The Biggest Winners From Week 8 in the NFL

0:00Diante Lee:Welcome to the Ringer NFL Show. I'm your host, Sheil Kapadia. We are talking about the biggest winners from Week 8, a weird Week 8 Sunday. There were a bunch of blowouts. If you look at it, there were 11 games played on Sunday, and 10 of them were decided by double digits. So no real wishing hour, no real crazy finishes except for Jets, Bengals. Some teams maybe separated themselves from the pack. Others were maybe exposed as frauds in week eight. So which of these wins were especially meaningful? That's what I'll be talking about with my friend Deontay Lee from The Ringer. We will talk about the four biggest winners from Sunday when we come back.

0:46Diante Lee:This is The Ringer NFL Show presented by FanDuel. And if you're betting on the NFL, FanDuel's the place to do it. They've got everything. Same game parlays, quick bets for when you want to jump in live and your way so you can set your own lines. The app's fast, it's easy to use, and best of all, when you win, you get paid out instantly. Download the FanDuel app or go to fanduel.com slash ringer NFL to get started. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details.

1:22Diante Lee:Must be 21 plus and present in select states and 18 plus in DC, Kentucky, and Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required.

2:05Diante Lee:Tremphaya is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphia today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit TrimphiaRadio.com.

2:52Diante Lee:All right, we're back with Deontay Lee. We are talking week eight winners. Deontay, I'm starting with the game we just watched. And that's the Green Bay Packers. This is what we have been waiting to see. No more playing with your food in the second half, at least. I guess we could say that. But the second half version of this team with Jordan Love completing 20 straight passes, throwing for 360 yards, not taking a sack, not turning it over. or Packers offense just going up and down the field. Micah Parsons starting to take over in this football game. You could just feel his presence. This is what we've been kind of waiting for.

3:29Diante Lee:They have the Super Bowl formula. We know they've got it. Great offense, disruptive defense, great pass rusher. And it felt like that half against the Steelers, it finally all came together for maybe the first time since, what, week one against the Lions. And now they're in a great spot. Five, one, and one. They're in, you know, number one seed. in the NFC. We finally got to see it today, Deontay. So I think I look at this team a little bit differently. That's why I've got them as one of the winners from week eight. You know, I'm not, I'm only used to really Philadelphia being the team of two halves, right?

4:03Where you watch them for the first 30 minutes and it's like, okay, you know, maybe we've got something or the total opposite. And then they come out and do their kind of Jekyll and Hyde impression. I was not expecting that coming off of the first half, right? From this game. I was watching Green Bay and I'm like, okay, maybe the storyline for this team is this highly kind of volatile style of defense that they were playing where they're forcing a bunch of turnovers, getting a bunch of sacks, even though their pressure rates weren't that high last year. Maybe some of those chickens are coming home to roost and maybe they had deeper seated issues than what one Michael Parsons can fix, right?

4:37Because Pittsburgh was moving the ball really well on early downs. They look good. They were able to move the ball on the ground really, really well. And I think that Green Bay is just going to have to address that. I think as the season goes on because it's not the first team that's been able to move the ball on early downs with them but i think that in the second half and i think that ultimately the story we're going to be telling about this team all season is the defense can kind of do what it wants when the offense has a ceiling as high as what we saw in the second half right and i think that we paint green bay and a lot of teams in very friendly terms when you play this high variant style of football where you're taking deep shots play action passes usually like you know it's kind a home runner strikeout if you're thinking about it in baseball terms right that three true outcomes type of thing right um they definitely play football in that light and i think that sometimes it's easy to say oh you know the variance will work out it's very rare that we speak kind of frankly and say like sometimes the team's identity is just being very volatile and i think the green base identity is to just be very volatile and what we saw in the second half is why i think they're comfortable playing that way because when jordan love is in that mode when tucker craft is able to create yards after the catch the way that he did today when they've got their receivers is healthy, right?

5:45Having Christian Watson there, I thought made at least a little bit of a difference in terms of the pecking order of how they were trying to work through their target share. All those things look amazing. And you get Michael Parsons in the, you get Michael Parsons really after the first quarter really starting to make an impact on the game, right? I think they pointed out on the broadcast really well, and you definitely saw that in key situations. So all that's great. I still do feel though, like, can I just get four quarters? I want to buy in to this product. Just give me 60 full minutes against another big time opponent.

6:17And I will be in, I like what I saw in the second half of this game. I just want to see a little bit more before I get to where I think I want to with the Packers.

6:25Diante Lee:Yeah. It's wild that they can win on the road against the Steelers, convincing fashion, double digits games over the last two minutes. And you still kind of feel like there's another gear they could get to. So that, that, that is part of sometimes the NFL process in September, October, where you have those weeks, even November. And then you get to a point where it's like, Oh, you know, okay. They can do this for an entire game. Sometimes it doesn't happen to the playoffs. I mean, you mentioned the Eagles, you could say last year, it didn't really happen for their offense until the playoffs. So they could be that kind of team, but man, you mentioned Tucker craft.

