It's a weekly staple. A bunch of exciting peak-and-valley football gets played and someone exhales and declares it the craziest week of the season. I typically just laugh. The NFL is the ultimate snow globe league; chaos is the main ingredient. This stuff should never surprise anyone.

But maybe I need to drink the Kool-Aid for Week 8. The opening window on Sunday made me dizzy, too.

Someone out there could realistically have a starting lineup that includes Lamar Jackson, Zay Flowers, Tre Tucker and Omar Cooper Jr. They all scored zero points, and only Jackson (busted thumb) was knocked out by injury. To be fair, when Jackson and then Tyler Huntley got hurt for the Ravens, Flowers was essentially crossed off, too.

The Buccaneers won a football game despite Baker Mayfield going 0-for-3 on passes. Mayfield still earned a 39.6 rating for his troubles, better than Michael Penix Jr. on the other side (four picks, 125 passing yards, 12.0 rating). Drake London had one catch for eight yards.

Every Minnesota football game is a tax on offense. This week was no exception (the Lions won the game, 19-15). At least Jahmyr Gibbs was unstoppable (23-153-1), and Jameson Williams (a credible 4-70-1), T.J. Hockenson and Justin Jefferson applied some touchdown deodorant.

Did you need Jacoby Brissett at Dallas? He was benched, then watched Gardner Minshew dial up three touchdown passes. Counting on Jonathan Taylor at Jacksonville? Twenty-three rushing yards. Parker Washington on the other side? One catch. The Jaguars targeted the entire phone book (11 players in all), and nobody drew more than three. Good times.

Is Ashton Jeanty your guy? He's essentially been benched for Mike Washington Jr. On and on it goes.

How do we refresh the palate after all this silliness? Call up the Dead Zone running backs.

— Tony Pollard was almost a punchline during draft season. You want that back-nine running back, on that lousy team? But Pollard seems to survive every year, no matter the surroundings — he did collect four straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons before this year. And although his first quarter this year was slow off the mark, he does get decent volume every week. And the last two games, he's been shredding.

It started with 25-129-3 against Cleveland last week, and then continued with 137 total yards and two scores Sunday at Cincinnati. Ohio can't get past Pollard quick enough. It's also encouraging to see Pollard stepping into a receiving role with Tyjae Spears hurt; Pollard has six catches over the last two games. It's a shame his bye comes in Week 9 and the upcoming schedule is rough, but show Pollard some respect. Heck, maybe he'll work his way into NFL trade discussions; despite Pollard's surge, the one-win Titans are still going nowhere.

— For most of the year we've talked about Jaylen Warren as a better real-life player than fantasy player. The lack of touchdowns has held him back, no fault of his own. But Warren merged the two streets nicely in the romp over Cleveland, darting and weaving for 143 rushing yards and his second rushing touchdown of the year. Of course the Steelers keep Rico Dowdle in the mix too (15-56-1), so that puts a cap on the Warren ceiling. But sometimes you just have to bet on talent. Warren and the Steelers take their bye in Week 9.

— Remember when Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. were in a quasi-job battle? Ah, summer is a blur now. Tuten has left Rodriguez in the dust, and finally Tuten is starting to get some touchdown luck, too (he's had multiple scores wiped out by penalty in 2026). Tuten threw 104 land yards at the Colts, 55 by air and scored a touchdown in both manners. Prices out at 28.9 points in half-point PPR scoring, good enough for the RB yellow jersey as we go to press. Baltimore is up next, the same defense that just got thumped in Buffalo.

— Bucky Irving was the unwanted man in Tampa Bay this year, so the story went. Kenneth Gainwell signed a decent contract. Sean Tucker was around as a talented No. 3. But Irving has turned into one of the value picks of the year, getting his running groove back and surging behind what's all of a sudden a perfect setup in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers' offensive line has been demolishing people of late. Baker Mayfield was 0-for-3 passing Sunday — OH FOR THREE — and threw for just 64 yards last week. Irving was so dominant in the dodgy weather against Atlanta (27-100-1) that he left some understudy work for Gainwell (25-140-0). It's like the Buccaneers went into a 1977 time machine and never came back. The Bears will be a fascinating matchup next Sunday night.

In Other Week 8 Booms

— So what if Joe Burrow wants to do all of his term papers at the last minute? They all read like Shakespeare. The Bengals had a scoreless half last week before smashing Baltimore, and Sunday it was a sluggish first quarter before Burrow caught fire against Tennessee. The end result was 462 passing yards and five touchdowns, plus another score on the ground.

You'll excuse the three picks when the other columns are packed so thickly, and Burrow was kind enough to get a touchdown to all his main pass-catchers (Tee Higgins 10-155-2, Ja'Marr Chase 11-141-1, Mike Gesicki 4-76-1). Chase Brown? He had a modest 12-55-0 on the ground, but at least he scammed 8-46-0 in the passing game. And Samaje Perine wasn't in his way — just five touches for 19 yards. The Bengals and Falcons wing over to Spain next week.

— Maybe it's unfair to call Mike Washington Jr. a boom — he had a modest 83 yards on 25 carries. But volume is a currency in fantasy football, and he received that workload while Jeanty was limited to two rushes for nine yards. Jeanty did snag three catches for 64 yards, but the Raiders won the game and Washington has been the better runner all year. Klint Kubiak teased changes all week, then brought some on game day. The Raiders are at San Francisco next.

— Tyler Allgeier became the last Arizona back standing when Jeremiyah Love (ankle) and Bam Knight (concussion) were ruled out. No problem. Allgeier went bonkers at Dallas, racking up 191 total yards and two touchdowns. Before we get too excited about the Allgeier future, the upcoming schedule looks nasty (Seahawks, Rams, Chiefs). Maybe this is the week you throw him into a fantasy trade to land something bigger.

In Other Week 8 Busts

— With Jackson needing thumb surgery and headed for injured reserve — that's at least four weeks down, perhaps the season — you have to wonder if the Ravens are cooked. If only the Bengals would let Baltimore have Joe Flacco back. Flowers drew five targets at Buffalo but they all fell incomplete. Derrick Henry (11-53-1) fell into the end zone to save his day, but the Ravens might want to take calls on Henry as the trade deadline approaches. With Jackson out and Huntley in limbo, the 4-4 Ravens could be drawing dead for 2026.

— If you told me Cooper's bagel (zero catches, zero targets) came at the expense of Garrett Wilson bouncing back, I'd believe it. Well, Wilson had a solid but not seismic 6-83-0. It wasn't Mason Taylor, either — he was held to 3-19-0 on five targets. The big winner in the New York passing game was Adonai Mitchell, finally healthy again and smashing for 7-142-1 on nine targets. Just what the Jets need: a widening passing tree. At least we can set our watch by Braelon Allen (21-147-1), who is a monster every week. Breece Hall might have been Wally Pipp'ed in the Meadowlands.

— The Colts were never competitive in Jacksonville and eventually it became open auditions for their next starting back (Taylor played 38 of 61 offensive snaps). Seth McGowan had five rushes for 29 yards, and DJ Giddens locked up with a 6-43-0 log. Daniel Jones had another predictable lost game (5.1 YPA, 1 TD, 2 picks, 3 sacks), though he at least got a short touchdown to Josh Downs and some PPR scam to Keenan Allen (7-67-0). I'd stream almost any defense against the Colts, but not Dallas in Week 9.