THE HFL CRIMSON CHRONICLE
Green Bay and Denver both push to 8-0, Cincinnati and Washington join them at 7-0, and San Francisco's perfect season ends in New York as the league's unbeaten group narrows to exactly four.
Green Bay and Denver both push to 8-0, Cincinnati and Washington join them at 7-0, and San Francisco's perfect season ends in New York as the league's unbeaten group narrows to exactly four.
Four is a number this league has not had much use for this season, and after eight weeks it is suddenly the most important number in the standings: four teams have not lost a football game. Green Bay handled Detroit by three touchdowns to reach 8-0. Denver needed every yard of a 209-yard, three-touchdown afternoon from Jahmyr Gibbs to beat Jacksonville and match them. Cincinnati and Washington both won to join the group at 7-0, each in its own way — the Bengals off two defensive touchdowns, the Commanders off a quarterback who still has not thrown this league an interception through seven starts. The team that did not survive the week was San Francisco. The 49ers' perfect season ended on the road against the Jets, 31-10, and for the first time all year the unbeaten group has a hard number on it: four, no more.
Week 8 Scoreboard
| Giants | 38 | Cowboys | 14 |
| Texans | 37 | Titans | 27 |
| Chargers | 59 | Colts | 45 |
| Broncos | 42 | Jaguars | 21 |
| Bills | 38 | Rams ★ | 28 |
| 49ers | 10 | Jets | 31 |
| Dolphins | 35 | Cardinals | 30 |
| Browns | 21 | Commanders | 34 |
| Buccaneers | 17 | Bears | 24 |
| Panthers | 24 | Ravens | 21 |
| Lions | 17 | Packers | 38 |
| Raiders | 10 | Saints | 35 |
| Eagles | 17 | Bengals | 31 |
| Chiefs | 23 | Falcons | 40 |
| Vikings | 31 | Seahawks | 6 |
Patriots and Steelers were on their bye.
Buffalo came off its bye and treated Los Angeles like a tune-up: Josh Allen went 26-of-36 for 379 yards and four touchdowns, a 131.5 rating, spreading the ball to Adonai Mitchell for seven catches, 123 yards and two scores. The Bills' offense converted seven of nine third downs and never punted in the first half.
The Rams did not go quietly. Trevor Lawrence threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns despite three sacks and an interception, Justin Jefferson caught five for 109 and a score, and Tyler Warren added a touchdown of his own. It was not enough — Los Angeles's ground game managed just 36 yards as a team, and Buffalo's 459 total yards were too much to chase.
Buffalo improves to 3-4. Los Angeles falls to 4-3-1.
Around the League
New York's quarterback needed almost nothing from his arm — Patrick Mahomes threw for 210 yards and two touchdowns on just 19 attempts, a 147.8 rating — because Cam Skattebo did the rest: sixteen carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns, plus six catches for 67 more. Mark Andrews added a touchdown catch of his own, and Enrique Parra's two sacks and a forced fumble kept Dallas off schedule all afternoon. Spencer Rattler threw for 212 yards and a touchdown for the Cowboys, but Dallas managed just 24 rushing yards as a team and was sacked three times. The Giants improve to 4-3. Dallas falls to 4-3.
Zay Flowers caught nine passes for 106 yards and three touchdowns, and Quintin Warner threw for 187 yards and three scores despite an interception, as Houston pulled away behind Bijan Robinson's 84 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Jason Sanders made all three of his field goals, including a 65-yarder. Tennessee did not go down easy — Daiyan Henley returned an interception for a touchdown, and Dalton Schultz caught eleven passes for 91 yards and a score — but Dak Prescott's line, 28-of-50 for 313 yards with two interceptions, was more volume than precision. Houston improves to 5-2. Tennessee falls to 4-4.
