Should the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles be on upset alert on Sunday?
Weirder things have happened this season. The Bills are coming off a bye and are on the road, against veteran backup QB Andy Dalton and the Carolina Panthers, but Buffalo hasn’t looked like itself lately, losing two straight entering Week 8. The Eagles bounced back nicely last week in Minnesota, but are without A.J. Brown and face a New York Giants team that beat them two weeks ago.
Our NFL writers Jeff Howe, Mike Sando and Zak Keefer discuss that and other Week 8 happenings, including a Dallas Cowboys-Denver Broncos match up that has one of the league’s top offenses and defenses against each other. The Kansas City Chiefs are also up for discussion and whether or not they’ve rediscovered their offensive mojo.
Read more below.
Cowboys-Broncos should be interesting on Sunday. The Broncos arguably have the league’s best defense. The Cowboys arguably have the league’s best offense.
What makes the biggest difference in this one?
Keefer: The Broncos pulled off a miracle on Sunday, scoring 33 fourth-quarter points to stun the Giants. How do they respond? While their defense is still one of the league’s best — they lead the NFL in sacks — it’s not as good as it was in 2024, and is coming off a game in which it gave up a season-high 32 points. There’s also the Javonte Williams factor. The former Bronco is having a career year with the Cowboys, with two games above 115 rushing yards, and had a 66-yard burst against the Jets. I like Dallas winning a close one.
Sando: The Cowboys’ improvement on defense over the past three games is the key variable. Can Dallas sustain it? That will be the key variable in this entire season. Dallas was 32nd in defensive EPA per play from Weeks 1-4. The Cowboys are 14th since then. Yes, opponents matter and that has been a factor. But I think there has still been improvement.
Howe: I think it comes down to turnovers. The Cowboys aren’t committing many, and the Broncos are struggling to force them. If that continues to track, I’d favor the Cowboys. Otherwise, a trend buster would be a huge boost for the Broncos. Also, as Sando alluded, who are the real Cowboys on defense? Bo Nix can’t struggle and keep up with Dak Prescott, and those 33-point fourth quarters don’t grow on trees. They got away with one, but it would be ill-advised for the Broncos to think they can keep waiting until the second half to wake up.
We have a pair of quarterback quandaries this week with the Jets (at Bengals) and Dolphins (at Falcons). Is a switch to Tyrod Taylor for the Jets eventually the right move? Did the Dolphins make the right move sticking with Tua Tagovailoa? Does it even matter for these struggling teams?
Keefer: The short answer is no. Both teams are dumpster fires at the moment. Tyrod Taylor’s not saving the season anymore than Quinn Ewers is saving the show in Miami. I find the Dolphins more interesting, because this team has crumbled over the last 16 months, falling from AFC contender into total rebuild territory. With Mike McDaniel’s seat warming — if not burning hot already — wins help quiet the noise for a few days. The real quandary will be what Miami’s new staff does with Tagovailoa in the offseason with his immense 2026 salary cap hit (north of $50 million).
Sando: The Dolphins need to stick with Tagovailoa at this point as they try to salvage whatever they can salvage with him. I’d wait til deeper in the season before deciding to take a look at Zach Wilson, who is third on the depth chart, but someone they should evaluate in game situations if this season becomes a total loss. The Jets’ situation is so comical because Justin Fields lasted only six games as the Steelers’ starter last season. What did the team think it was getting when it put pen to paper on that $20 million-per-year deal? Tyrod Taylor could, in theory, raise the likelihood of winning another game somewhere along the way, but there is no upside.
Howe: The QB doesn’t matter with the Jets. There’s not enough support in place for either player to thrive. As for the Dolphins, they’re stuck with Tagovailoa through 2026 — and more realistically through 2027 unless they’re comfortable with absorbing a ton of dead money — because of the contract. They should probably give Ewers a look at some point, but it’s too soon now. Plus, when I looked up the numbers last season, the Dolphins were scoring about 14 more points per game with Tagovailoa on the field under Mike McDaniel in comparison to his backups. Say what you will about Tagovailoa, but what in the world is going on with their backup QB development plan?
Should the Eagles (vs. Giants), Bills (at Panthers) or both be on upset alert on Sunday?
Keefer: Both the Giants and Panthers are starting to see progress this season, and have the talent to pull upsets. The concern with Carolina is Bryce Young’s ankle, and the fact that the Bills are riding a two-game losing streak and coming off a bye — Buffalo, one would expect, will look refreshed and ready. The Eagles rediscovered their passing game last week, so I’d imagine they take care of business at home.
Sando: I think the Eagles and Bills will win these games but I also think it’s important for both teams to play with purpose. Philly has been doing that, I think, but still has some issues. Disinterested is too strong a word to use in describing the Bills over their past few games, but let’s see this team play with some juice.
