NFL Week 8 Takeaways: 49ers bounce back to keep pace in wild NFC West

Hey, did you hear? Sunday was National Tight Ends Day. 

(Yes, you heard.)

For a totally made-up occasion, tight ends around the NFL sure stepped up to celebrate. Kyle Pitts scored a pair of touchdowns to help the Falcons down the Buccaneers, the Lions’ trouncing of the Titans featured two tight end scores, Travis Kelce finally looked like his old self to help the Chiefs stay perfect in a win over the Raiders, and George Kittle provided the cherry on top with his performance against Dallas on the Sunday Night stage. Kittle caught six passes for 128 yards and a touchdown to help get the 49ers back on track with a crucial 30-24 win over the Cowboys to get back to .500 on the season.

Whenever Dallas and San Francisco meet on the gridiron, talk of this storied rivalry resurfaces — tales of playoff showdowns and Super Bowl dominance of decades past. But with both clubs stumbling through the first half of the 2024 season and dealing with more than a few injuries, Sunday night’s meeting felt more like a measuring stick for each team’s future than an opportunity to reminisce about the past. 

Both the Cowboys and 49ers entered Sunday with just three wins on the season and plenty of question marks. The strength of the 2023 Cowboys — defence, and plenty of it — has been a major weakness of the 2024 squad, while the 49ers’ deep arsenal of weapons we saw on the field last year has been banged up early and often this season. Both teams have been forced to fix things on the fly, to varying levels of success. 

The 49ers’ offence, which is still without star running back Christian McCaffrey and staring down a season without Brandon Aiyuk, took another hit Sunday when backup RB Jordan Mason left the game with what’s being called a shoulder injury. In typical 49ers next-man-up fashion, backup-to-the-backup Isaac Guerendo stepped up with 14 carries for 85 yards and a touchdown. 

So, what comes next for both sides? The 49ers enter a 4-4 gridlock in the NFC West sandwiched between the Cardinals and Seahawks with matching records while the Rams (3-4) are just one win shy of joining them. That division might not be the best in football, but it is the most interesting. A well-timed Week 9 bye should allow them a little time to get healthy. 

As for the Cowboys, the uphill climb is steep. They now sit three wins behind the Commanders (6-2) and two behind the Eagles (5-2). They play both squads in the next four weeks. 

TUA’S BACK, BUT IS IT TOO LATE FOR DOLPHINS?

All eyes were on Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa earlier Sunday as he made his return to action for the first time since suffering a concussion in Week 2. And while there were several victories to be had by the Dolphins in this one — a successful game-opening scoring drive, a season-high point total, a textbook QB slide that had fans on their feet and chanting their QB’s name, and, above all, a healthy Tagovailoa from start to finish. 

But it didn’t add up to a crucial Week 8 win over the Arizona Cardinals, thanks to a late drive by Kyler Murray to set up kicker Chad Ryland for a walk-off field goal to take the 28-27 W.

While the Cardinals now sit at .500 atop what is a surprisingly winnable NFC West following the Seahawks’ late-window loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Dolphins remain in troubled waters. Their 2-4 record heading into their Week 7 bye was always going to be a major hurdle in the hunt for a wild card berth. A 2-5 record nearing mid-season is a whole lot tougher. A loss to the 6-2 Bills next week might just dash all hope of a run. 

Now, about that AFC East… 

JETS’ SEASON GETS MESSIER WITH LOSS TO PATRIOTS

Both the New York Jets and the New England Patriots entered Week 8 riding the kind of streak nobody wants to keep. The 1-6 Patriots hadn’t won since their season-opening stunner over the Bengals, stringing all six of their losses into one sad chain resulting in their own coach calling them soft after loss No. 6, while the Jets entered Sunday having lost all four of their games since their last meeting with New England, their season getting messier by the minute. 

Just when we thought things couldn’t get worse for the Jets, Gang Green went and lost to a one-win divisional rival whose success this year isn’t really measured on the scoreboard. 