A week after throwing six interceptions in the ugliest passing performance the Chronicle logged all season, Shane Dressler threw six touchdowns instead — 17-of-29 for 402 yards, a 142.6 rating, zero picks — and Savion Williams turned six catches into 144 yards and three scores. Alec Westbrook added 157 yards and two touchdowns of his own, rushing and receiving combined, in a shootout that produced 104 combined points. Indianapolis did not fold: Hayden Andrews threw for 362 yards and three touchdowns, Alec Pierce caught six for 177 and two scores, and Christian McCaffrey ran for two more. It just was not enough defense on either side. Los Angeles improves to 5-3. Indianapolis falls to 1-7.
Denver stayed perfect behind another enormous day from Jahmyr Gibbs — seventeen carries for 139 yards and two touchdowns, plus three catches for 70 yards and a third score, 209 total yards in all. Jailin Walker intercepted twice and added a sack, and Rodd Fischer returned a pick for a touchdown of his own. Jacksonville's D'Andre Swift was brilliant in defeat, 155 rushing yards and a 95-yard run among nine carries, plus six catches and a receiving score, but Bryce Young threw three interceptions and the Jaguars turned it over three times as a team. The Broncos are 8-0, tied with Green Bay for the league's best record. Jacksonville falls to 3-5.
San Francisco's perfect season ended on the road. Riley Leonard threw for 188 yards and two touchdowns on 16-of-19 passing, a 142.9 rating, and Dillon Day caught six passes for 71 yards and two scores as New York's offense simply had more answers. De'Von Achane was the lone bright spot for the 49ers — 97 yards on fifteen carries, plus a receiving touchdown — but San Francisco managed only 175 total yards as a team, and quarterback Cam Ward threw for just 76 yards with an interception. The Jets improve to 5-3. San Francisco falls to 6-1, its unbeaten bid over.
Brock Purdy threw for 370 yards and four touchdowns for Arizona, including a 76-yard connection with Cade Otton, but two interceptions and a Miami offense that did not need to pass much left the Cardinals on the wrong side of a shootout. Baker Mayfield threw for 205 yards and three scores, Isiah Pacheco piled up 101 total yards and two touchdowns, and DK Metcalf caught two of Miami's three passing touchdowns. The Dolphins improve to 6-2. Arizona falls to 5-3.
Anthony Richardson Sr. did what he has done all season: 14-of-19 for 161 yards and a touchdown, another rushing score, and — seven starts into the year — still no interceptions. Washington's defense did the rest, holding Cleveland to 114 rushing yards and forcing two giveaways. Shedeur Sanders actually outgained Richardson through the air, 247 yards and three touchdowns on the same 14 completions, and Cecil Greene caught a 74-yard score, but a fumble and an interception were the difference. The Commanders are 7-0. Cleveland falls to 1-6.
Lorenzo Whitworth threw for 237 yards and two touchdowns, a 147.2 rating, and Dylan Sampson punched in a short touchdown run as Chicago held on despite an uneven day of its own — the Bears converted just 1 of 5 third downs. Tampa Bay actually moved the chains better, 8 of 14 on third down, and Justin Herbert threw for 310 yards, but two giveaways against Chicago's one and just a single touchdown were the difference. Kaleb Johnson's 24-yard, one-score day on the ground was not enough support. The Bears improve to 5-2-1. Tampa Bay falls to 3-5.
Joe Burrow threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns, a 121.4 rating, and rookie Brandon Hart ground out 71 yards and a score on twenty-five carries as Carolina converted nine of twelve third downs to hold off Baltimore. J.J. McCarthy was efficient in defeat — 12-of-15 for 121 yards and two touchdowns, a 139.8 rating of his own — and Quinshon Judkins ran for 128 yards and a touchdown, a 54-yard burst included, but the Ravens could not find one more possession. Carolina improves to 4-3. Baltimore falls to 0-7, its bye already behind it and its first win still nowhere in sight.
Trevor Etienne carried the load in Green Bay's rout — fourteen carries for 138 yards and two touchdowns, plus two catches for 23 more — while Jayden Daniels needed just seventeen attempts to throw for 236 yards and two scores, a 157.1 rating. Nick Bosa added three more sacks, and Deonte Banks picked off a pass and added two sacks of his own. Detroit's C.J. Stroud threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns despite four sacks and an interception, and Isaiah Likely caught seven for 45 and two scores, but it was a comfortable afternoon for Green Bay throughout. The Packers are 8-0, tied with Denver atop the league. Detroit falls to 2-6.
