 40-34 in Week 16 last season when Hurts was out with a shoulder injury.
“Any time you play Philly, obviously, in-division rival, I know them well, they know us well,” Prescott said. “Getting to play them and then [Eagles quarterback] Jalen [Hurts] wasn’t playing and then vice versa when he was playing, I wasn’t playing, so excited for this matchup [in which both quarterbacks are set to play]. Yeah, it’s fun. Anytime you go to Philly is just a little bit more fun. So excited for it. Yeah, excited for it. Enjoy this win, great that it was an early game. Get to enjoy it for the day and then turn the page tomorrow [Monday] and yeah, we understand what is ahead of us.”
Cowboys safety Jayron Kearse revealed Dallas’ defense was so incredibly aware of their Week 9 opponent that they very much wanted to do their part to ensure a stress-free win on Sunday against the Rams.
“It feels great, it feels great,” Kearse said on Sunday when asked about riding a win into Philadelphia in Week 9. “I talked to D-Law [defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence], I talked to Micah right before the game, and we said, ‘Let’s come out here, let’s get this game over quick, because we know what we got ahead of us next week.’ We came out and did that. Got it done early and [we] were able to sit down and relax a little bit at the end.”
The heartbeat of the defense, two-time First-Team All-Pro Micah Parsons, is already emphasizing the dire need for the Cowboys to show up stronger on the road. Within the friendly confines of AT&T Stadium, Dallas has been downright dominant. They own the longest active home winning streak in the NFL with 11 straight wins, and they have won all three of their home games in 2023 by a combined score of 111-33. The Cowboys have defeated each of their home opponents by 20 or more points, making them the only team in the NFL in the last 15 years to win each of their first three at home by 20 or more.
However, the road has been a different story. They are 2-2 with two embarrassing losses to the Cardinals (a 28-16 loss in Week 3 that was worse than the final score indicated) and of course the 49ers (the 42-10 defeat). Dallas is plus-7 in turnover differential at home in 2023 while minus-1 on the road. That trend has to flip if the Cowboys intend to hand the Eagles their second loss of the season. Philadelphia’s only defeat in 2023 came in a 20-14 Week 6 loss at the Jets in which they turned the football over four times to New York’s none. Hurts threw a career-high three interceptions and running back D’Andre Swift lost a fumble.
“We have to do better on away games,” Parsons said on Sunday. “Obviously, everyone knows home-field advantage is a real thing. So, we have to keep winning and be consistent. We can’t just do it one week and not the next, it has to be consistent. This would be be a great opportunity for sure.”
“We just can’t beat ourselves,” Parsons said on what needs to go differently against the Eagles after thinking about what went wrong against the 49ers. “A lot of people sat here and said that the team [the 49ers] was just so much greater than us, I didn’t think so. I just thought we just beat ourselves. We put ourselves in bad opportunities. We didn’t get off the field. A lot of penalties [six] and a lot of big plays that we gave up that we usually wouldn’t have given up. We just have to be the same way. We have to get Jalen Hurts, we have to get [him] off the field. We have to win on first and second down against these very good teams because we know what they want to do on third and if they get fourth and short, we all know where they want to go with that too [run the ball]. We just have to be smart with the opportunities that we have.”
Keeping Eagles Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Brown in front of them would fall under the category of not beating themselves. Brown, who had 130 receiving yards and two touchdowns on eight catches in Philadelphia’s 38-31 victory over the Commanders in Week 8, has an NFL-record six games in a row with at least 125 receiving yards. Fortunately for Dallas, they have the personnel to keep up with him in second-year cornerback DaRon Bland, who recorded his third pick-six of 2023 on Sunday against the Rams — setting a Cowboys single-season record — and 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore. Bland’s 9.6 passer rating allowed as the primary defender in coverage is the lowest in the NFL among 47 players with 40 or more targets thrown their way this season while Gilmore’s 46.3 passer rating allowed as the primary defender ranks third in the league. They also rank one and two in the NFL in completion percentage allowed as the primary defender in coverage with Bland’s 41.5% rate just ahead of Gilmore’s 42.9% figure. The Cowboys know the ball is going to go to Brown, the question is will Bland, Gilmore and the rest of the Dallas secondary be able to stop him?