7:00Diante Lee:He's the best tight end in the NFL. Deontay. I don't know if that's an argument or not. I know I don't do the whole tight end stay thing, but I was just watching him and I'm like, this guy's an absolute monster. I mean, there's not another guy who can take over a game like he can. When he has the ball in his hands, no one wants any part of him. He is just throwing defenders to the side and running through them and stiff arming them. He was an absolute beast. And you look at all the numbers and they back it up. So I say Tucker Craft has the tight end belt. Are you going to fight me on that or you agree with me?

7:31I think that he's probably, if he's not number one, you're probably thinking 1A. And when you think about ceilings with tight ends, he'll probably have the highest ceiling of the young tight ends in this league. It's funny watching him. There are parts of his game that are kind of Gronk-esque. And I feel like Gronkowski, obviously, it's so lofty, right? Because we had over a decade of this dude just looking like a man amongst boys in the NFL. But when you see Tucker Kraft out in open space, when you see the way he's running those slant routes and throwing these stiff arms when you see Jordan Love extending and now Tucker Craft is really able to throw it in the third gear, fourth gear and show what kind of top end speed he has at his size.

8:08That's just, it's hard not to think about a guy like Rob Gronkowski. Obviously I think that for him and I, in making this argument, a lot of this is just going to be opportunity, right? If they continue to feed him targets, especially vertically down the field, right? Like if he had like, um, last year or the last two years diet of touches, like a Sam Laporta gets where they're really trying to feed him as a number one receiver and we're basing all of our formations off of using him as a chess piece, and Green Bay does that to an extent, I think that they can continue to build on that, and we saw that tonight, right?

8:38If a team does not have a legitimate safety or linebacker that can be in this guy's chess, and it's hard to have a guy physically that can do that, Tucker Craft can have a 100-yard game basically whenever he wants to or whenever Jordan Love feels like force-feeding him, and that I think was a really encouraging piece of watching this team offensively, especially in the second half.

8:58Diante Lee:Second in receiving yards among tight ends, leads all tight ends, averaging nearly 16 yards per reception. Deontay, he's averaging over 11 yards after the catch per reception. I know it's a small sample and it can be a little, but no other tight end is above eight, leads all tight ends in yards per outrun. So yeah, if you're giving me one tight end for the rest of the season, for my team, I am drafting Tucker Craft number one. All right, second winner here. Deontay, the Baltimore Ravens. I'm here to announce to you, Deontay, and you can tell me I'm nuts or you can agree with me. Ravens are going to win the AFC North after today.

9:36Diante Lee:They beat the Bears. They had Tyler Huntley. Their defense looked a lot better. They got guys healthy. They ran the football. They didn't turn the ball over. I'm not saying it's perfect. They still have issues, but they're two and five. The Steelers are four and three. The Ravens have the fifth easiest remaining schedule. I saw enough today to in my head go, all right, even if it's one hamstring Lamar, I don't, you know, if it's one hamstring Lamar on Thursday night or for the rest of this stretch here, that's going to be good enough for them to get back in the mix and to get back on top of the division.

10:09Diante Lee:I mean, their next four games, Dolphins, Vikings, Browns, Jets, I can easily get them to six and five. I can get them to five and six and they're still in the mix. And by the way, they still get to play the Steelers twice. They get the Steelers twice. They get the Bengals twice. The Bengals twice. So if you're asking me, I've still got the Ravens in the AFC North. I mean, there was such a sense of relief on the sidelines with Harbaugh, Kyle Hamilton, Roquan Smith. It really felt like they were playing for their season in this game. And I'm buying it. I don't think it's a one game thing. I think a month from now, we're going to be talking about them as the definitive AFC North favorites.

10:47Yeah, 100%. I'm with you. 100 % of the way. I think that not just because of what they did against Chicago today, which is, I feel like all that we've ever asked of Baltimore this year, which is that you don't, this team is too talented to need Lamar Jackson to be a hero for you to be able to dominate your competition. And they finally look like a team that has been trying to build itself up to be able to win football games without needing their quarterback to do all of the heavy lifting all the time. So not only did we get the performance we needed from this team, You got a Bengals loss, which I'm sure we'll get to later in the show.

11:19We just talked about a Steelers loss. The Browns are kind of moribund again, you know, kind of law. And they've been lost in the shuffle of this basically from the beginning of the season. And they've got a much lighter second half of the year than what we saw over the first six to seven weeks when they were going through most of that without Lamar Jackson. So you get here on Thursday, I would assume that Lamar Jackson is going to play Thursday, that he'll be fine. And they were probably thinking, hey, logistically, it probably makes more sense for a guy coming off a hamstring to miss this game.