Lamar Jackson threw for 195 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another, and Kenneth Walker III added 101 rushing yards and a receiving score, as New Orleans pulled away from Las Vegas early and never let up. Jaxson Dart threw for 241 yards but was intercepted twice and sacked four times, and the Raiders' running game never got going. New Orleans improves to 5-3. Las Vegas falls to 0-8, still searching for its first win of the season.
Cincinnati's defense scored twice — B.J. Ojulari returned a fumble for a touchdown and added a sack and a half, and Jihaad Campbell intercepted a pass and ran it back 55 yards for another score — while Nicholas Battle managed the game efficiently behind it, 13-of-19 for 170 yards and a touchdown. Jonathan Taylor ran for 72 yards and a score for Philadelphia and caught three more passes, but Caleb Williams' interception turned into six points the other way, and the Eagles never recovered. The Bengals are 7-0. Philadelphia falls to 4-4.
Jalen Milroe threw six interceptions — the same number Shane Dressler threw in Week 7, now matched exactly one week later by a different quarterback — and Atlanta's Josh Newton intercepted two of them himself and returned both for touchdowns. It is the strangest final score of the season so far: Atlanta's own offense managed just 185 total yards and converted 0 of 7 third downs, and still won by 17, because Kansas City handed the ball over six times against zero giveaways of its own. Milroe still threw for 328 yards and a touchdown, and George Pickens caught a score, but six turnovers is not a number any offense survives, no matter how the rest of the box score reads. Saquon Barkley added 90 total yards and two scores for good measure. The Falcons improve to 3-5. Kansas City falls to 4-4.
Hunter Henry caught six passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns, including a 69-yard connection, and Jordan Love threw for 228 yards and three scores as Minnesota pulled away from a Seattle team that turned the ball over five times. Bo Nix finished 18-of-28 for just 132 yards with four interceptions and no touchdowns, the worst quarterback line of the week by any measure, and Louis Geyer's 119-yard receiving day was the only real bright spot for the Seahawks. Minnesota improves to 1-7. Seattle falls to 0-8.
The All-HFL Weekly Team
Week 8's honor roll, built straight from the box scores.
QB, Chargers
HB, Broncos
WR, Chargers
TE, Vikings
DT, Packers
CB, Falcons
K, Texans
Streaks & Trends
- Four teams are unbeaten, for the first time this season. Green Bay and Denver are both 8-0; Cincinnati and Washington are both 7-0. San Francisco was the fifth team in that group entering the week and lost at the Jets, the only result that changed the shape of it.
- Anthony Richardson Sr. still has not thrown an interception. Seven starts, seven wins, zero picks — the longest streak the Chronicle has tracked all season, and it is still going.
- Two quarterbacks have now thrown six interceptions in a game, one week apart. Shane Dressler did it in Week 7 and answered with six touchdowns in Week 8. Jalen Milroe did it this week, with no such answer — Kansas City lost by 17.
- The bottom of the standings is getting crowded. Las Vegas and Seattle are both 0-8. Baltimore is 0-7. Indianapolis and Minnesota are both 1-7. Cleveland is 1-6. Six teams have combined for three wins all season.
- Turnover margin decided the ugliest results again. Atlanta forced six Kansas City giveaways and won by 17. Chicago and Washington both won the takeaway battle in comfortable wins of their own.
Record Book Watch
A quiet week on the record front — nothing in the single-game or single-season books moved.
- No new mark fell. The week's best individual rushing day, D'Andre Swift's 155 yards in a losing effort, was well short of Saquon Barkley's 283-yard single-game mark from Week 6. The four-week run of 200-yard rushing games that opened in Week 4 came to an end — nobody topped 200 on the ground this week.
- Still not on the books. Six interceptions thrown in a game — done twice in two weeks now, first by Shane Dressler, then by Jalen Milroe — remains a category this book does not officially track. The file the Chronicle keeps threatening to open just got a second entry.