“That change [required for the Cowboys on the road] is just within the 60 minutes of a football game,” Parsons said when asked what needs to be different in Dallas’ handling of big games against fellow NFC contenders. “You can have the greatest game plan ever, but if you don’t go out there and execute, what does the game plan really matter? That’s the thing about football. You can know exactly what someone is going to do but you have to go out there. That’s the thing about football. You can know exactly what someone is going to do but you have to go out there and stop it.”
If I sound tired right now, it’s because I stayed up until 2:17 a.m. last night recording a podcast with Will Brinson and Ryan Wilson. And the best part is that I was dressed up like Bruno from “Encanto.”
The three of us touched on our 10 biggest takeaways from Week 8 and here are a few of the biggest questions that we tried to answer:
What should the Vikings do at QB? With Kirk Cousins now out for the season after tearing his Achilles on Sunday, the Vikings are in serious need of a quarterback. The team’s backup QB is rookie Jaren Hall, but if they don’t want to roll with him, they have roughly 24 hours until the trade deadline to make a move. We threw out several names that they should look at. Two options in free agency are Carson Wentz and Colts McCoy. If the Vikings want to try to make a trade, they could make a call about Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston, Teddy Bridgewater or Case Keenum. Whatever the Vikings do, they’re going to need to do it soon. Should 49ers fans be panicking? The 49ers started the season 5-0, but they’re now 5-3 after losing their third straight game on Sunday. The 49ers have struggled with the biggest problem being Brock Purdy, who has thrown five interceptions over the past three games after throwing just two picks during his first 10 starts. The 49ers have been banged up — Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams both sat out Sunday — but they’ll have a bye in Week 9 to heal. If they’re still struggling in Week 10, then I’d be concerned, but right now, I wouldn’t start panicking just yet. Should the Titans stick with Will Levis going forward? The Titans’ rookie QB had more touchdown passes on Sunday (four) than Ryan Tannehill has had all season (two). It was quite the debut for Levis, who threw for 238 yards in a 28-23 win over the Falcons. Levis will almost certainly be the starter on Thursday against the Steelers, and if he plays well there, then I think Mike Vrabel should just go ahead and name him the starter for the rest of the season. Even if he doesn’t play well, Vrabel should still give the idea some serious thought. To check out the rest of our takeaways from Week 8, be sure to click here so you can listen to the entire episode of the podcast. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here, which you’ll want to do if you want to see my sad Bruno costum.
Week 8 grades: Chiefs get a ‘D’ after blowout loss to Broncos Every week I team up with four of my colleagues here at CBSSports.com to hand out grades, and this week, the Chiefs nearly failed out of our imaginary football school.
