The Lions beat Donovan McNabb and the Redskins for their second win of the season while the Jets were shut out and lost their second to injury-plagued Green Bay.  The Bills took it to OT but lost to K.C. while the Cowboys were humiliated in Jerry’s house by the Jaguars. BTW, McNabb was benched for the two-minute drill in the final quarter. Here are the full recaps from NFL Week 8.

San Diego Chargers 33 Tennessee Titans 25: The Titans began with a safety off a blocked punt and pounded the Chargers for 200 yards of offense in the first half. Tennessee limited Chargers QB Philip Rivers so SD had to take to the ground for two first-half TDs. Rivers went to work after half-time and the Chargers scored four times (2FGs and 2TDs) to take an eight point lead with 7:00+ to go in the 4^th quarter. Vince Young went out with a leg injury and gave back-up QB Kerry Collins a chance to drive downfield with a few minutes left in the game. Collins got his team to the 12 yard line but on a 4^th down and two, Chris Johnson dropped a pass and the Chargers pulled out a tough one at home. Rivers went 27-36 with 305 yards through the air.

New England Patriots 28 Minnesota Vikings 18:  Gimpy Brett Favre was protected well in the first half and Adrian Peterson saw a lot of action. Nonetheless, the Vikes were down 21-10 half-way through the 4thQ when Favre was sacked with a bit of helmet to the chin. He was bleeding and helped off the field. In came Tavaris Jackson for his first work of the season. He threw a TD and a two-point conversion getting Minnesota to within three points. The problem then became one for the Vikings defense which couldn’t stop NE on a long and time consuming 4^th Q drive. Randy Moss had only one catch for eight yards and was doubled covered 95% of the time and Favre ended up going 22-of-32 with one pick and no TDs.

Tampa Bay Bucs 38 Arizona Cardinals 35: This was the wildest game of the afternoon, with the teams trading scores in the second half. The Bucs began the day with two first half defensive TDs, on picks of Cards’ QB Max Hall. Hall was pulled after that for Derek Anderson who had a chance to win the game for the Cards on a late 4^th Q drive but was picked for the second time in the game. Tampa Bay leaned on rookie RB LeGarrete Blount in the second half. He scored two TDs, the last of which put the Bucs in the lead for good and ended up with 120 yards for the game. Larry Fitzgerald scored twice, one from each of the Cards QBs.

Oakland Raiders 33 Seattle Seahawks 3: The Raiders held the Seahawks scoreless in the first half while Jason Campbell hit Marcel Reese, rookie from Syracuse for a score. Old reliable, Sebastian Janokowski kept kicking FGs, a total of four on the afternoon, while Seattle only looked longingly at the end zone. Matt Hasselbeck got picked once but was sacked five times and ended up 13-of-32 for only 160 yards. Olindo Mare’s FG was all the scoring for the Seahawks. Jason Campbell continues to show he is comfortable in the starting role as he threw two TDs without a pick.  Darren McFadden extended his hot streak with 111 yards on the ground.

In OT, Kansas City Chiefs 10  Buffalo Bills 10: What a game! The Bills hoping and praying for their first win on the season fell short, but QB Ryan Fitzpatrick sure gave it all he had.  Misfiring early, the young QB found his rhythm late and tied it up with a four yard TD late in the 4^th. The teams traded missed FGs in OT and then punts. KC broke the Bills’ heart with a late drive and a FG with less than 5 seconds on the clock.

San Francisco 49ers 24  Denver Broncos 16:. The 49ers got to London early in the week to deal with the jetlag, but took until the fourth quarter to wake up. This week’s QB, Troy Smith scored twice, one on the ground and one through the air. Maybe San Fran has found the right QB for their team. Kyle Orton had a great statistical day with 369 yards on 28-0f-40 passing but could only manage one TD. Tim Tebow made his London debut and scored on a one yard TD run.

Green Bay  Packers 9  New York Jets 0: Rex Ryan faked a punt and almost converted a 4^th and long in the first half, so you knew what kind of game this was gonna be.  There were challenge flags all over the field, with Rex Ryan losing both of his in the first half. That kept him from being able to challenge what was called a Charles Woodson INT that on replay video looked suspicious. The Packers capitalized with their second FG, added a third with seconds on the clock and the Jets lost their second of the season. Fireman Ed was not pleased.