Howe: If the Eagles and Bills aren’t on upset alert by now, I’d say we can fairly question their championship viability this season. The Bills are coming out of their bye week after consecutive losses to the Patriots and Falcons, so they better be as mentally ready as ever. And the Eagles lost to the Giants two weeks ago. It’s time to see a championship response.
Aaron Rodgers faces his old team when the Steelers host the Packers on Sunday night. Green Bay needed to rally in Arizona last week. The Steelers were shocked by Joe Flacco’s Bengals last week. What intrigues us most about this matchup?
Keefer: I’m still not sold on Pittsburgh despite the 4-2 record. Rodgers has been good, but the league’s highest-paid defense — four years running now — gave up 33 to an aging Joe Flacco last week, 21 to Carson Wentz and the Vikings a few weeks back and 32 to Justin Fields and the woeful Jets in the opener. Pittsburgh has allowed an explosive play (a 16-yard catch or 12-yard run) on 13 percent of its defensive snaps this season, third-highest in the NFL. That’s bad news against a Packers team that can take the top off: Green Bay is second in the league in explosive play rate (13 percent).
Sando: Rodgers’ interactions with Matt LaFleur and others he knows from his time in Green Bay will be fun theater. On the field, I’m interested in seeing how the Steelers’ defense performs after letting the Bengals amass 96 yards on slant routes, highest for any team in a game since 2021, per PFF and TruMedia (38 is Green Bay’s highest total on slants this season).
Howe: I can see Aaron Rodgers wanting to prove a point by showing off his best receiver and combining for a big day with D.K. Metcalf, possibly to the tune of a couple touchdowns. But I think the Packers need a big-time bounce-back on defense. Jeff Hafley’s group was electric to start the season, but they’ve been leaking a little more over the last three games. They do not want to let the neighborhood down when they return to Green Bay.
The Chiefs host the Commanders on Monday night. Yes, it was the Raiders, but what is the most encouraging sign you saw from Sunday that the Chiefs have rediscovered their offensive mojo?
Keefer: The answers at Patrick Mahomes’ disposal. Rashee Rice offers another layer to this offense, which eases the burden on Mahomes’ legs and makes every other target better. Start with Travis Kelce, who’s been more explosive in space, and Hollywood Brown, who had a two-touchdown outing against the Lions two weeks ago. How often does a team earn a 30-3 advantage in first downs, like the Chiefs did in Sunday’s rout of the Raiders? The scary part is this group is only going to gel more as the season moves into November.
Sando: Kansas City’s current streak of five consecutive games with at least +7.0 EPA on offense ties the longest streak of the Mahomes era in Kansas City (2021, 2022). That’s highly encouraging and spans much more than the lopsided game against the Raiders, a game in which Kansas City eased off the accelerator instead of running up the score even more.
Howe: It was the continuation of the process for me. Games don’t need to come with a measuring stick to mean something. It’s still important to assert dominance against inferior opponents, and the Chiefs maintained a lot of the momentum they’ve been establishing for a month. The Chiefs were as lethargic through their 1-2 start as they’ve been in the Mahomes era, but they’re starting to look like a high-powered Super Bowl favorite at this point. They didn’t really emit that type of aura even when they were winning a ton over the past two regular seasons, so a swaggered-up group of Chiefs should be a scary proposition for the league.
Kansas City Chiefs WR Rashee Rice catches a touchdown pass against the Las Vegas Raiders during last week’s 31-0 win. His return offers another layer to the Chiefs’ offense (David Eulitt / Getty Images)
How worried should the Commanders be right now after another Jayden Daniels injury and crushing losses to the Bears and Cowboys the last two weeks?
Keefer: It feels like the Commanders are coming back to life after a magical 2024. Last season, benefiting from a last-place schedule, 11 of Washington’s 12 wins came against teams that failed to make the playoffs, and nine were one-score games. That’s not a knock on them — you play the teams in front of you, plus the Commanders whipped the Lions in the playoffs — but this year was always going to be tougher. Add in Daniels’ injuries, and the Commanders are likely on the outside looking in when the postseason starts.
Sando: I’d be very concerned because now we know with pretty good certainty that this team is not picking up where the 2024 team left off. There’s still time for the Commanders to get on a run, but I could see a scenario where they use the offseason to get younger on defense, then face questions about the offense after that.
Howe: Daniels isn’t the only one banged up, either, and the NFC is looking much deeper this season. They can’t afford to be stacking losses, which has to be a terrifying feeling with the Chiefs, Seahawks and Lions over their next three games. Already 3-4, the Commanders can’t afford to get swept during that stretch because they’ll have a huge group to leapfrog to return to the playoffs. I’m not sure it’s going to be great for Daniels to return and feel like he’s got to orchestrate a few miracles down the stretch.
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