Here’s a look at the grades from two notable games that were played Sunday:
Jets 13-10 over Giants in OT (Click here for full game stats)
Jets takeaway: The Jets defense pulled off one of the most impressive performances of the season, holding the Giants to NEGATIVE passing yards. Even with the defense playing well, the Jets needed an offensive miracle to win and they actually got it. Zach Wilson, who struggled for most of the game, led a wild 58-yard drive with 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter to set up Greg Zuerlein’s game-tying field goal (Zuerlein also hit the game winner in overtime). Garrett Wilson had 40 of his 100 receiving yards on the two key drives. The Jets have mastered the art of winning ugly this year, which isn’t a bad thing to master. They’ve now won three in a row and they’re now over .500 for the first time this season. Grade: C+ Giants takeaway: It’s nearly impossible to win in the NFL when you finish with negative passing yards and that’s what happened with the Giants, who had -9 passing yards against the Jets, which was the lowest by any NFL team since 2000. Despite that ugly showing, the Giants still almost won this game, thanks to a defense that forced the Jets to punt 11 times. Unfortunately, the Giants just made too many big errors: Graham Gano missed two field goals and the Giants got flagged for two pass interference penalties on the Jets’ game-winning drive in overtime. Quite simply, the Giants lost a game they probably should have won. Grade: C Broncos 24-9 over Chiefs (Click here for full game stats, analysis)
Chiefs takeaway: Patrick Mahomes apparently had the flu going into this game, which makes sense, because he played like he had the flu. The Chiefs QB, who was constantly flustered by the Broncos defense, was inaccurate on a day where Kansas City’s offense turned the ball over five times. The nine points scored by the Chiefs was the team’s second-lowest total since Mahomes took over as the starter in 2018. The Chiefs defense did its best to keep this close — they had six sacks of Russell Wilson while also forcing a turnover — but it wasn’t enough in a game where Kansas City’s offense was simply broken. The Chiefs probably shouldn’t be too worried about this performance considering Mahomes had the flu, but if they play like this next week against the Dolphins, it might be time to start panicking. Grade: D Broncos takeaway: The curse is finally over. The Broncos have finally beaten Patrick Mahomes and for that, they get an “A.” Going into Sunday, the Broncos were 0-12 against Mahomes, but the streak finally ended and it was mostly thanks to a nearly perfect performance from Denver’s defense. The Broncos forced five turnovers and Denver was able to score 17 points off of those and that was the difference in the game. Offensively, Russell Wilson only completed 12 passes for 114 yards, but he made the most of those completions with three TD passes. The Broncos now have some positive momentum with two straight wins as they head into their bye. Grade: A As for all the other grades that we handed out on Sunday, you can check those out by clicking here.
14 crazy facts from Week 8: Cowboys are crushing everyone Los Angeles Rams v Dallas Cowboys Getty Images Every Sunday night, I get an email from our research department here at CBS Sports, and every Sunday, that email always includes some amazingly wild facts about the games that were just played.
With that in mind, here are 14 crazy facts about Week 8:
First 43-20 final score in NFL history. The Cowboys beat the Rams 43-20, which was notable because that marked the first time an NFL game has ever ended with that final score. That’s known as a scorigami, and you can read more about it here. Cowboys are crushing teams at home. The Cowboys are 3-0 at home this season and they’ve won all three games by at least 20 points. They’re now the first team since the 2007 Steelers to win their first three home games of the season by at least 20 points. Cowboys hit the triple crown. The Cowboys became the first team with a defensive TD, a blocked punt and a safety in the first half of a game since 2007 when the Lions did it. Pick-six king. It’s only Week 8, but Cowboys corner DaRon Bland has already set the franchise record for most pick-sixes in a season with three after notching another one on Sunday against the Rams. Bland also tied the NFL record for most pick-sixes through seven games. Jaguars will be sad to see October go: Their 20-10 win over the Steelers means that the Jaguars went 5-0 in October, marking the first time in franchise history they’ve won five games in a single month. Brown out. With 130 yards in Philadelphia’s 38-31 win over the Commanders, A.J. Brown has now gone over 125 yards in six consecutive games, which is a new NFL record. Brown had been tied with Calvin Johnson (2012) and Pat Studstill (1966) for the NFL record) Puka still putting up big numbers. With three catches against the Cowboys, Puka Nacua now has 61 grabs for the season, which is the most in NFL history by a player in his first eight career games, topping Saquon Barkley, who had 58 in 2018. Nacua’s 795 receiving yards are also the most for any player in their first eight career games, beating out Ja’Marr Chase, who had 786 in 2021. Tyreek Hill is on fire. With 112 yards against the Patriots, Hill now has 1,014 for the season, making him the first player in the Super Bowl era (and fourth player ever) to hit the 1,000-yard mark in just eight games. Will the Thrill. With four TD passes against the Falcons, Will Levis became the third player in NFL history to throw four touchdowns in his NFL debut, joining Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Mariota. Rookie quarterbacks are everywhere. Will Levis became the sixth rookie quarterback to start a game this season, which is tied for the most in NFL history through eight weeks. The only other times it happened came in 1971 and 2021. Three wild streaks end for Mahomes. Going into Sunday, Patrick Mahomes had never lost to the Broncos (12-0), he had never lost a divisional road game (16-0) and he had never lost to a team that was multiple games under .500 (25-0), but all of those streaks are now done, thanks to the Broncos’ 24-9 win. Tua owns Belichick. With Miami’s win on Sunday, Tua Tagovailoa is now 6-0 all time against Bill Belichick, which is the most regular-season wins by any quarterback ever against the Patriots coach. McCaffrey is a scoring machine. With two touchdowns against the Bengals, the 49er running back has now scored in 17 straight games, which is tied with Lenny Moore for the longest streak in NFL history. After a bye in Week 9, McCaffrey will need to score in Week 10 to break the record. 49ers suddenly can’t win. The 49ers are now on a three-game losing streak after losing to the Bengals 31-17 on Sunday. That makes the 49ers just the second team in NFL history to follow up a 15-game regular-season winning streak with a three-game losing streak. The only other team to do that was the 2008-09 Colts. The good news for the 49ers there is that the 2009 Colts ended up making the Super Bowl that year. If you see any other fun facts, feel free to tweet them at me.
NFL Week 8 winners and losers: Titans might have finally found a QB You can’t have a week of NFL action without having winners and losers, so we have some winners and losers.
Cody Benjamin came up with this week’s list, which you can check out below.
Winners
Will Levis. “The Titans turned to their second-round rookie. … The Kentucky product chucked deep shot after deep shot, unlocking DeAndre Hopkins as a downfield threat, en route to four touchdowns and the most promising win by Tennessee in a long time.” Rashid Shaheed. “Shaheed topped 150 yards on just three catches to help New Orleans past the Colts, and he’s easily averaging more than 16 yards per reception early in his big-play career.” Sam Howell. “The Commanders may not be ready to contend. But they at least briefly scared the Eagles for the second time this season. … On a day A.J. Brown dominated the stat sheet for Philly, Howell was just as lethal, approaching 400 yards and four scores against the Eagles’ opportunistic defense.” Losers
Brock Purdy. “The second-year phenom is quickly losing the ‘phenom’ label for his crunch-time results, or lack thereof. While Purdy opened 2023 with the same poise that marked his improbable 2022 debut, he’s suddenly building a reputation as a late-game turnover magnet, and his two picks against the Bengals were a big reason San Francisco’s 5-3 after a 5-0 start.” Vikings. “When has a road win over the Packers felt so deflating for this group? Minnesota is definitely on the rise, now 4-4 after a third straight win Sunday. But all hope for a wild-card push seemed to vanish upon news that Kirk Cousins suffered a likely Achilles tear in the victory.” Giants. “You somehow manage to hold a late fourth-quarter lead against the Jets and their vaunted defense? Solid. You then proceed to forfeit said lead and lose to Zach Wilson in overtime? Not solid. Brian Daboll’s squad was already ailing. … But to squander a very winnable one this time out still hurts.” If you want to see Cody’s full list of winners and losers, be sure to click here.
Monday preview: Prepping you for Raiders at Lions goff-g.jpg Getty Images After missing Week 7, Jimmy Garoppolo is expected to be back under center for the Raiders tonight. This a huge game for a Las Vegas team (3-4) that could move into second place in the AFC West with a win over the Lions (5-2). However, a win won’t be coming easy. Not only have the Raiders lost three straight games in the Eastern time zone, but they’re also a huge underdog with the Lions favored by 7.5 points.