Jacksonville Jaguars 35  Dallas Cowboys 10:  Jon Kitna was picked off four times but it was the Cowboys D that made this an easy victory for the Jaguars. David Garrard, just back after being concussed, threw four TDs, making hay off the Cowboys turnovers. When he added one on the ground late in the 4^th Q, the boos rang out in the Cowboys’ home stadium. Isn’t Wade Phillips responsible for the defense on the Cowboys? I thought that was why they were keeping him around.

St. Louis Rams 20  Carolina Panthers 10: Scoreless until 10:08 of the second Q  the pace of the game picked up, but not for the Carolina Panthers.  Matt Moore threw three picks and was 23-of-37 through the air with one TD. Rams QB Sam Bradford did his bit with two TDs and no picks. Josh Brown contributed two FGs and that was all the Rams needed to get to 4-4 on the season.

Detroit Lions 37 Washington Redskins  25: The Lions were looking for their second victory of the year and they got it. With a bit more than three minutes left in the game, Matt Stafford threw his 4^th TD pass, third of the day to Calvin Johnson, to put them ahead and a FG gave them a 6 point lead. Then it got ugly. Donovan McNabb was benched for the final drive and on the first play, his replacement Rex Grossman coughed up a fumble and it was returned to the house by Mr. Suh. Trouble in D.C.?

Miami Dolphins  22  Cincinnati Bengals 14:  TO scored twice in the first half, one by accident, but the Bengals will take it. After that the Cincy offense took the rest of the day off. They got close late in the 4^th Q but Carson Palmer was picked off deep in the red zone. Miami’s kicker accounted for 15 of the team’s 22 points with Ricky Williams running it in for the only Dolphins TD. Chad Ochocino was the recipient of a helmet hit but got up and wobbled off the field, sort of the tale of the game for the Bengals.

NFL Week 7 scores are in and while the Chicago Bears Mike Martz offense sputtered out in the Windy City, Colt McCoy and the Cleveland Browns pulled off the upset of the week in New Orleans.  

Washington Redskins 17 Chicago Bears 14: DeAngelo Hall with four catches was the second leading reciever for the Bears, problem is, he was wearing a Redskin jersey. Two QBs, two poor performances. Donovan McNabb and Jay Cutler both threw pick-sixes and only one TD each. Ryan Torain kept the chains moving for Washington with 125 yards on the ground while the Bears and their fans are becoming too familiar with Mike Martz’ offense consisting of sacks, more interceptions and very few yards on the ground. The Bears only rushed for 66 yards in this one. When the Redskins win, it’s ugly and the Bears win and many times lose the same way.

Oakland Raiders 59  Denver Broncos 14: Before the Broncos fans had fully settled into their seats, the Raiders were up by three TDs and tacked on more after that. Four turnovers, two by Denver QB Kyle Orton had the Broncos down 38-7 at the half.  Oakland RB Darren McFadden scored three TDs, QB Jason Campbell threw for two and you wondered what the Broncos would do in the second half. The answer was not much. The teams traded TDs in the 3^rd quarter as the score reached 45-14. The last time the Raiders scored that many points was in 2004 and Al Davis was a spry senior citizen. When McFadden took it in for his 4^th TD, on a 57 yard run from scrimmage, to make it 52-14, you thought you were at a bad NCAA football game. When the Raiders reached 59 points and it wasn’t the 4^th quarter yet, it was mind numbing.

New England Patriots 23 San Diego Chargers 20: Turnovers and untimely penalties have plagued the Chargers this season and this game was no different in the first half. San Diego had four turnovers and only three points on the board at half-time. But it wasn’t that the Pats were setting the world ablaze. The Chargers D sacked Tom Brady four times in the first half and limited the Pats to one TD and two FGS. In the second half, San Diego made one of their patented charges, scoring 17 points, even recovering an on-side kick to get to within three at 23-20 with four minutes to go. Philip Rivers drove them down to FG range after the Pats turned it over on downs. A false start penalty pushed the team back and the FG was now a 50 yard attempt for Kris Brown, a one week pick up after SD’s kicker Nate Kaeding got injured. The ball hit the upright, bounced off to the right and the Chargers lost another one in a miserable way.