11:48Get the extra two to three days. We'll have them on Thursday. And then we get another long, basically mini bye week after we test him out on Thursday to make sure that his body is right for this stretch run. They have the Vikings after that, the Browns after that, the Jets after that. As you said, you still got a pair game against the Bengals. We've got a pair of games against the Steelers. And this run game has always dominated against the Steelers, basically in Lamar Jackson era. we could very easily be looking up and saying, hey, for all the consternation over the first five or six weeks of the season, this team ends up being like 10-7 and winning the AFC East.

12:21It feels like going away once our offense is back coming. I think that today was a big step in the right direction for this team.

12:27Diante Lee:No, it was a wild 48 hours, Deontay, with the Lamar Jackson injury stuff. So for those who didn't follow it closely, they listed Lamar as a full practice participant on Friday. Everyone thinks he's going to play. Then they announced that he's out. Then they admit that, no, he was just quarterbacking the scout team on Friday, which NFL rules tell you that the guy should be listed as a limited participant if they're on the scout team. John Harbaugh says it's an honest mistake. I mean, they're going to face some kind of penalty from the NFL, and it could be a shocking penalty when we see what it's going to be because these injury reports have been a big, big deal.

13:05Diante Lee:This is way before gambling was even legalized. And the whole reason was gambling, not legalized gambling, but illegal gambling, that you wanted to know who was going to be available and who was not going to be available. Now you got a high profile player. You got a two time MVP and you got it wrong. And it's on the heels of the NBA scandal. Yeah, I am. This is going to be a huge story this week to see how the league cracks down on the Ravens here. I mean, you have to be heavy handed here, even if we were to grant them that it's an honest mistake. it's the kind of honest mistake that can't happen right and then you think about it being in the wake of what's going on with the nba like you detailed and honestly i think it's not a heavy fine if it happens on wednesday right if you if he's listed as a full participant wednesday and then on thursday they say hey actually just with the scout team limited participant are bad right we we said full participant because he was participating in practice doing all the normal quarterback stuff he just wasn't running with the ones i think that the nfl probably just slaps you on, stop you on the wrist a little bit.

14:06You get a reprimand and a statement really kind of emphasizing how important it is to be accurate. But for you to go into the weekend, basically, with everybody thinking coming off of Thursday, full participant, he must be raring to go to be playing on Sunday. And then as we enter the weekend, it's actually not only is he a limited participant, we're listing him as out now, right? And like the ramifications of that are huge, I think for the Ravens, for the NFL, I think that they probably want to distance themselves as much as possible from any thought that there is something nefarious happening, especially with things like injuries and injury reports.

14:42They've never been, at least not in my lifetime, they've never been lenient with this kind of stuff. Like you said, they have a process for this for a reason. And it's unfair. It is an unfair thing to say, hey, our bad coming into a Sunday when people are thinking that the star quarterback is going to be playing not only for their opponents, but for fans, for viewers, for people who do take action on these games, for the sports that are in bed, you know, with the league. So it's something that I think you kind of have to hammer them on, even if it was a genuine mistake and something that was unintentional by them.

15:15Diante Lee:And it's just hard to think, you know, people make mistakes. But if you're around NFL teams, this is like injury reports are a big deal. Like coaches will just be like, I'm not answering injury questions, you know, and they'll look to the PR person and they'll say, oh, so and so. you'll have the injury report out later today. And then you say, yeah, if you're a beat writer, these get sent to your email at the same time. And you're trying to inform the public, inform the fans. And when a guy goes from limited to full, like, I don't know what the, it's like 99 % of the time. That means the guy is going to play like a full participation on a Friday practice means the guy is going to play.

15:50Diante Lee:And so again, these are also not new characters in the league, right? Eric has been doing this for a long time. John Harbaugh has been doing this for a long time. And this isn't a guy who tweaked a hamstring at workouts on Monday. And now we're just taking him on a day-by-day basis. This is somebody who's missed several games with the same injury. So it's not even like there was some confusion on what his status would be when he was walking in the building. I'm trying to give them the most benefit of the doubt possible, even if this was totally a clerical error. These are the kind of clerical errors that the NFL has worked really, really hard to make sure don't exist.

16:25And unfortunately, you have to punish teams if something like that happens.

16:28Diante Lee:I was going to be mean and say, if this was a team like the Jaguars, we could say honest mistake because they probably would have screwed it up. But that would have been mean Jaguars and I'm not going to do that. All right, let's take a break. We come back. We'll get to some more winners. The Ringer NFL show is brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is changing the way you live bet football and it starts with Next Drive SGPs. Now you can bet what's happening on the Next Drive. Will it end in a touchdown, a punt, a field goal? Then stack player props and build your bet exactly how you want it. And every NFL game day comes with a profit boost you can use on your next drive SGP.