My good buddy Jared Dubin put together our deep-dive preview for this game here at CBSSports.com, and here’s how he sees the game playing out:
Why the Raiders can win: If the Lions defense has struggled at one thing this year, it’s stopping the pass. The Lions have allowed 240.6 yards per game through the air, which ranks in the bottom 10 of the NFL. If Jimmy Garoppolo can take advantage of that by getting the ball to Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers or even Josh Jacobs, the Raiders could have a fighting chance to pull off the upset. The Lions are 0-2 this season when allowing 300 yards or more in the passing game. On the flip side, they’re 5-0 when holding teams under 300 passing yards. Why the Lions can win: The Raiders have struggled to get pressure on the QB this year and they’ve struggled to protect the middle of the field, and both of those could mean good things for the Lions. It won’t be surprising if the Lions attack the middle of the field with players like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta and rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who could all have a big night. Also, Jared Goff is extremely good when he’s not being pressured and the Raiders don’t generate a lot of pressure. The team only has 15 sacks on the season, which is one of the lowest numbers in the NFL. Basically, the Lions are built to take advantage of the Raiders’ defensive weaknesses, which means it could be a big night for Detroit’s offense. You can get a full preview of the game from Jared by clicking here.
If you’re thinking about betting on the game, here’s one prop I like:
ONE PROP I LIKE: Daniel Carlson OVER 5.5 points (-115). This is a pretty low number for Carlson, who has scored at least six points in each of the Raiders’ past two games. That total includes a Week 6 win over the Patriots when he scored 13 points in a 21-17 win. Also, through seven weeks, opposing kickers have been averaging two field goal attempts per game this year against the Lions and if Carlson gets two attempts, it’s all but certain that he’ll end up going over 5.5. My prime-time prop record is 10-6 this year.
Finally, if you’re wondering who we’re picking, here’s who we have tonight:
Jared’s pick: Lions 31-16 over Raiders My pick: Lions 27-23 over Raiders
Over on our CBSSports.com picks page, all eight of us are taking the Lions to win and seven of us are also taking the Lions to cover the spread as a 7.5-point favorite.
Extra points: Kirk Cousins done for the season It was a busy weekend in the NFL, and since it’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything that happened, I went ahead and put together a roundup for you.
Kirk Cousins out for the year. The Vikings QB is going to miss the rest of the season after suffering an apparent Achilles tear against the Packers. The Vikings will now have to decide what they want to do at QB, and if you want to know what they can do, we took a list at 12 different options here. Kenny Pickett could miss Week 9. The Steelers QB left Sunday’s game with a rib injury and it’s looking unlikely that he’ll be able to play this week. The Steelers have the Thursday night game this week, which means Pickett won’t get a lot of time to heal. If he can’t go, then Mitchell Trubisky will start against the Titans. Injury roundup for Week 8. It was an ugly day for QB injuries with Matthew Stafford (thumb) and Tyrod Taylor (ribs) also going down. Patriots receiver Kenrick Bourne and Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett were also lost for the year after suffering the same injury: a torn ACL. If you want the full list of every key player who was injured in Week 8, then be sure to check out our full roundup here. Kyler Murray won’t play in Week 9. It seems that the Cardinals aren’t quite ready to put Murray back on the field. Following the Cards’ 31-24 loss to Baltimore, Arizona coach Jonathan Gannon said that Joshua Dobbs will definitely be starting in Week 9 against the Browns. Murray has to be moved to the active roster shortly after that game, which means there’s a good chance we could see him in Week 10 against the Falcons. Rashan Gary gets huge extension from Packers. The Packers’ star pass-rusher just landed a new four-year extension that will pay him $107 million. It’s a huge contract for Gary, who missed the final eight games of the 2022 season after tearing his ACL. Jim Harbaugh might not be able to get an NFL job. If Harbaugh loses his job at Michigan over the team’s current sign-stealing controversy, he’s not going to be allowed to just waltz to the NFL. According to NFL.com, if Harbaugh gets suspended by the NCAA, he’ll be forced to serve some or all of that suspension in the NFL if he takes a job.
