Well fellas, we're now over halfway through the regular season.
As is often the case in this league, there is a lot of parity this year. Every team has at least a couple losses, and every team has at least a couple of wins. What that means, is that every single team is very much still in it.
Reminder that at the end of the regular season, the top 4 teams make the playoffs. There are also cash rewards for the winner of the regular season, as well as the regular season points leader.
Matt is on a 3-game win streak after facing off with Dan's team this week in a high-scoring matchup.
Jonathan Taylor erupted for 153 yards on the ground and found the endzone 3 times. The man is a menace, and now has 14 touchdowns on the season.
Matt moves up to 5-3 and is now sitting in 2nd place in the standings. He will hope his winning ways continue when he faces off with Tom in Week 9.
Well... Dan lost Cam. He's gone.
Skattebo's light burned just a bit too bright.
We all kind of knew this moment was coming eventually, but we all assumed it would be a concussion or a celebratory backflip gone wrong. After the injury, Jaxson Dart was shown on the field completely inconsolable, at times cursing at God himself.
(Warning: The video below may be disturbing to some viewers)
Kyle's RB duo of Saquon & Breece Hall both put up massive season-best performances in Week 8, en route to securing the victory over Kent.
Both of them are on Bye this week though, so he'll have to rely on some other guys to step up when he goes up vs Dan in Week 9.
Kyle now has back-to-back important wins and sits at 3-5.
At a point in time, Kent had rookie breakout superstars Omarion Hampton & Quinshon Judkins in his lineup. Hampton is still on IR, and Judkins left Sunday's game due to a shoulder injury. That's rough. Hopefully both are back sooner rather than later.
At least he got some WRs back, with CeeDee Lamb & Rashee Rice reinforcing his lineup for the past couple weeks.
Typically super-reliable Jake Ferguson ended up with 1 target and a goose-egg this week. I'd chalk that up to a poor offensive day from Dallas and nothing more.
Kent moves to 3-5 and faces off with Brice in Week 9.
In another battle of brothers, Brice claimed the W vs Ramsey's team this week. He is sittin' comfortably at 6-2 and leading the standings.
He also had the courage to start Kyle Pitts this week (I'm pretty sure Brice has a jersey of Kyle Pitts somewhere in his closet). With 19 targets over the last couple weeks, maybe not a bad move to keep him plugged into his lineup, although he's only managed to find the endzone once this season.
An uncharacteristic day from CMC saw him with only 8 carries for 25 yards on the ground. He did contribute a bit in the receiving game, but it was his first game this year where he didn't see at least 100 total yards. I am...not the least bit worried about him.
Recent RB pickup Kimani Vidal also stepped up for 117 yards on 23 carries. So he may be a weekly play, at least as long as Hampton is still sidelined.
Puka & Lamar Jackson are also expected to be back in Week 9, which I'm sure is a welcome relief. He gets a matchup vs Kent this week.
Ramsey had his two best offensive players on Bye this week, and was also dealing with his weekly QB coin flip, rolling with Baker Mayfield, who didn't need to do much on offense for the Bucs..and he made sure he didn't - only throwing 24 times for 152 yards.
Justin Fields has been very unreliable also, but (luckily?) they're both on Bye this week, so he'll have to pick up someone else to slot in.
For the record, JJ is one of the best wideouts in the league, but a frustrating offense has resulted in him only having 1 TD through 8 weeks. He'll always be peppered with targets, but the quality of those targets is the concern.
Speakin' of Jordan, the guy is now on a 4-game winning streak. Turning 0-4 into 4-4, ya love to see it. I imagine he's in about the same mood as his starting QB, Herbert. Just winning at life I guess.
Tucker Kraft also had a career day with 143 yards and two scores to secure the win vs Zach's team this week. Jordan will hope the streak continues when he goes up against Ramsey in Week 9.
Zach's lone bright spots were Jalen Hurts & Javonte Williams, but it's a bit understandable as we're into a stretch of some rough Bye weeks and most teams aren't at full strength. Emeka Egbuka has had 3 relatively quiet weeks since dealing with a hamstring issue. Hopefully he's back to his early-season self after their Bye this week.
With the return of Aaron Jones on the Vikings, Jordan Mason seemed to slide back to a secondary role, although some of it could have been due to game-script.
Zach sits at 2-6 and will hope to stop the bleeding when he squares off with me in Week 9.
Tom had James Cook put up a career performance with over 200 yards on the ground and two scores. TE Dallas Goedert has been an endzone magnet, and also contributed a couple TDs.
Mahomes has been consistently great all season long, and leads all QBs in scoring.
Tom moves up to 5-3 after back-to-back wins, and will hope for the hat trick when he goes up against Matt this week.
That's all I've got for now. Enjoy your Halloween & good luck with your Week 9 matchups.
- Eric