Feature Story: Four Left Standing
A week ago it was two. Now it is four, and the group got there in four completely different ways. Green Bay is the boring kind of dominant — a defense that has allowed the fewest points in the league and a 38-17 handling of a Detroit team that never threatened. Denver is the survival kind — Jahmyr Gibbs has now authored the signature individual performance in win after win, and the Broncos have made a habit of needing exactly that. Cincinnati got here on defense alone this week, with two touchdowns off turnovers and a quarterback who did not need to do much else. Washington got here the same way it always does: Anthony Richardson Sr., seven starts into the season, still has not thrown this league a single interception.
The team that did not make it was the one that looked most likely to a month ago. San Francisco entered the week at 6-0, one of five teams within a game of the top, and left it at 6-1 after a 31-10 loss at the Jets in which the 49ers managed 175 total yards. It is a reminder of how thin this margin actually is — one bad offensive day, on the road, against a team playing well, and a perfect season is over. The four teams still standing have not had that day yet, and none of the four has played another member of the group so far. That changes next week: Cincinnati and Washington face off, the first meeting between any two of the unbeaten teams. Somebody's number comes up sooner than the Chronicle expected.
For now, the math is simple and a little bit remarkable: after eight weeks of a league that has spent two volumes proving nothing is safe, four teams have gone unbeaten, and next week two of them play each other.
Press Row & Transaction Wire
Press Row
The column stays open. No new quotes reached the desk this week, but with four teams unbeaten and a fifth perfect season gone in a single afternoon, there is no shortage of things worth saying. Send it in — a word about your own team, a shot across the division, a prediction you'll put your name to. Wit, not venom, as always. It runs in Issue 9.
Transaction Wire & Injury Report
Nothing crossed the trade wire this week. Three new names joined the injury board.
Kelvin Banks Jr., RT, Panthers (broken thumb, roughly 4 weeks), John Campa, TE, Vikings (broken collarbone, roughly 7 weeks) and Chad Landry, REDGE, Titans (dislocated hip, roughly 6 weeks — a name Rookie Watch had flagged as recently as Week 7) are the new additions. One piece of good news on the other side of the ledger: John Michael Schmitz Jr., C, 49ers, who was carrying a broken collarbone on last week's board, has come off the injury report entirely.
Still out with no change in status: Will Anderson Jr., REDGE, Packers, Nate Wiggins, CB, Ravens, Emery Jones Jr., LT, Eagles, Darren Conover, RT, Bears, Benjamin Phillips, RG, Steelers, Travis Etienne Jr., HB, Jaguars, Emeka Egbuka, WR, 49ers, Zach Sieler, DT, Dolphins, Brennan Poole, RT, Raiders, Cam Beasley, FS, Patriots, Andrew Wylie, RG (free agent, no team), Bobby Brown III, DT, Dolphins and Matt Feldman, RT, Jaguars (Achilles tear, roughly 50 weeks — done for the year).
Rookie Watch
A rough week for the two rookie quarterbacks statistically, even if the records didn't suffer for it.
- Warren Davis, QB, Broncos. 8-of-13 for 174 yards and a touchdown, but also his first two-interception start of the season. Denver's defense and Jahmyr Gibbs bailed him out — he is 8-0 as a starter, matching the team's perfect record.
- Nicholas Battle, QB, Bengals. 13-of-19 for 170 yards, a touchdown and an interception of his own, in a game Cincinnati's defense won outright with two return touchdowns.
- Brandon Hart, HB, Panthers. Twenty-five carries for 71 yards and the go-ahead score in a 24-21 win over Baltimore — a bruising, unglamorous line that still finished as the difference in a one-score game.
Offensive Rookie of the Year lean: Warren Davis improves to 8-0 as a starter, though this was the shakiest of those eight games statistically, two interceptions included.
Defensive Rookie of the Year lean: still wide open. No rookie had a signature defensive week for the second week running.
Upcoming Week Preview — Week 9
Not a matchup of unbeatens this time — Baltimore is 0-7 and Cleveland is 1-6 — but both teams have played better than their records all season. J.J. McCarthy posted a 139.8 rating in a losing effort just last week, and Shedeur Sanders threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns in a game the Browns still lost. Somebody's overdue win is in here somewhere.