Every Sunday night, I get an email from our research department here at CBS Sports, and that email always includes some amazingly wild facts about the games that were just played.
The biggest winner this week was the Dallas Cowboys, who will be showing up in four of our 19 facts below. We’ll also be recapping all of the craziness that took place during the Jets’ 13-10 win over the Giants, which will almost certainly go down as one of the ugliest wins in NFL history.
With that in mind, here are 14 crazy facts from Week 8:
First 43-20 final score in NFL history. The Cowboys beat the Rams 43-20, which was notable because that marked the first time an NFL game has ever ended with that final score. That’s known as a scorigami, and you can read more about it here. Cowboys are crushing teams at home. The Cowboys are 3-0 at home this season and they’ve won all three games by at least 20 points. They’re now the first team since the 2007 Steelers to win their first three home games of the season by at least 20 points. Cowboys hit the triple crown. The Cowboys became the first team with a defensive TD, a blocked punt and a safety in the first half of a game since 2007 when the Lions did it. Pick-six king. It’s only Week 8, but Cowboys corner DaRon Bland has already set the franchise record for most pick-sixes in a season with three after notching another one on Sunday against the Rams. Bland also tied the NFL record for most pick-sixes through seven games. Jaguars will be sad to see October go: Their 20-10 win over the Steelers means that the Jaguars went 5-0 in October, marking the first time in franchise history they’ve won five games in a single month. Brown out. With 130 yards in Philadelphia’s 38-31 win over the Commanders, A.J. Brown has now gone over 125 yards in six consecutive games, which is a new NFL record. Brown had been tied with Calvin Johnson (2012) and Pat Studstill (1966) for the NFL record) Puka still putting up big numbers. With three catches against the Cowboys, Puka Nacua now has 61 grabs for the season, which is the most in NFL history by a player in his first eight career games, topping Saquon Barkley, who had 58 in 2018. Nacua’s 795 receiving yards are also the most for any player in their first eight career games, beating out Ja’Marr Chase, who had 786 in 2021. Tyreek Hill is on fire. With 112 yards against the Patriots, Hill now has 1,014 for the season, making him the first player in the Super Bowl era (and fourth player ever) to hit the 1,000-yard mark in just eight games. Will the Thrill. With four TD passes against the Falcons, Will Levis became the third player in NFL history to throw four touchdowns in his NFL debut, joining Fran Tarkenton and Marcus Mariota. Rookie quarterbacks are everywhere. Will Levis became the sixth rookie quarterback to start a game this season, which is tied for the most in NFL history through eight weeks. The only other times it happened came in 1971 and 2021. Three wild streaks end for Mahomes. Going into Sunday, Patrick Mahomes had never lost to the Broncos (12-0), he had never lost a divisional road game (16-0) and he had never lost to a team that was multiple games under .500 (25-0), but all of those streaks are now done, thanks to the Broncos’ 24-9 win. Tua owns Belichick. With Miami’s win on Sunday, Tua Tagovailoa is now 6-0 all time against Bill Belichick, which is the most regular-season wins by any quarterback ever against the Patriots coach. McCaffrey is a scoring machine. With two touchdowns against the Bengals, the 49er running back has now scored in 17 straight games, which is tied with Lenny Moore for the longest streak in NFL history. After a bye in Week 9, McCaffrey will need to score in Week 10 to break the record. 49ers suddenly can’t win. The 49ers are now on a three-game losing streak after losing to the Bengals 31-17 on Sunday. That makes the 49ers just the second team in NFL history to follow up a 15-game regular-season winning streak with a three-game losing streak. The only other team to do that was the 2008-09 Colts. The good news for the 49ers there is that the 2009 Colts ended up making the Super Bowl that year. We also have five bonus facts from the Jets’ win over the Giants, which might go down as the best bad game ever … or was it the worst best game ever? I’m not sure, I’ll have to think about that.