17:05Diante Lee:Visit fanduel.com slash ringer NFL to download the app today and bet the next drive your way. Must be 21 plus and present in select states or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt-in required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. This episode is brought to you by Little Caesars, the official pizza sponsor of the NFL. At Little Caesars, the pizzas are always large, so you'll always get more bite for less buck on game day.

17:53Diante Lee:So whether you're grabbing a few Little Caesars hot and ready pizzas for a tailgate or having all of your favorites delivered right to your doorstep, you'll be ready for every game. Right now, you can get 15 % off orders over$15 on NFL game days with code GAMEDAY. Order now at LittleCaesars.com or in the Little Caesars app. Offer ends February 8th, 2026. Offer good at participating Little Caesars stores, on-app and online orders, excluding third-party online sites with an online purchase of$15 or more. Only available on NFL game days. Enter promo code at checkout to get 15 % off your online order.

18:33Diante Lee:Max discount,$5. Limit one per person per day. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Plus tax where applicable. Prices may vary. Delivery available from participating locations with online orders only. Copyright 2025 LCE Incorporated. all right we're back on the ringer nfl show next winner dionte it feels like we talk about this team every week the denver broncos a dominant 44 24 win and a lot of times this season i've been coming on here saying i don't buy it this is fluky this is the performance i've been waiting to see broncos fans don't yell at me okay i wanted to see this type of performance because Because what's been consistent about Denver?

19:17Diante Lee:Sean Payton's scheming, consistent. O-line play, consistent. Defense, consistent. Quarterback play has not been consistent. It's okay to say that. It's all right to point that out. You don't have to call me a hater just for saying that. This is what I wanted to see from Bo Nix. I thought this was easily his best game of the season. Aggressive, accurate downfield. Did not take a sack. He had the early interception. But aside from that, he played clean football. He could have had a fifth touchdown. Cortland Sutton dropped one. So I know the Cowboys have a banged up secondary, but most weeks these plays are available to Bo Nix.

19:53Diante Lee:No one's asking him to be Superman. And he made some high degree of difficulty throws in this game, but a lot of times it's just capitalizing on the opportunities that are available to him. And he did that in this game. 426 yards of offense for the Denver Broncos. They got the run game going. I think maybe for the first time all season, And at least I saw that ceiling that a lot of people were projecting or telling me about in the summer. So I thought this was a very meaningful win for the Broncos, not just to get the victory, but the way they got this victory. I think it's a meaningful win for Bo Nix.

20:27I don't know if I'm all the way in on this being a meaningful win for the Broncos, because to me, this is this is more about all the ways in which Dallas can be taken advantage of. and they finally ran into a team that could beat them up at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. And that to me, I think was the story of the game, right? You didn't see the clips that I've been seeing all week of Javante Williams is busting the 25 yard run, right? And Jaden Blue comes off the bench and he's got this 22 yard run because you're just moving guys up front all the time. You also saw, and I think that Vance Joseph has done an excellent job at this in multiple games, knowing when to divorce himself from all the blitzing, the cover zero, the cover one stuff, Right.

21:06We've seen the Cowboys when they play against teams that want to play single high or give them single matchups out on the perimeter. Dak Prescott has lit those corners up, whether it's been a George Pickens, C.D. Lamb, Jalen Tolbert, basically the entire offensive skill position group. He's done an excellent job at recognizing when blitz is coming, recognizing when he's got one on one opportunities and making defenses pay. The Broncos didn't give him all that many opportunities to do that, especially in obvious passing situations. and you started to feel the pressure that was on Dak Prescott. Obviously, the box score says two interceptions.

21:39You go back and watch. There's an end of half one against like Tampa 2. They're trying to get in the field goal range to score. You can excuse that one. And then the second one.

21:48Diante Lee:But he cheated us of the Aubrey 74-yarder, Deontay. Very true. On that one. Definitely in Denver, which you probably would have wanted to see that. For sure. And then the second one is kind of end of game. They're just trying to get quick scores. A miscommunication, it seemed like, trying to get the ball out. Pressure's coming to CeeDee Lamb. He doesn't have his head around. Again, you don't want interceptions, but you can probably excuse those. So I would say this is more like great for the Broncos defense, great for Bo Nix when you're not pressured, still looking like the quarterback we saw at his best in the second half of last season.

22:20I just don't know if it's something we can really extrapolate because this is not the kind of team I think that can challenge Denver. I want to see this against Kansas City. I want to see this against kind of the higher level of competition within their conference before I'm all the way back in. Cause I don't know if I learned a lot about this, um, about this offense or learned enough about this offense based on what we saw on Sunday.