Just like the Jets’ season, New York’s 25-22 loss was a series of self-inflicted wounds. Kicker Greg Zuerlein missed an extra point on the Jets’ first touchdown, and later missed a field goal in what was ultimately a three-point loss. New York’s defence allowed a struggling offence, which averaged just 3.9 yards per play and lost rookie starter Drake Maye mid-game, to keep pace — and ultimately take over in the final minutes. 

The Jets’ 2-6 record now matches that of the Patriots. Firing Robert Saleh wasn’t the answer. Neither was bringing in Davante Adams. A season that started with Super Bowl expectations now looks like the beginning of another rebuild — just like their Sunday opponent. 

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em… right?

CHIEFS STAY PERFECT. HOW FAR CAN THEY GO?

The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t found themselves on the losing side of a football game since Christmas Day of last year. 

The team that delivered that loss? The Las Vegas Raiders, who hosted the league’s last remaining undefeated team on Sunday hoping to stump their division rival again. The Raiders couldn’t repeat that Christmas success, though, falling short in every major offensive category and failing to stop Patrick Mahomes & Co. — a unit that now includes DeAndre Hopkins, whose Chiefs debut saw him catch two passes for 29 yards.

The win within the win for Kansas City is the man atop the Chiefs’ receiving leaderboard in the 27-20 victory: tight end Travis Kelce, who after a relatively quiet first six games led the team in catches (10) and yards (90) and scored his first touchdown of the season. 

There’s still more than half a season to go, but we’re at the point where we can start to wonder… how long, exactly, can this Chiefs win streak go? The 7-0 squad faces the Tampa Bay Buccaneers next Monday, followed by another divisional clash against Denver in Week 10. Circle Week 11 on the schedule, which sees Mahomes take on Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills in what should be a classic.

BROWNS STUN RAVENS. NOW WHAT?

Following seven weeks of déjà vu on offence for the Cleveland Browns, Week 8 brought a change of pace. With Watson officially out for the season with a torn Achilles, the starting job now belongs to Jameis Winston — and the backup made good on his first start since September 2022. After seven weeks of sub-20 point tallies and just one win all season with Watson at the helm, the Browns’ offence came to life Sunday against Baltimore — for one day, anyway. 

Cleveland stunned the Ravens 29-24, Winston & Co. stealing the victory with a last-minute toss to receiver Cedric Tillman. Winston completed 27 of 41 passes for 334 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions to stun Baltimore and do Pittsburgh a solid in the process — the Steelers, who face the New York Giants Monday night, can now take a one-game lead atop the division with a victory.

Winston’s first start feels a little bit familiar, too. When Watson went down last year, the club called Joe Flacco, who guided the roster into the post-season. And we all know the Winston experience typically ends on the bench, thanks to his big-risk style of play. 

Now 2-6, the Browns are still in the basement of the AFC North. They’ve already sold their top wide receiver, Amari Cooper, to the Buffalo Bills, and are closer to going back to a rebuild this year than they are to reviving their contender status. Watson wasn’t the long-term answer, and Winston likely isn’t, either, but if he can take advantage of this chance to start he could at least make things interesting. 

DANIELS SAVES HIS BEST PLAY FOR LAST

It was a showdown that almost didn’t happen. When Jayden Daniels left last Sunday’s matchup against the Panthers with a rib injury, it looked like the Week 8 contest between the first and second overall picks of the class of 2024 would be in jeopardy. 

Even with Daniels cleared to start against fellow rookie Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears, this game wasn’t looking like the showdown we’d all been hoping for. Both rookies have blossomed this season, but Sunday’s game was a slow burn of field goals. 

That is, until the very last play, when Daniels took a three-point deficit with zeros on the clock and turned it into one of the wildest Hail Mary walk-off wins we’ve ever seen. Daniels dipped and dodged Bears defenders for almost 13 seconds before unleashing a bomb into the end zone, which was tipped into the hands of Noah Brown for the game-winning score by Bears defender Tyrique Stevenson. Stevenson’s misplay was even worse when a fan’s video revealed he was busy taunting Commanders fans during the play before joining the fray.

Stevenson posted a statement post-game on social media, promising to learn from the situation.

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