After a rough week of football in week 7, week 8 proved to be a bit more exciting.  There was only one game that involved two teams with a winning a record, but there also some teams that are playing better then their record.  While many of you may still have some questions on what exactly is going on in the NFL, have no fear, the week 8 recap is here.

After more then two decades of dominance, the NFC East has officially fallen on hard times.  For years, the division in which the Redskins, Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys have called home has been known has one of the hardest to win.  It now seems like the division where no team wants to win.  After being deemed the Dream Team in the off season, the Eagles have gotten off to a terrible start.  It only has appeared to get better once they played two straight games against fellow NFC East opponents.  Vick has looked more like the middle of the road passer he was in Atlanta then the elite passer he was and cashed in on last season.  The Redskins have started three different quarterbacks in Mike Shanahan's short tenure, and each one looks worse then the previous one.  In week 8, the Redskins found a way to be shut out by one of the worst defenses in the NFL.  Just to give you an idea of how rare a shut out is, there have been 116 games this season, and only three shutouts.  After the game, Coach Shanahan said that he had never been shutout before on any level.  Well, Welcome to D.C. coach, where things that never happen, happen. 

The Giants have played up and down all year while putting together one of the least impressive 5-2 records you will ever see.  They have lost to both the Seahawks and the Redskins, while having only one win against a team with a winning record.  In week 8, they needed to rely on what has become the standard 4th quarter meltdown by the winless Dolphins, just to secure a win at home.  After looking like they might be ready to make a claim as the best team in the division, the Cowboys went out in week 8 and were destroyed by the  Eagles on Sunday Night football.  The days where three teams had a chance to make the playoffs every year from this powerhouse division seem to be on hold right now.

In St. Louis, the Rams broke out their old uniforms, then looked like "the greatest show on turf" as they jumped out to a 24-0 lead over the Saints. The Saints came out flat while the Rams came out on fire, and by the time the Saints woke up and realized they had a game and put up three late game touchdowns it was too little too late.  Steven Jackson looked the best he has in a long time so let's see if he and the Rams can build on this victory.

In Carolina, it was business as usual.  Cam Newton and Steve Smith put on a show, and somehow the Panthers still found a way to lose.  Although their 2-6 record may suggest otherwise, Panthers fans finally have a reason to be optimistic about the teams future.  With the return of All-Pro John Beason next year, along with some few minor tweaks, these close losses will become wins.  Fantasy note: Jonathan Stewart has officially become the more valuable back in Carolina with Deangelo Williams only carrying the ball 7 times in week 8.

Just how bad are the Colts?  To give you an idea of how uncompetitive the Colts have been this year, I share with you this info: Denver, who can easily make a claim as one of the worst teams in the NFL, has been outscored by 67 points this year which is the third most in the NFL.  The Colts have almost doubled that, being outscored by an unbelievable 131 points thus far.  There is only one other team in the league that has been outscored by 100 points - the Rams at 105.  At this point, you have to believe that perennial Pro Bowlers like Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark are jealous of Peyton Manning because he doesn't have to be a part of this.  Does anyone else see a pulled hammy or some other injury acting up in Wayne's future?

There is no one in this world I love more or respect more then my mother.  She came from humble beginnings in a third world country, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity, attends church regularly, and has helped more people in life then I could ever count.  She is a great human being, mother, sister and daughter - the whole works.  One thing my mom is not is a pro quarterback and not by a long shot.  By stating that, it's not a knock on who she is as a person, nor does it take away from all she has accomplished or is it hating, it's just stating the obvious facts.  So to me, this notion that anyone who thinks Tim Tebow is not a NFL quarterback is bashing him is crazy.  Sure he is a great guy, a great leader, and even a great athlete, the problem is it takes a lot more than that to be an NFL quarterback.  What Tebow does on the field is a slap in the face to Kyle Ortin and backup quarterbacks across the league.  I don't have a problem with young quarterbacks struggling or having bad numbers or even losing, it's the way you look while doing it that says the most about your future.  I had the pleasure of being in attendance for a former number 1 overall pick, Jamarcus Russell's first start in Oakland.  It wasn't the fact that he finished the game with 100 yards passing and an interception that let me know he would never make it in the NFL as a quarterback, it was the fact that he was missing receivers by 5 and 10 yards that told me.  Sure Tebow's 46 percent completion rate looks terrible on paper, but it looks ten times worse when you watch a game.  When you add the fact that Tebow is getting sacked on plays in which he holds the ball for 9 seconds or more, it's clear as day he is not an NFL quarterback.  I do believe there is a place for a player with Tebow's skill set, it just isn't starting quarterback.