Seattle Seahawks 22 Arizona Cardinals 10: Arizona’s third string QB, Max Hall wasn’t up to the task against the Seahawks and in came Derek Anderson, whose concussion had kept him on the sidelines for more than a week. He led the Cards to their first score of the day in the third quarter to make it 16-7.  The AZ defense held Seattle to a FG in the 3^rd quarter and another in the 4^th but the Cards offense only managed a FG in the second half. Seattle is 4-2 in a division that boasts of the Cardinals, Rams and 49ers, not one of which is .500 for the season. Oh boy!

Kansas City Chiefs 42 Jacksonville Jags 20: Third-stringer Todd Bouman was just what the doctor ordered for the Jags. He kept getting his team down field and threw for one TD in the first half. The Chiefs two-headed RB monster, Thomas Jones and Jamaal Charles each scored to give their team a one-point lead at half-time. But the Chiefs came out throwing and Matt Cassel to Dwayne Bowe for two TDs, a pick-six and a running TD blew the game open for the Chiefs who climb to 4-2 on the year.

Baltimore Ravens 37  Buffalo Bills 34: The Ravens D couldn’t hold down that future Hall of Famer, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Who knew? He tossed three TDs and the Bills were up by 14 with less than a minute left in the half. But the Ravens D finally awoke and got their offense a chance to score 23 points, unanswered going up by 11 as the 3^rd Q ended. The Bills wouldn’t go away, scoring twice to tie it up at the end of regulation. The teams coughed the ball up to each other in OT with Ray Lewis getting the final turnover to allow kicker Billy Cundiff  to win it.

Tennessee Titans 37  Philadelphia Eagles 19:  CJ2K had another tough day gaining only 66 yards without a TD.  Kerry Collins was having trouble standing upright in the first half.  He was sacked 3 times and threw 1 pick. But Jeff Fisher let Kenny Britt out of the doghouse just in time for three TD catches that got the win for the Titans. Kevin Kolb threw a lot, completed more than 50% but only managed one TD on the day. The rest of the Philly scoring came from David Akers four FGs

Cleveland Browns 30 New Orleans Saints 17:  Cleveland D coordinator Rob Ryan is sick of his brother Rex getting all the headlines. His defense shut down the Saints and intercepted Drew Brees four times, two for pick-sixes. The Colt McCoy experiment is still just that but with their running game and the toe of Phil Dawson, the kid only needs to avoid mistakes for his team to have a chance, if Ryan’s defense keeps it up. The Saints fall to 4-3, Cleveland 2^nd win of the year.

Pittsburgh Steelers 23 Miami Dolphins 22:  The Steelers D only gave up one TD and held Miami to FGs all day long. But they mount up after a while. Dan Carpenter kicked five and it looked like enough to overcome two Big Ben TDs. With a bit more than two minutes left in the game, Roethlisberger ran to the goal line, fumbled, but Miami didn’t recover in the end zone, giving Pittsburgh’s Jeff Reed time to kick his third FG on the day.

Tampa Bay 19 St. Louis Rams 17: Sam Bradford did his thing, throwing for a couple of TD’s without an interception and the Rams D took away any running game the Bucs hoped to have. That was all in the first half. The second half was all Tampa Bay as they came back for a 19-17 win by holding the Rams scoreless down the stretch. Josh Freeman sealed it with 10 seconds left in the game, with his first TD pass of the day to Cadillac Williams.

Carolina Panthers 23 San Francisco 49ers 20: The teams were evenly matched in the first half as both young QBs threw for a TD. Then Alex Smith was sacked and injured his shoulder, ushering in David Carr. He was ineffective  and the passing game was over for the 49ers. Carolina got a great day from Matt Moore as he went 28-41, two TDs and one pick. John Kasay’s 3^rd FG of the day won the game in the final minute and the Panthers are no longer winless for the season.

Atlanta Falcons 39  Cincinnati Bengal 32: The Falcons came out and punched the Bengals in the mouth on offense and the D followed suit, holding Cincy to 2 FGs through the late 3^rd quarter. A late surge by Carson Palmer with 2 TDs got the Bengals close and a big strip and fumbled recovery by Adam Jones put Cincy ahead after four straight scores. But Matt Ryan found his comfort food, WR Roddy White, for their second score of the day and they connected a third time, as the Falcons held off a final late game charge to beat the Bengals.

Used with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

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