While Sunday’s slate of Week 8 games ended with a relatively boring NFC East matchup between the Commanders and Eagles—which Washington won, 27–10—the rest of the day’s action more than made up for it.

Between seven one-score games, a pair of epic comebacks by the Bengals and Broncos, the Raiders snapping their near-month-long losing streak and the NFL’s final undefeated team falling to a division rival, there was no shortage of excitement as the playoff picture continued to take shape across the league.

Oh, and there was also the Cowboys’ embarrassing loss to the Cardinals, which is where we’ll start with our Week 8 winners and losers.

Loser: The Cowboys

The Cowboys inexcusably fell to the Cardinals on Sunday, losing 33–30 in overtime. Despite holding a 24–10 lead early in the fourth quarter, Dallas allowed the Cardinals to come back and force overtime. They did so behind a career day from Tyler Allgeier, who rushed for 147 yards, as Cardinals center Hjalte Froholdt earned praise for his pancaking of Cowboys rookie Caleb Downs. The defense, however, was not the only unit that fell short. The Cowboys managed only 261 yards of offense against a poor Cardinals defense that entered the weekend ranked 28th in EPA per play allowed (.07). 

Block in the back? Maybe

Froholdt abused Caleb Downs 💀 pic.twitter.com/FO81QINMoK

— Cardinals Conciliator #BidwillOUT (@iliketofootball) November 1, 2026

What is worse than the loss is what this means for the big picture. A home game against the Cardinals was a prime opportunity for the Cowboys to win  back-to-back games and make up ground on the 4-2-1 Giants in the NFC East. Instead, the Cowboys failed to win consecutive games since last Thanksgiving and have yet to beat the Cardinals at AT&T Stadium since its opening in 2009. They’ve lost nine of their past 10 games against the Cardinals, even though Arizona has regularly been a cellar-dweller in the NFC. The Cowboys are technically not out of the NFC East race, but through eight weeks, they have proved they are once again pretenders on both offense and defense. —Eva Geitheim

Winner: Joe Burrow

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was outstanding in his team’s 42–36 comeback win over the Titans. While he threw three interceptions—all to Tennessee safety Amani Hooker, which we’ll get to in a second—he also completed 79% of his pass attempts for 462 yards and five touchdowns for a passer rating of 111.5.

Burrow also added a game-winning score on the ground in overtime, with his six total touchdowns marking a new career high. He’s now just the second quarterback in NFL history with 450 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in a single game—joining Norm Van Brocklin, who did so in 1951.

GOOD GOD JOE BURROW pic.twitter.com/bnZKUHiC3W

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) November 1, 2026

“I missed a throw on the first third down, and then I think the second drive was the [first] interception,” Burrow explained when asked about the Bengals’ slow start. “And then after those two, we really moved it well all game. I think we had 500-something yards of offense. We’d love to go out and score two touchdowns on the first two drives and play ahead, but that’s not how it went today, and we were able to fight through some adversity and make it happen.”

Now 5–2 on the year, the Bengals own the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoff picture as they get ready for their Week 9 trip across the pond to take on the Falcons in Madrid. —Mike Kadlick

Winner: Amani Hooker

The Titans might not have defeated the Bengals, but Hooker deserves his flowers for intercepting Joe Burrow three times, repeatedly giving his team more chances in the 43–36 overtime loss. Hooker has now tallied an NFL-leading five picks this season. 

There aren’t silver linings for losing, but the Titans merit some credit for their fight after trading their best player, Jeffery Simmons, to the Bears on Thursday. The loss of the team’s leader clearly affected the Titans, but they honored him and put together one of their better efforts of the season. —EG

Loser: For a seventh consecutive week, Mike McDaniel, Justin Herbert and the Chargers

The Chargers have once again lost a football game. This one came in their own building (though they were technically the road team) at the hands of the Rams, 24–9, leaving the club as the NFL’s lone winless team at 0–7.

Offensively, the Chargers continued to struggle, mustering only 295 yards of offense while scoring just nine points. Los Angeles has now scored fewer than 20 points in all but one game this season, is the only team in the league yet to score 100 points on the year and hasn’t scored an offensive touchdown since Oct. 11. Additionally, even while posting a season-high 8.0 yards per attempt, quarterback Justin Herbert threw his ninth and 10th interceptions of the season, leaving him with a 5:10 TD-to-INT ratio.

Still, coach Jim Harbaugh doesn’t believe offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel is to blame.

“Our motivation is dedication to getting it changed, to getting it fixed,” Harbaugh said when asked why McDaniel will keep calling plays for the Chargers’ offense. “... I’m focused on this game. I will go watch this tape, and I believe in our guys. I believe in our players, our coaches, and it’s us who are the ones the challenge is with. And we’re the only ones who can fix it.” —MK

Winner: Sean Payton’s milestone victory

Thanks to a dramatic goal-line stand in the final seconds, Sean Payton earned his 200th career win as the Broncos took down the Chiefs 28–24. Payton has recorded 200 combined wins in the regular season and postseason, and is now tied with Dan Reeves for 11th place among coaches in all-time regular-season wins. 

“All that happened, you think about the teams, the players, everyone involved,” Payton said of earning his 200th win. “I’ve been fortunate to have been part of a lot of good players and a lot of good organizations, people that make that happen. It was emotional. … I hate losing probably more than I like winning, so this was a good win.”

Not only does the win seal Payton’s 200th victory, but it improves the Broncos to 6–2 on the season. They’ve now evened their series against the Chiefs and taken back the lead in the AFC West. —EG

Loser: Lamar Jackson’s endless injury woes

The Ravens dropped their third consecutive game, falling 36–10 to the Bills. Somehow, it was far from their worst loss of the weekend. 

