NFL 2009 Week Eight Wrap-Up

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The big story going into Week Eight was Brett Favre's return to Lambeau in what ended up being a pretty good game.

I'll get to that later, but I want to briefly touch on something else that has annoyed me all season. Can we please stop with the throwbacks? I understand this is the AFL's 50th anniversary and that the NFL is using that to sell more jerseys, but this is too much.

Wearing them one or two times a year is fine, but I think the Jets may have worn their New York Titans jerseys more than their current unis.

It's getting very annoying seeing these AFL throwbacks every week and we are only halfway through the season.

Ridiculous.

Houston (5-3) def. Buffalo (3-5), 31-10: Houston was down early in this game and it seemed like they were on their way to having one of their letdown games, but they eventually blew it open and won easily. The big story out of this game was Owen Daniels' season-ending injury. Daniels was playing like one of the best tight ends in the league, and Houston will sorely miss him.

Chicago (4-3) def. Cleveland (1-7), 30-6: Derek Anderson now has a lower passer rating than JaMarcus Russell. The passer rating formula is ridiculous, but it has a little bit of validity to it and Derek Anderson is lower than every other starter. 

Their offense is painful to watch. Chicago dominated and never broke a sweat. The Browns are a pathetic mess right now and a lot of it falls on their head coach.

Dallas (5-2) def. Seattle (2-5), 38-17: Seattle is too beat up to do anything against a good team right now. Dallas controlled everything from the outset and bullied their way to the win. The 'Boys have now quietly won three straight games and Tony Romo has established great chemistry with Miles Austin.

Next week's game against the Eagles is now huge in the NFC East, not to mention what happened the last time Dallas played in Philly.

St. Louis (1-7) def. Detroit (1-6), 17-10: The Rams are a horrible football team, but they always play hard. It finally paid off when they beat Detroit. Steven Jackson was once again the best player on the field as he and Marc Bulger led the Rams to their first victory in 18 games.

Minnesota (7-1) def. Green Bay (4-3), 38-26: I wrote on Friday that Green Bay would win because they wanted it more. I was wrong. Every single Viking player looked like they took this game personally. Outside of the third quarter, Minnesota looked great.

Green Bay, on the other hand, looked like they were taking this as just another game, which it clearly wasn't. Aaron Rodgers was the only Packer on the field who really wanted this more than if it was just another game. He took a ridiculous amount of punishment again and still almost led a comeback.

Minnesota now has a commanding lead in the division and a favorable schedule after their bye. Green Bay let a big opportunity slip through their fingers and the Vikings took advantage and are on the fast track to the division title.

Indianapolis (7-0) def. San Francisco (3-4), 18-14: San Francisco played an extremely solid game. Alex Smith put up extremely solid numbers. The defense held Peyton Manning without a touchdown pass. They led for most of the game, but they couldn't close it out.

Like the Saints last week against Miami, this is the kind of game for Indy that will prepare them for the postseason.

Miami (3-4) def. New York Jets (4-4), 30-25: Ted Ginn, Jr. was a goat last week in Miami but he more than made up for it this week with two 100-plus yard returns to lead the Fins to a sweep of the Jets.

The Jets stopped everything Miami wanted to do on offense and moved the ball relatively well. But they forgot that special teams is also a part of the game, and it cost them.

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