NFL standings after week 8: Winners and losers in the AFC and NFC divisions

Let‘s dive into this eventful week of football, shall we? On Sunday, we were blessed with a Hail Mary play to end the afternoon slot in the Commanders‘ win over the Bears. Before that, the Ravens, who we thought were Super Bowl contenders, lost to a team that previously had just one win. Later on that night, the Cowboys and 49ers stole the attention of the media with Nick Bosa‘s “MAGA” hat interview interruption and Trevon Diggs’ crude comments to a reporter (on top of another terrible loss). The Chiefs beat the Raiders to remain undefeated at 7-0. Oh, and the Jets have completely imploded.

Here are the winners and losers from Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season.

NFL Week 8: Winners and Losers

Winner: Commanders and their franchise QB

The Commanders are NFC East title contenders for the first time in a long time, thanks to their rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. The play of the game during their victory over the Bears was obviously the game-winning 52-yard Hail Mary pass from Daniels to Noah Brown, and despite the fact that it took them the entire game to actually get a touchdown at all, the way in which they did it and the fact that it won them the game makes them Week 8 winners.

Despite not scoring a touchdown until the final play, the Commanders defense was able to limit the Bears to just two 3rd-down conversions, and Daniels showed he can win games despite some blunders.

Winner: The Bills' AFC East title streak

At just eight weeks into the season, the Bills are already basically a lock to win the AFC East title for the fifth year in a row. They‘re sitting at 6-2 after their dominant win over the Seahawks, putting them four games up over the Dolphins, Patriots, and Jets, who all have just two wins on the season and sit at Nos. 10, 14, and 15 in the AFC overall, respectively. It’s true that none of the Bills’ victories have come against winning teams yet, but even still, it would take a catastrophe for the Bills to slip out of the No. 1 spot now and with the acquisition of WR Amari Cooper, their pass game has improved significantly. They’ll have a chance to put themselves even further on top with a win over the Dolphins next week and we’ll get a better sense of their future depending on how they fare against the Chiefs and Lions down the line.

Winner: The Cardinals' future

Even with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa back in the game, the Dolphins couldn’t get past the Cardinals, who made a comeback to win 28-27. Although the Cardinals, like their divisional rivals 49ers and Seahawks, are at 4-4, they are in first place in the NFC West thanks to tiebreakers. What’s really good for Arizona though is the clear improvement in head coach Jonathan Gannon’s second season. Quarterback Kyler Murray threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. had six catches for 111 yards and a touchdown, and tight end Trey McBride had nine catches for 124 yards.

Loser: The entire Jets franchise

They brought on quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but that didn’t work. They fired head coach Robert Saleh, but that didn’t work either. Then they brought on Davante Adams and, you guessed it, that didn’t work out for them either. Since firing Saleh, the Jets have lost three games in a row, including Week 8’s loss to the Patriots. Rodgers, who turns 41 in a month and has thrown seven interceptions this season, is the main reason behind a lot of the Jets’ decisions this season. Seeing as how that hasn’t worked out for them, perhaps they should try getting out of his contract early.

Loser: The Cowboys' nonexistent run game...and Trevon Diggs

The Cowboys already ranked dead last in rushing offense this season before playing the 49ers on Sunday. Going into that game, they were without Rico Dowdle and had put their hope into Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook. You can guess how that went. They ended up with 56 yards on 19 carries (2.9 yards per attempt). To put that in perspective, the Niners finished with 223 yards on 36 carries.

The game ended in a 30-24 loss and as if it weren’t embarrassing enough, cornerback Trevon Diggs made a fool of himself by taking his frustration out on a reporter who had tweeted about him during the game, telling him they could talk about “deez nuts”. Yes, I’m serious. Usually the Cowboys wait until the end of the season to have their meltdowns, but it looks like Christmas came early this year.

Loser: Colts' Anthony Richardson and Shane Steichen

Poor decision-making on Steichen’s part and a poor pass on Richardson’s ended up in a touchdown by the Texans to end the first half. With just 34 seconds left and a 10-10 tie game, the Colts had the ball at their own 12-yard line. Rather than kneel to run out the clock, head coach Shane Steichen opted to go for a pass-play, which was immediately intercepted by Houston safety Jalen Pitre and resulted in a touchdown to bring the score to 17-10 at the half. They ended up losing the game by three points, so I’d say that was a pretty costly call. While we can mostly blame Steichen for that one, a head-scratcher that Richardson pulled in the 3rd quarter may not be so easily forgiven either.

Richardson asked to be taken out of the game for one play because he was “tired” and needed to catch his breath. Colts fans are now questioning Richardson’s toughness, and rightfully so. Suddenly, things aren’t so certain on whether he or Joe Flacco will be the starting QB next week.

NFL standings after Week 8

AFC East

AFC West

AFC North

AFC South

NFC East

NFC West

NFC North

NFC South