While the entire country is paying attention to the mockery of the position that Tebow is playing in Denver, no one is talking about the horrific job Blaine Gabbert is doing down in Jacksonville.  He too has somehow found a way to complete less then 50 percent of his passes and has only thrown 5 touchdowns all year.  Gabbert, who many claimed was the most NFL ready quarterback in this year's draft is performing nowhere near the level that his fellow rookie quarterback starters (Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, and  Christian Ponder) are this season.  With the way both Blaine and Luke McNown have looked this season, I have to wonder if David Garred really looked that bad in practice.

Speaking of Andy Dalton, what a difference a year makes.  At this point last season, the Bengals were led by an unhappy, overpaid, under performing quarterback who was throwing to two wideouts who looked like their elite days were behind them.  Fast forward just one year and the Bengals have a young quarterback and receiver combo that's as good as any in the league.  While most players who leave the Bengals find happier times, T.O. and Chad are both out of football (Yes folks, Chad Ochocino is out of football - the Patriots just let him keep his stuff at the facility) and Palmer has continued his cornerback friendly interception tour in Oakland.  What was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Bengals might just turn out to be a playoff season.

When Chris Johnson and Deangelo Williams signed their huge contracts this offseason, you can be sure no one was happier for them then Matt Forte.  The general rule of thumb would be that a large contract by anyone at your postion can only help but drive the market price up.  Eight weeks into the season and Chris Johnson and Deangelo Wiliams might have all but killed the market.  After cashing in on numbers they had already produced, both backs now find themselves being outperformend by their backups who make a fraction of what they make.  As of right now, it appears that both the Titans and the Panthers made huge mistakes by giving their backs the Kings Ransom they demanded, and you better believe the rest of the NFL is learning from their mistake.

While we are on the topics of runningbacks and mistakes, how can we not touch on the soap opera star runningback better known as Peyton Hillis.  After coming out of nowhere last year with his breakout season that earned him the cover of this years Madden, Hillis was looking for his big pay day.  After the Browns didn't meet Hillis's contract demands, the runningback has gone on to become a season long distraction that even T.O. would be jealous of.  Hillis has let the fans down with his play on the field, he's let his teammates down by missing games with such things as strep throat and feeling under appreciated, and this past Sunday, he let a group of kids down when he failed to show up for a charity event that his camp confirmed he would be in attendance.  All Hillis has left to do now is show up to the next home game in a LeBron James jersey to ensure that he has fully pissed off every single person in Cleveland.  Good luck getting that big pay day Peyton.

From the department of big names under performing, five years after being called the next great runningback, Reggie Bush picked up just his second 100 yard rushing game of his career.  The fact that Bush's college backfield mate Lendel White found himself out of the league in less then five years has come as a shock to no one.  The fact that he has more 100 yard games then Bush however is very surprising.

If Philip Rivers wasn't having a bad enough season before the Monday night game in Kansas City, it got even worse when he cost his team the game by fumbling the snap late in the fourth quarter.  The Chargers have been known to get off to slow starts to the season, but this year Rivers just doesnt look like himself.

After putting together one of the most hyped three start careers in Phildelphia, Kevin Kolb was tagged as a must have quarterback for any struggling team.  After forking over a starting cornerback and a second round pick to land Kolb in a trade with the Eagles, the Cardinals then paid Kolb proven franchise Quarterback money.  Eight weeks into his career as a franchise quarterback, his QB rating of 77.5 places him directly behind Tarvaris Jackson and one spot ahead of Colt McCoy.  I'm guessing that's not what the Cardinals had in mind when they gave him 60 million.

Well folks this concludes my week 8 recap.  Feel free to leave your thoughts or questions, and make sure to check back next week for the week 9 recap.

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