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    • Aaron Rodgers, Jets look finished
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    Aaron Rodgers, Jets look finished

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    Week 8 in the NFL saw a game-winning Hail Mary in the afternoon, a wild ending to the early stretch of games that saw a Super Bowl contender (Baltimore Ravens) lose to a previously one-win team (Browns) and an NFC contender (Philadelphia Eagles) another positive performance as it returns to form.

    And yet one of the bigger storylines of the day is the total implosion of the Aaron-Rodgers-led New York Jets, who are in freefall and now face questions about the direction the team should take while there may be a new reconstruction is looming.

    Here are the winners and losers from week 8 on Sunday.

    WINNERS

    Commanders need a bit of luck, but triumph despite inefficiencies

    Washington went 0-for-3 in the red zone and did not score a touchdown in their only goal-to-go situation against the Chicago Bears. The Commanders had to settle for field goals all game and didn’t score a touchdown until the final play, a 52-yard Hail Mary touchdown that won the game 18-15.

    But despite the offensive inefficiency, the Commanders (6-2) kept Chicago in check, limiting the Bears to converting on just two of twelve third downs and keeping rookie Caleb Williams in check; Williams completed just 10 of 24 passes (41.7%) for 131 yards. Williams was effective on the ground and Washington benefited greatly from a bizarre play call in which the Bears handed the ball off on a third-and-goal to backup center Doug Kramer Jr., leading to a fumble, but Washington (6- 2) is now No. 2 in the NFC and has shown he can win even when he doesn’t play cleanly.

    Fully healthy, balance is back for Philadelphia’s offense

    The Eagles have fully embraced balance as part of their offensive identity, with excellent results. After missing time, receivers AJ Brown (84 yards in Sunday’s 37-17 win over the Cincinnati Bengals) and DeVonta Smith (85 yards and a touchdown) have brought consistency to Philadelphia’s passing attack, and quarterback Jalen Hurts is playing more decisively .

    That has also created more opportunities for the rushing game, which continues to excel under Saquon Barkley. The Eagles (5-3) have won three straight and scored the last 17 points against the Bengals. The Tush Push is still nearly unstoppable, and the Eagles haven’t recorded a single turnover during their winning streak.

    The cardinals are coming around the corner

    Arizona was a much-improved team in the second season of Jonathan Gannon’s tenure as head coach. And in a 28-27 comeback win against the Miami Dolphins, the Cardinals showed how tough they can be to defend.

    Kyler Murray killed the Dolphins with precision on crossing routes and found rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride. It was a smart move of game planning; Miami’s secondary lacks elite speed and couldn’t keep pace with Arizona’s goals in free releases. Arizona (4-4) currently sits in first place in the NFC West thanks to tiebreakers. Still, it’s clear that the Cardinals are an emerging team, building positive momentum.

    In the weak AFC East, Bills takes away the division title (again).

    The AFC has 16 teams. Two teams in the AFC East, the Patriots and Jets, are tied at 2-6 and currently in the 14e and 15e seeds at the conference. The 2-5 dolphins are not much better off in the 10 seeds. That means that after a 31-10 battle against the Seahawks, the 6-2 Bills will almost certainly walk away with another division title, which would be their fifth in a row.

    Yet none of Buffalo’s six wins have come against teams that currently have a winning record. In fact, the combined record of opponents the Bills have defeated is 15-31 (.326). On the one hand, the Bills can’t control which teams are on their schedule. On the other hand, Buffalo needs to show it can consistently outscore the tougher opponents it faces, with two losses coming to the Ravens and the Texans. A four-game stretch from Week 11, with games against the Chiefs (7-0), 49ers (4-4) and Lions (6-1), should be telling.

    LOSERS

    This Jets season has been an abject failure

    And New York, loser of five in a row, has only itself to blame. This is when doubling (tripling?) backfires spectacularly. The Jets went all-in on this Aaron Rodgers build and surrounded him with old friends — with an emphasis on old, in several cases — meaning the Jets (2-6) are staring down another rebuild, with no clear plan for the future.

    Rodgers will turn 41 in just over a month. He is under contract for next season. Frankly, the Jets should consider trying to get out. This receiving corps, this offense, the shape of the coaching staff – it was all done to appease Rodgers, and his play simply didn’t come close to matching the cost of these investments. It’s time to wonder if Rodgers will commit to another season of this. Either way, the Jets should shift their focus entirely to landing a franchise quarterback in the draft.

    Cowboys inability to run drags Dallas to the dregs of NFC

    The Cowboys entered Sunday already ranked last in the NFL in rushing offense as they were the only team averaging fewer than 80 yards per game on the ground. With running back Rico Dowdle starting against the 49ers, the Cowboys hoped Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook, the latter activated from the practice squad, could maintain consistent production in the ground game.

    Dallas ran for 56 yards on 19 carries for just 2.9 yards per attempt. By comparison, San Francisco ran for 223 yards on 36 attempts. Dallas’ offense, when there is no threat of a skilled rushing game, becomes predictable and puts enormous pressure on Dak Prescott. Worse still, the Cowboys are a poorly constructed offense whose No. 2 and No. 3 receivers are 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-1, respectively. The Cowboys (3-4) fell to the bottom quarter of the NFC standings. They look like a team heading into an offseason marked by transition.

    The Ravens let themselves down again

    It seems like every season Jon Harbaugh’s Ravens have an inexplicable disappointment that calls their status as a legitimate contender into question. This year it came against a Browns team that started Sunday with one win and started Jameis Winston at quarterback.

    In these disappointments, Baltimore (5-3) incomprehensibly goes against the things on which they base their identity. The Ravens are the NFL’s premier offense; against the Browns, Baltimore ran the ball 21 times. Derrick Henry, who averaged 6.6 yards per carry against Cleveland, received just 11 carries. Baltimore was therefore constantly faced with third-and-longs and converted only two of ten third-down attempts. All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton dropped what would have been a play-making interception. On the next play, Winston threw a 38-yard, game-winning touchdown after safety Eddie Jackson suffered a coverage breakdown. Ravens receivers dropped passes all game.

    Shane Steichen becomes mindlessly aggressive

    This is when situational coaching costs team games. Against the Texans, the Colts held the ball late in the first half — with 34 seconds to play, to be exact — from their own 12-yard line. The game was tied at 10 and the Colts would get the ball back to start the third quarter. The obvious sensible move was to kneel the ball, regroup and start the second half strongly.

    Instead, coach Shane Steichen opted to call a pass play on a third-and-3, one that Texans safety Jalen Pitre intercepted. This is despite 2021 All-Pro Jonathan Taylor running back. On the next play, the Texans scored a touchdown. Anthony Richardson certainly deserves the blame for telegraphing the pass, but Steichen should never have put his young quarterback in that position. The Colts, in the simplest terms, had nothing to gain from that passing game.

    Indianapolis (4-4) would lose the game by three.

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