That’s because, on his first pass attempt of the game, Bills edge rusher Greg Rousseau hit Lamar Jackson in the hand, and Jackson immediately walked off the field while pointing to his right thumb. The quarterback was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game and, as relayed by Ravens coach Jesse Minter, will undergo surgery and be placed on injured reserve—meaning he’ll miss at least Baltimore’s next four games.

Minter was then asked whether this would be a season-ending injury for Jackson, and he replied, “Potentially, but we’ll see where it’s at.”

This is now the second injury Jackson has dealt with this season after missing the Ravens’ past three games with a high ankle sprain, and, as Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr writes, could very well put his long-term future with the franchise in jeopardy. —MK

Winner: Bucky Irving and Todd Bowles’s defense

The Buccaneers perfectly executed the old-fashioned “run the ball and play good defense” formula en route to a 16–0 shutout win. Despite Baker Mayfield failing to complete a pass on a rainy day in Tampa, the Buccaneers won, rushing for 324 yards. Bucky Irving led the team with 27 carries for 170 yards for a touchdown, averaging 6.3 yards per carry. After failing to reach 100 rushing yards in his first four games this season, Irving has now surpassed 100 in three of his past four games. 

On the other side of the ball, the Buccaneers’ defense took care of business. Beyond pitching a shutout, they picked off Penix four times, held Bijan Robinson to 76 yards., and didn’t allow the Falcons to convert any of their 12 third-down conversion attempts. The Buccaneers began the season 0–4, but Bowles’s defense has remained stout and is now helping them win games. After securing key division wins in back-to-back weeks, the Bucs are now 3–5 and only a half game out of first place in the NFC South. —EG

Loser: The Colts

While the Titans showed plenty of fight after trading their best player, Jeffery Simmons, the same isn’t true for the Colts, who traded Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson to the Seahawks and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the 49ers this past week. By halftime, the Jaguars led 28–0 and were well on their way to a blowout victory. 

The Jaguars were dominant on the ground, with their top backs Bhayshul Tuten and Chris Rodriguez Jr. both averaging over 6.0 yards per carry. Though Jacksonville scored 42 points—including a pick-six of Daniel Jones—Trevor Lawrence attempted just 14 passes. He efficiently completed 10 of them for 210 yards (15 yards per completion) and three touchdowns. Jones, meanwhile, was benched for Anthony Richardson in the second half.

While it’s understandable that the Colts aren’t playing their best football amid a fire sale and a likely rebuild ahead, the effort was still disappointing, or “embarrassing” as Jonathan Taylor put it. Nine games remain in the season, which could become painful to watch if their level of play doesn’t improve. —EG

Winner: Steelers’ pass rush

The Steelers took down the Browns 27–6 to claim sole possession of first place in the AFC North, and they did so with an unbelievable pass-rush performance.

As a unit, the Pittsburgh defense registered 14 hits, eight sacks and a forced fumble on quarterback Deshaun Watson. Individually, meanwhile, edge rusher Alex Highsmith generated six pressures on 21 matchups against tackle Spencer Fano—including two quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds)—while T.J. Watt led the way with two sacks and three quarterback hits of his own, and the ageless wonder Cam Heyward logged six total tackles and 1.5 sacks. —MK

Loser: Michael Penix Jr.’s homecoming 

In his return to his hometown of Tampa Bay with around 30 family and friends in attendance, Michael Penix Jr. had the worst game of his NFL career. On a stormy day in Florida, Penix struggled to throw the football, tossing four interceptions in a 16–0 shutout loss. On another play, he missed a wide-open Kyle Pitts Sr. on a pass that could have gone for a big gain. After earning NFC Player of the Week honors in a win over the previously undefeated 49ers, Penix completed just 8-of-24 passes for 125 yards and the four picks. The weather certainly hurt—Baker Mayfield didn’t even complete a pass on three attempts—but the Falcons needed better from Penix. He’s performed well in prime-time wins over the Packers and Saints and in the upset victory over the 49ers, yet struggled to stay consistent week to week. —EG

Winner: Drew Petzing

The Lions became the first team to beat the Vikings this season in part because of Drew Petzing’s play-calling. The Lions managed just six points in the first half, but Petzing did a good job relying on the run game with Jahmyr Gibbs to propel Detroit to victory—especially as Brian Flores’s ferocious defense blitzed on 26 of Goff’s 29 dropbacks (89.7%). Gibbs responded, rushing for 153 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries while averaging 6.7 yards per carry.

Along with leaning into the run game, Petzing showed some creativity with a run play that saw him line receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Jared Goff threw to St. Brown, who gained 10 yards on first down. The Lions went on to score a touchdown on that drive, helping propel them to victory. Detroit has missed Ben Johnson at times since his departure to become the Bears’ coach, but Petzing has stepped up in the role. —EG

An interesting play by the Lions for the first down.

📺: FOX/FOX One pic.twitter.com/ymTgoRrpJT

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) November 1, 2026

Loser: Geno Smith’s revenge game falls just short

Geno Smith appeared on his way to a win over his former team, the Raiders, when he and the Jets took a 30–21 lead midway through the third quarter as he threw for 20-of-32 passes for 290 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. They couldn’t hold on, though, as the Raiders scored 17 points in the final 20 minutes of the game. The Jets had an opportunity to score a game-winning touchdown in the final minute, but Smith threw a game-sealing interception to Jeremy Chinn in the end zone. Instead of Smith earning revenge, it was his replacement, Kirk Cousins, celebrating a four-touchdown day with his “wellness celebration.” —EG

name is fire too 😂 pic.twitter.com/LKLWHhKaIJ

— NFL (@NFL) November 2, 2026