If there's one upset that no one saw coming on Sunday, it was definitely the one in Cincinnati
Miami Marlins Hats . In a game where the Bengals didn't have their starting left tackle (Jonah Williams), their starting center (Trey Hopkins), their starting right tackle (Bobby Hart) or their starting running back (Joe Mixon), Cincinnati was still somehow able to pull off a 31-20 upset and they were able to do that thanks to the magic of Joe Burrow. Despite playing behind a depleted offensive line, Burrow was still able to dice up the Titans secondary for 249 yards and two touchdowns while getting sacked exactly zero times. The rookie quarterback looked like a seasoned veteran and that's a big reason why the Bengals were able to walk away with the stunning win. One of Burrow's best throws came in the second quarter on a play where the Bengals were facing a fourth-and-4 from Tenne see's 43-yard line. Bengals coach Zac Taylor could have called for a punt, but instead, he showed some serious faith in his rookie quarterback, who responded by throwing a 22-yard bullet to Tee Higgins. Fourth down is nothing for Joey B | (via ) Sunday Night Football (@SNFonNBC) The Bengals would end up scoring a touchdown three plays later to take a 17-7 lead and that's when it genuinely started to feel like they might be able to pull off the upset. Although Burrow had a clean pocket on the pa s to Higgins, he did face plenty of pre sure in this game. As a matter of fact, one of those plays came on a third-and-10 in the third quarter on a play where it looked like the Titans were going to sack Burrow for a 10-yard lo s. Instead, the rookie made some magic happen on a play where he ended up gaining seven yards. Joe Burrow REFUSES to go down.: on CBS: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: NFL (@NFL) No, Burrow didn't get the first down, but that's the kind of play that can deflate a defense and spark an offense. Burrow's mobility was a big reason why he got sacked zero times in the game
Andre Dawson Jersey , which was minor miracle when you consider how many starters were mi sing from Cincinnati's offensive line. With Burrow under center, the Bengals have an offense that can go toe-to-toe with any team in the league. Burrow has also proven that he can make clutch throws with the game on the line like he did on a third-and-1 in the fourth quarter. With the Bengals ahead 17-7, Burrow basically iced the game when he threw a perfect strike to Tyler Boyd for a seven-yard score. "The evolution of Joe Burrow continues." : LIVE on CBS Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) The Bengals offense has been rolling over the past three weeks and with the team's defense slowly getting better, this is a team that might be able to sneak their way into the wild-card conversation after their Week 9 bye. Coming out of the bye, the Bengals play the Steelers in Week 10, but then they have four very winnable games after that (at Washington, Giants, at Miami, Dallas). If the Bengals can go 4-1 in that span, that would get them to .500 and in a season where seven teams will make the playoffs from the AFC, it wouldn't be shocking to see them surprise some people, just like they surprised the Titans on Sunday. Alright, let's get to the grades for every game from Week 8. If you're looking for a deeper dive on the Falcons-Panthers game that was played Thursday, . C- The Titans have had one of the worst defenses in the NFL this year and a big reason for that is because they've struggled to rush the quarterback and they can't stop anyone on third down, and both of those problems reared
Martin Prado Jersey their ugly heads again this week. Despite going up against a depleted Bengals offensive line, the Titans didn't manage to sack Joe Burrow a single time. They also let the Bengals convert 10 of 15 times on third down. Offensively, although the Titans were able to move the ball, they made too many big mistakes, including a Ryan Tannehill interception in the Bengals' end zone and a mi sed field goal by Stephen Gostkowski. A+ We already covered the Bengals' offense above, so let's talk about how well their defense played, which was arguably the biggest surprise in this game. The Titans only had seven points going into the fourth quarter and a big reason for that was because the Bengals defense kept making big plays, including a red zone interception of Ryan Tannehill in the first half and two big third down stops to start the second half. With the way the Bengals offense was playing, the defense just need to make a few stops to
Miami Marlins Hoodie get the win and they came up with those. Kick returner Brandon Wilson also came up with a huge play in the fourth quarter with a 49-yard return that set up a Bengals touchdown after the Titans had cut the lead to 24-14. B Tom Brady doesn't have a great history with the GIants and it's almost like he took it upon himself to make sure he didn't lose to them again. After a first half where the Buccaneers struggled on both sides of the ball, Brady came out firing in the second half as he led the Bucs to points on four of their first five po se sions. The 43-year-old seemed to get better as the game went on as he completed 12 of 16 pa ses for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Although Tampa's defense struggled to stop the Giants offense, the Bucs did come up with several huge plays, including a pa s break up from Antoine Winfield on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game with 28 second left. Besides Brady, kicker Ryan Succop also came up big for Tampa, hitting 4-of-4 field goals in a game where the Bucs needed every single one of his points. B+ The Giants put together an offensive game plan against Tampa Bay that
Giancarlo Stanton Jersey was nearly perfect, but it all fell apart because of Daniel Jones. Not only did the second-year quarterback overthrow his receivers on multiple deep pa ses, but he also threw two back-breaking interceptions in the second half that led to 10 points for the Buccaneers. Jones' struggles overshadowed a spirited performance from a Giants defense that sacked Tom Brady twice while holding the Bucs to just 4-of-12 on third down conversions. Darius Slayton (five catches, 56 yards) and Sterling Shepard (eight catches, 74 yards) also had big nights and those nights would have been even bigger if Jones would have been more accurate with his throws. Jones almost redeemed himself with a late scoring drive in the fourth quarter, but the Giants weren't able to punch in the two-point conversion that would have tied things up in the waning seconds. A+ The Colts offense got off to a slow start, but then they turned on the jet engines. After punting on each their first three po se sions, Philip Rivers caught fire, throwing three touchdown pa ses in the second quarter alone. Two of those TD pa ses went to Nyheim Hynes, who only had three catches in the game. Defensively, the return of Darius Leonard seemed to reinvigorate Indy as they forced two turnovers while sac