Here are five facts from that game:
There were more punts (24) than points (23). The 24 combined punts was the most that two NFL teams have combined for in a game since 1998. There were 16 combined three-and-outs, which was tied for most in a game since 2000. The two teams went a combined 4 for 34 on third down, which was the worst combined third-down conversion rate since 2009 in a game where the two teams combined for at least 30 attempts. The Giants finished with -9 pass yards, which was the fewest by any team since 2000 when the Browns had -9 in a 48-0 loss to the Jaguars. Zach Wilson became the first QB since 2000 to win a game with multiple completions of 25 yards or more in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter. Wilson hit Allen Lazard for a 29-yard gain followed by another 29-yard throw to Garrett Wilson that set up Greg Zuerlein’s game-tying field goal at the end of regulation. The Jets’ win was a wild one and it put them over .500 for the first time this season.
Maxx Crosby will face his childhood team on Monday night when his Las Vegas Raiders head into Ford Field to face the Detroit Lions to wrap up Week 8. The star pass rusher was born in Michigan and was a self-described “die-hard” Lions fan growing up. After moving to Texas as a pre-teen, Crosby moved back to his home state to play at Eastern Michigan, which helped springboard him to the NFL.
Crosby opted to turn pro in 2019 and was ultimately selected by the Raiders with the No. 106 overall pick in the fourth round. As one might imagine, being selected by his hometown Lions likely would have been a thrill for Crosby, but the organization passed on him three times before he was ultimately off the board, opting for T.J Hockenson (first round), Jahlani Tavai (second round) and Will Harris (third round) instead.
“I wouldn’t say I was mad,” Crosby told NFL Media over the weekend, via NFL.com. “But, I remember everything. I remember everything. Let’s just leave it at that.”
While Crosby has faced the Lions before (back in 2019 during his rookie season), this will be Crosby’s first trip up to Ford Field in his NFL career.
“I cannot wait,” Crosby said of playing in Detroit. “That’s all I can say.”
The 26-year-old comes into this game with 6.5 sacks on the year and 40 total tackles. Crosby entered Week 8 with a league-leading 43 pressures on the season and is third in the league in that category with 124 pressures since the start of last season, only trailing Nick Bosa (134) and Micah Parsons (133).
While getting his team back to .500 on the year is the main priority, exacting a little revenge against his hometown team that snubbed him when he came out of Eastern Michigan will certainly be a nice cherry on top of a possible Las Vegas victory.
The Buffalo Bills are adding to their running back room as former Jaguars and Buccaneers running back Leonard Fournette will sign a deal with Buffalo’s practice squad, CBS Sports Lead NFL Insider Jonathan Jones confirms. Fournette visited the Bills earlier in the season but did not sign with them.
He has been a street free agent all season after averaging just 3.5 yards per carry with Tampa Bay last year.
The Bills lost running back Damien Harris to a concussion a couple weeks ago, and have been splitting the backfield entirely between James Cook and Latavius Murray. Cook is averaging 4.8 yards per carry and has improved his success rate as both a runner and receiver this season, per Pro-Football-Reference.com, while Murray is at just 3.6 yards per carry and is down to a 45% success rate, which is his worst mark since 2018.
The Bills have shown that they trust Murray more than Cook in pass protection and around the goal line. Fournette has been a strong pass-catcher during his career (three seasons with 69 or more receptions) but despite his size he has not been a particularly good pass protector (he allowed 38 pressures on 299 career pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus) or short-yardage runner. During his three seasons in Tampa, Fournette converted just 61.1% of his opportunities on third- or fourth-and-1, a rate that ranked 70th out of 100 backs who had 100 or more total carries during that span.
Still, the Bills wouldn’t be bringing him in if they didn’t feel they had a need for his skill set. It remains to be seen what type of role he’ll fill in the backfield — or whether he will even be activated off the practice squad for game days, but Buffalo has already shown this season that it is not satisfied with its options alongside Josh Allen.