A housekeeping note: Buccaneers, Dolphins, Saints and Seahawks are idle in Week 9. That leaves fourteen games on the board, and the picks below cover all of them.
Houston is 5-2 and just won a shootout in Tennessee; Jacksonville is 3-5 and coming off three turnovers against Denver.
Denver is 8-0 and has found a way to win every kind of game so far; Carolina is a respectable 4-3 but hasn't beaten a team like this yet.
Dallas is 4-3 at home; Detroit is 2-6 and has dropped four of its last five.
Both teams are 2-5 coming off a bye; Pittsburgh gets the nod at home.
Atlanta just forced six turnovers and scored two pick-sixes in a rout of Kansas City; Las Vegas is 0-8 and still looking for a signature moment to build on.
Green Bay is 8-0 and has not been seriously tested in weeks; Buffalo is 3-4 off a big win of its own but not 8-0-big.
Tennessee is 4-4 and competitive most weeks; Indianapolis is 1-7 despite plenty of individual talent on offense.
Los Angeles just won a 59-45 shootout behind Shane Dressler's six-touchdown bounce-back; Kansas City is still digesting a six-interception afternoon of its own.
New York just ran for 216 yards as a team in a rout of Dallas; Philadelphia is 4-4 and still finding itself.
New York just ended San Francisco's perfect season and is 5-3; Los Angeles is a game back at 4-3-1 after the Game of the Week loss to Buffalo.
San Francisco is still 6-1 and has the better season, even fresh off its first loss; Arizona is 5-3 after a 35-point shootout loss of its own.
It had to happen eventually: two of the league's four unbeaten teams meet in Cincinnati, Washington at 7-0 and the Bengals at 7-0 themselves. Anthony Richardson Sr.'s interception-free streak meets a Bengals defense that just scored twice on its own — one of these teams loses a football game for the first time all season.
Chicago is 5-2-1 and just forced a giveaway while shutting down Tampa Bay's third-down offense; Minnesota is 1-7 despite Sunday's blowout win over Seattle.
Eleven right, four wrong in Week 8 — the Cowboys over the Giants, the Rams over the Bills, the 49ers over the Jets and the Chiefs over the Falcons were the four the desk missed. San Francisco's loss stung the most; nobody saw the perfect season ending in New York.
Fan Mailbag
One letter reached the desk this week — the rest are questions the Chronicle is confident somebody in this league is asking. The real mailbag is open and runs with your name on it.
League Poll
Results from last issue's first-ever live poll are in: 11 votes total, and Green Bay ran away with it — 7 votes (63.6%) for "the most complete team in the league right now." Denver took 3 (27.3%), "both" got 1 (9.1%), and nobody picked the 6-0 group to crash the party. Funny enough, the team that actually lost its unbeaten bid this week was San Francisco — part of that exact group readers gave zero votes to.
Eight weeks down, ten to go, and the league has settled into its sharpest shape yet: four teams that have not lost, three teams that have not won, and everybody else jammed into the middle looking for daylight. San Francisco's perfect season lasted six weeks and ended in one bad afternoon in New York. Anthony Richardson Sr. is still looking for his first interception. Shane Dressler went from the worst passing week of the season to one of the best in seven days flat.
Next week, for the first time, two of the four unbeaten teams play each other. The Chronicle will not pretend to know how that one ends. Nobody has predicted anything correctly about this race since Week 1.
Press Row is open, the mailbag runs with your name on it, and the poll is live — vote, and the Chronicle will see everybody back here after Week 9.
Until next week, the Chronicle stands with all 32.
— Jenna Tulls, Senior HFL Correspondent
Beat Jenna
Every Game of the Week pick, scored. Jenna is 7-1 on the 8 games she has called.
| Member | W | L | Beat Jenna | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MrPlanters NE | 7 | 0 | 1/5 |
| 2 | luke2612 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 |
| 3 | skeem__ | 0 | 1 | 0/0 |
| — | Jenna Tulls DESK | 7 | 1 | — |
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